Pullets fill water dish with bedding.

[debid]

I'm also using a nipple waterer. Clean water, dry litter, zero risk of them tipping it with all of their zooming.

 

[lividoll]

Is the nipple bottle the same kind you put in a gerbil or mouse cage? Can someone post a picture of theirs?

 

[debid]

Oh no, those rodent/rabbit bottles drip. Google "poultry nipple". They are red, plastic things with a metal lever inside and a rubber gasket on the push-in type or threads to screw in. I use the push in type. It's a hole drilled with the proper size bit, a bit of water to lube the pieces, and a good, firm shove. Takes minutes. My big girls have a 5-gallon bucket with three nipples in the bottom, the chicks have an upside down juice bottle with one nipple in the lid. There are four chicks and they can all use it at once if they want. Oh, and the juice bottle has a pin hole in the bottom because you don't want an airtight container with nipples.

 

[RainyPeeps]

Got our nipples off eBay. Really you can attach it to any plastic vessel to create a waterer. Here is the one from our broody busting cage. It's a soda bottle. The one in our brooder is a small, plastic mayo jar. Our big girls' used to be a plastic pitcher til we upgraded them to a 2 gallon bucket. Just make sure, like debid said, that you put a small hole in the top of it to allow air to flow in while they drink from the bottom.

 

[debid]

Yep -- the three biggest problems with nipples are all user error.

1) Failure to make an air hole. Air must get in to replace water going out.

2) Hanging the nipple too low. You want it just above their heads -- give the smaller ones something to step up on if there is a big difference in chick sizes. Ducking to drink is much less efficient for the chicks and they will dribble much more than if you put it where they have to extend the neck a little. Make it easy to adjust the height because they grow FAST!

3) Lack of trust in the product. Once you've seen them using their new waterer, you should take the fount away. They will continue using their new waterer and they will get plenty of water. If you see them run to a filthy puddle and drink like they've never had water before, that's instinct and they all do it whether they have a fount or a nipple.

If you drill the right size hole (it should take a firm push but shouldn't take a hammer!) they are easy to install and they won't leak.

 

[WYNot]

I really need to get some of those nipples ordered. I've been looking at them but haven't pulled the trigger yet.

Of the five Rhode Island Red pullets (about 4 weeks old) I've got in the brooder, there is one that insists on digging in the bedding to create a little nest. In the process she throws wood chips everywhere, including all over herself. It wouldn't be bad but she insists on doing it on the end of the brooder where the waterer is and it keeps getting filled with wood chips. I'm using one of those plastic ones that screws onto a quart jar. I rigged it so it is hanging a few inches off the ground and it isn't as bad but still had to clean it out twice already today. I'm about to wring her scrawny neck.

So, is it just annoying chicken behavior or is it perhaps an early indication that she'll be broody? She digs out these little nests and lays in them.

 

[debid]

She's dust bathing. They'll all be doing it soon.