The Front Porch Swing

[LBejaran]

No worries..the chicks can transition very quickly from nipples to open waterers and back again.  They learn quick and well when little, but not so easy to train older birds to the nipples if they have never used them. 

I've got my current nipple bucket hanging right next to the heat lamp in my chick brooder...can't really get any water on the lamp when it's contained in a bucket, so no worries that either. 

After finding out about these nipples I'll never raise chicks any other way...it's just so nice having clean, large volumes of water, dry bedding, etc. instead of tipped over waterers, dirty water, wet bedding, etc. that one constantly has to worry about or clean up.  Wished I had known about them years ago! 

Okay, I'll definitely look into getting a couple! I have a bunch of fruit jelly buckets from one of my local donut shops that I had intended to use for FF, but it didn't work out. They seems to be about the right size and will likely hold plenty of water.

I normally don't have much wet bedding to worry about because I put my buckets up on bricks so nothing spills, but maybe less water will be wasted when these birdies have to reach and up take a drink instead. Those ducklings are so funny when they drink, though. They try and put their chests right into the water and enjoy the feeling before realizing that the quail are poking them to get out of the way, hehe!

 

[Windy Bay Farm]

Whew! That must have been awful! So glad that you "weathered the storm" (sorry, somebody was going to make a bad pun eventually and I figured I'd start the ball rolling with the most obvious one) and that you and yours are okay. Resilient chickens - and here I'm sweating putting mine out this week because it might be little nippy! Well, at this point it's either get them out or serve them for dinner, pretending they aren't young chicks, they're squab! Welcome back to the porch, where it's always warm and cozy!

Looks like I left out "if" but I figured there was a good chance your power went out. lol I'm glad it didn't stay out long and so glad you and yours made it through the storm. You guys must be some tough ones when it comes to cold weather. Take care and I hope you see spring soon!

Thank you for your concern

Very mild Spring like day here today. Temps in the low 50's with a little fog, but otherwise just like Spring. Chickens are out in full foraging force and I'm getting 11 eggs per day from 11 girls !

 

[Windy Bay Farm]

Probably molasses. They add it to livestock feed to make it more palatable and also as a calorie and iron source. You might want to consider a bucket fitted out with poultry nipples and then you will always have a clean, adequate amount of water available to chicks and larger birds alike. They are extremely cheap, easy to screw into a bucket and they last a long, long time. http://www.amazon.com/Threaded-Poultry-Nipples-Sanitary-Chickens/dp/B00846NTRI This one below has the red nipples on the bottom of the bucket for the smaller chicks and a poultry cup nipple on the side of the bucket for the older birds.

Bee, how the heck do you get your chickens to use those watering cups ? I installed 4 of those things last year and not one bird would use the darn things !

 

[enola]

Let them get thirsty. ....... they will figure it out real quick! Since it is still cool they won't dehydrate before figuring it out.

 

[Beekissed]

Bee, how the heck do you get your chickens to use those watering cups ? I installed 4 of those things last year and not one bird would use the darn things !

My older hens just flat out refused to use either the red nipples or this nipple cup, no matter what. I even penned them for several days with this as the only water source...but since their feed is wet, they weren't suffering much and just wouldn't use them. I tried using BOSS in the cup to encourage pecking, etc. Nothing. I'd trigger it to put water in there and then come back to find they had drank it dry but never once triggered the nipple.

But...when I got that first pen of cheap meats they learned how to use it in seconds! Same with the second pen of cheap meats and none of those birds were on nipple waterers from whence they came. Go figure.

Let them get thirsty. ....... they will figure it out real quick! Since it is still cool they won't dehydrate before figuring it out.

It's worth a shot to try this. Let them see and hear you ticking that nipple lever....do it before you feed so they are interested in what you are doing and get to see the water right after you tick the nipple. That's how I did it with the meat roosters.

 

[Blooie]

I'm not sure how to get them to use the nipple waterers either, but after the week I've had I can tell you that when the ones I ordered get here these chickens will either learn or they'll thirst to death! Aw, you know I'd never do anything to deliberately hurt my chicks, but I figure if they are going to peck at everything they see, and one of those things squirts the water that they're craving right into their mouths, it probably won't take long for them to get the hang of it.

