The chicken water nipples

[mchllhrkns]

I bought a water bottle like you would put in a rabbit or hampster cage. It has a little ball in the end of it. My chickens are not getting the hang of it. Are the water nipples that I'm reading about different than the ones I have.

 

[UtChaz]

I'd like to know as well. I'm tired of the dirty water...

 

[janinepeters]

I don't know if they are different from whatever you have, but I used nipple waterers in the past. I always had the sense they were not drinking enough, and whenever I'd put out a pan of water just to see if they were thirsty despite the constant availability of the nipple waterers, they'd go crazy and tank up from the pan. I know that lots of people use nipple waterers without losing birds due to dehydration, so it must be okay, but I switched back to regular waterers, because it seemed like the chickens had such a strong preference for drinking from a pool of water rather than from a nipple. It makes sense: birds evolved drinking from puddles, not from nipples.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Poultry nipples look like the one pictured below. They come in push-in and screw-in style. If you don't think your birds are drinking enough, measure their daily water consumption and find out for sure.

 

[dirtbagchickens]

Poultry nipples look like the one pictured below. They come in push-in and screw-in style. If you don't think your birds are drinking enough, measure their daily water consumption and find out for sure.

I recently installed some. When the birds do drink from them they seem to losse more water from the abrupt dripping that occurs when they hit the nipple. This inturn creates a wet, muddy area under the nipple station. So it seems difficult that measureing the daily water depletion inthe holding tank would accurately convey water consumption by the birds. Too much spillage. THis is a mojor draw back of these, for me.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

I recently installed some. When the birds do drink from them they seem to losse more water from the abrupt dripping that occurs when they hit the nipple. This inturn creates a wet, muddy area under the nipple station. So it seems difficult that measureing the daily water depletion inthe holding tank would accurately convey water consumption by the birds. Too much spillage. THis is a mojor draw back of these, for me.

Mine don't drip like that at all. Where did you get the nipples? Apparently, the quality can vary greatly depending on the manufacturer. What are you using for a water holding tank? Are they installed perfectly vertical? The amount of pressure can also influence dripping. Clearly, if they're dripping like that you can't measure consumption. I wouldn't be happy with them either if they dripped enough to make a mess.

 

[ChickenJerk]

I recently installed some. When the birds do drink from them they seem to losse more water from the abrupt dripping that occurs when they hit the nipple. This inturn creates a wet, muddy area under the nipple station. So it seems difficult that measureing the daily water depletion inthe holding tank would accurately convey water consumption by the birds. Too much spillage. THis is a mojor draw back of these, for me.

Nipple drinkers deliver water that the bird does not consume should be suspected of the following-

1) Water pressure to great
2) Improper height (usually to low)
3) Nipples not in a vertical position
4) Defective product
5) Nipples that are designed for different purposes and have to great an outflow.