I'm not sure where I read it but this is what happened:
**long version**
There was a husband and wife that had nine chicken coops in their backyard. One day, while going out to feed and water all their chickens, they noticed that in their Delaware coop the rooster was laying down in the run. Now, it wasn't the kind of laying down "I'm relaxing". It was the kind "I'm dead". So the husband told the wife to stay on the little cart they were using to get around while he went and checked. Yes, the rooster was dead.
But then, he noticed something else: Only 3 of his Delaware hens ran out to meet him. This was the friendliest flock they had, so it was weird that the other 3 hens were not coming out to meet him. He went to the coop and looked in......3 Delaware hens were dead in the coop. They were laying just like how the rooster was laying. First they thought it was a a predator....but after checking - nope. Then they checked for sickness. But they couldn't find anything weird.
At that moment the wife called the husband to come over. One of the surviving hens was standing in the run, eyes half closed, and was acting pretty strange. They quickly separated the poor hen from the other two. And then they went back to the coop where some of the chickens had died and were searching around to see if they could find anymore clues.
Suddenly, the husband said. "Oh no."
"What?" Asked the wife.
And it turned out, (after some more thinking and looking) the chickens had died from dehydration. The people used water nipples, and the nipples got clogged so the chickens couldn't drink. And they only refreshed the water once a week. What made it worse, it was winter and they both worked....so when they got home it was dark so all the chickens were up on the roost poles and they couldn't see anything wrong with them. And they never looked at the water to see if it went down any from the chickens drinking.
They quickly gave the "sick" hen some water with vitamins and it drank and drank and drank!!!
**short version**
4 chickens died from dehydration. A 5th almost did! And they learned a hard lesson.
___________________________________________
I'm sorry if I made any spelling mistakes, I don't have time to re-read right now.
Just wanted to share this sad story.
Always check to make sure the nipples are working properly.
**long version**
There was a husband and wife that had nine chicken coops in their backyard. One day, while going out to feed and water all their chickens, they noticed that in their Delaware coop the rooster was laying down in the run. Now, it wasn't the kind of laying down "I'm relaxing". It was the kind "I'm dead". So the husband told the wife to stay on the little cart they were using to get around while he went and checked. Yes, the rooster was dead.
But then, he noticed something else: Only 3 of his Delaware hens ran out to meet him. This was the friendliest flock they had, so it was weird that the other 3 hens were not coming out to meet him. He went to the coop and looked in......3 Delaware hens were dead in the coop. They were laying just like how the rooster was laying. First they thought it was a a predator....but after checking - nope. Then they checked for sickness. But they couldn't find anything weird.
At that moment the wife called the husband to come over. One of the surviving hens was standing in the run, eyes half closed, and was acting pretty strange. They quickly separated the poor hen from the other two. And then they went back to the coop where some of the chickens had died and were searching around to see if they could find anymore clues.
Suddenly, the husband said. "Oh no."
"What?" Asked the wife.
And it turned out, (after some more thinking and looking) the chickens had died from dehydration. The people used water nipples, and the nipples got clogged so the chickens couldn't drink. And they only refreshed the water once a week. What made it worse, it was winter and they both worked....so when they got home it was dark so all the chickens were up on the roost poles and they couldn't see anything wrong with them. And they never looked at the water to see if it went down any from the chickens drinking.
They quickly gave the "sick" hen some water with vitamins and it drank and drank and drank!!!
**short version**
4 chickens died from dehydration. A 5th almost did! And they learned a hard lesson.
___________________________________________
I'm sorry if I made any spelling mistakes, I don't have time to re-read right now.
Just wanted to share this sad story.
Always check to make sure the nipples are working properly.
then we can decide if it's *true* or not.
Right now I'm not using nipples... and I only use them if I'm sure they are working properly or if I have another water source as well.
