Official BYC Poll: Which waterer is better: Nipples or cups?

[Alderen]

We now use the cups. Tried the nipples but the girls just didn't seem to like them for some reason. They seem to like the cups. The picture below shows how we did our watering system. With cooler weather coming up I will be watching to see if the water in the cups freezes or not. The water supply line is hooked into a 5-gallon bucket located outside of the run. Since I live in the SouthEast USA, and we don't get extremely cold weather here, I'll be keeping an eye on things and problem-solving as any issues come up.

 

[Alderen]

Is it weird that I enjoy these polls so much?

I'm also really enjoying these polls.

 

[Debbie292d]

We use both horizontal and vertical but could only check one.

Vertical nipples are in the water bottles for the chicks.
Horizontal ones are on our 5-gallon bucket in the coop. We put a few drops of RV water freshener in it.

We made this out of a Tupperware container for the grow-out pen, so they're good to go when they get to the coop.

 

[Bac2wild]

Vertical nipples are definitely less mess, but also = more dehydrated chickens when its hot and they have to drink a lot of water. Mine will drink out of the nipples which are available for if the cups tip/fill mechanism is clogged while I'm away, but prefer the cups.

 

[electrycmonk]

After 4+ years of using the dual position jug hang/sit on an elevated surface… the plastic jugs are starting to crack.

I will be building a pvc pipe with nipples (vertically positioned) & a pipe with cup parallel to the other pipe.

I also will be making the hanging bucket feeders to reduce to spread of food on the ground as well this fall.

 

[jthornton]

After trying them all a large dog bowl is the easiest to clean and use and the chickens like it. I can tell at a glance if they need water when I walk by.

I still have one 4" PVC pipe with a vertical nipple inside the coop because some drink from it when they are inside the coop.

JT

 

[SueT]

There are not just two choices here. Horizontal nipples can have cups, but not all do. It’s a different mechanism.
I now prefer the horizontals that do NOT have cups. I actually prefer using dog bowls, but in the winter, the wild birds poop in it, so my heated waterer has horizontal nipples, but not cups.




This is the heated drinker I use:

 

[SueT]

And, not only are there horizontals without cups, I think there are more than one style with cups? One that doesn’t require pecking to fill the cup, and another does? Anyone familiar with these?