Rabbit water bottles?

[Seaecho]

Can chickens be trained to drink from these? I don't know if I'll be getting tiny chicks or pullets, but it seems to me that it would be so much cleaner to water them with rabbit bottles, and not have to worry about dirt getting into the water.

 

[CapricornFarm]

Yes, i have used them for bantams or young LF. They will drink out of them.

 

[nminusyplusm]

I made a chick waterer out of a yogurt container and horizontal poultry nipples. Then I reused the poultry nipples on a 5 gallon bucket waterer when they got bigger. Unless you have a future use for the rabbit bottle, i think nipples are the way to go.

 

[Seaecho]

Also, it seems to me that in hot weather, they would empty the rabbit bottles quickly. I've never seen a rabbit bottle that holds more than about a pint, and won't 3-4 bantams go through a LOT more than that in a day?

 

[sylviethecochin]

You can do it, but the chicks won't catch everything, so it's best to have a bowl (I use a kid's toy dish with rocks in it) under the bottle.

It's a great way of reducing duckling mess, actually.

 

[sylviethecochin]

Also, it seems to me that in hot weather, they would empty the rabbit bottles quickly. I've never seen a rabbit bottle that holds more than about a pint, and won't 3-4 bantams go through a LOT more than that in a day?

You can attach a rabbit water top to some 2-liter soda bottles.

And no, three or four bantam chicks certainly would not drink even a pint of water in a day.

 

[ChickNanny13]

You're better off with the Horizontal Nipples (post #3). I have one container for chicks & another for the hens. Est 4 to a nipple, vent the container (drill a hole about an inch from the rim when using a snug lid). No more dirty water

 

[Seaecho]

Sylvie, I had no idea they wouldn't go through a pint in a day! I had read that normal sized chickens drank a tremendous amount--more than a person would think. If I put a bowl with rocks in it under the water, wouldn't the chicks perch on it and poop in it?

Chick Nanny, I've read posts where people said their chicks weren't drinking enough from the nipples. That worries me. As a new owner, I don't want them getting dehydrated. Not sure what I'll end up doing, but I really appreciate the suggestions!

 

[sylviethecochin]

Sylvie, I had no idea they wouldn't go through a pint in a day! I had read that normal sized chickens drank a tremendous amount--more than a person would think. If I put a bowl with rocks in it under the water, wouldn't the chicks perch on it and poop in it?

My standard hens drink about a cup and a half of water a day, each. They also free-range, so they're probably supplementing that with grass and bug liquid, so I figure a pint for a full-grown, egg-producing, standard-sized hen. Considering my hens weigh about six pounds each, that's proportionately pretty large.

I can keep ten standard chicks on a one-quart waterer from TSC and only have to refill it once a day for the first week. That's a little less than half a cup of water per chick, including waste. Now, considering size, that is a massive amount of water per chick, (the equivalent of my drinking seventeen gallons of water in twenty-four hours) but it's really not that much water.

And a bantam chick is about the size of the end of my thumb when it hatches. The chick might drink a little more than his weight in water, but that's still going to be less than a half-cup each by a long shot.

They will sometimes poop in the bowl, though less than you would think. I use large pieces of gravel so that they have difficulty reaching the water in the bowl, and I rinse it out at least once a day. There's probably other ways to do this, but this one works for me.

Hope your chick-raising is successful and that this was useful to you.

EDT: Okay, just re-checked your post. I thought you were talking about chicks, and just realised you were talking about full-grown bantams. (Sorry)

From personal experience, I'd guesstimate about half a cup each per day for my Old English Game bantams, but I wouldn't know about a large silkie bantam.

And quart-sized rabbit bottles are the only size my TSC sells, so I doubt you'd have trouble finding a larger size. I suppose the selection might be different at PetCo or similar.

 

[Seaecho]

This information is so useful! Yes, standard size chickens sure do drink a lot more than bantams, don't they? Do you use the TSC one-quart waterer even when they are in the brooder? Or should I get something else? Will it take up too much room in a 40 gallon aquarium brooder? I'm thinking I need a small set of feeder and drinker, and then a larger set when they are out of the brooder. Is that how you did it?