I'm not big on hurting critters, but I gotta tell ya that sending Jane the Evil flying yesterday morning flat out felt good! Little brat! I had all the others into the temporary box so it was just Jane, Charlie, and Rose left. Jane came at me again and I nailed her. Flicked her right under the beak with my fingers! She backed up and made a second run and she got another dose of "I don't think so." Prince Charlie was standing on the roost like a bookie watching a prize fight. Rose tried an end run while I was distracted with Jane. Surprised the chicken poop out of her when I just grabbed her up and held her with her feet suspended in mid-air. She was squawking and trying to flap her wings but they were clamped tight against her body by my hand. I lifted her out of the brooder and dumped her unceremoniously into the holding box, where she hunkered down and tried to make sense out of what had just happened.

Then it was back to Jane the Evil and Prince Charlie. By now Jane was backed into the furthest corner of the brooder giving me the chicken glare, with her wings held back and her head extended, and Charlie was back in the front row waiting for round two. He didn't have to wait long. Jane came darting out of her corner and met the flicking finger of fate under her beak again, a little harder this time. She didn't back up this time, just kept coming like a machine gun, wings flapping madly the whole time. This time when I flicked her, I did it right on top of her head with my other hand instead of the one she was focusing on. (Does it make me a terrible person that I was actually enjoying this?) You know, Bee, what was really weird was that after the second time I nailed her she rarely made another sound - it was like watching a snake eyeing it's prey - the stare and the silence and then the strike. One more strike at me, one more flick from me, and it was exactly as you described - she was trying so hard to avoid the giant Superchicken that she literally ran up and down the length of that brooder looking for way out.

Funny, at some point in the battle Charlie decide that the fun of watching the fight was over. He went back to the feeder and started munching. Guess he figured, "See, I'm being good. I'm the good chicken. You love me, right?" He got the Rose treatment. A grab and a dump and for him the show was over. Jane was next. A grab, a few squawks, and she was in the holding cell too. I DID it! No gloves, no blood, no kidding! Now, of course all of this took longer to describe than it did to actually happen, but when I took them all back out of the box to put them into the clean brooder Jane the Evil looked like the playground bully who'd been bested - she would see my hand and she actually looked like a worm squirming under all the other chicks to hide.

Have I licked her? Heck, I dunno. Charlie and Rose seemed to have learned by watching, but Jane may be one of those critters who holds a grudge, so we'll see. All I know is that the next time I ever have to put my hands in there, except for changing out their waterer, I'll be ready. The last time I'll need to handle her will be to move her out to the coop so I guess we'll find out then.

 

[Beekissed]

I'm not sure how to get them to use the nipple waterers either, but after the week I've had I can tell you that when the ones I ordered get here these chickens will either learn or they'll thirst to death! Aw, you know I'd never do anything to deliberately hurt my chicks, but I figure if they are going to peck at everything they see, and one of those things squirts the water that they're craving right into their mouths, it probably won't take long for them to get the hang of it.

I'm not big on hurting critters, but I gotta tell ya that sending Jane the Evil flying yesterday morning flat out felt good! Little brat! I had all the others into the temporary box so it was just Jane, Charlie, and Rose left. Jane came at me again and I nailed her. Flicked her right under the beak with my fingers! She backed up and made a second run and she got another dose of "I don't think so." Prince Charlie was standing on the roost like a bookie watching a prize fight. Rose tried an end run while I was distracted with Jane. Surprised the chicken poop out of her when I just grabbed her up and held her with her feet suspended in mid-air. She was squawking and trying to flap her wings but they were clamped tight against her body by my hand. I lifted her out of the brooder and dumped her unceremoniously into the holding box, where she hunkered down and tried to make sense out of what had just happened.

Then it was back to Jane the Evil and Prince Charlie. By now Jane was backed into the furthest corner of the brooder giving me the chicken glare, with her wings held back and her head extended, and Charlie was back in the front row waiting for round two. He didn't have to wait long. Jane came darting out of her corner and met the flicking finger of fate under her beak again, a little harder this time. She didn't back up this time, just kept coming like a machine gun, wings flapping madly the whole time. This time when I flicked her, I did it right on top of her head with my other hand instead of the one she was focusing on. (Does it make me a terrible person that I was actually enjoying this?) You know, Bee, what was really weird was that after the second time I nailed her she rarely made another sound - it was like watching a snake eyeing it's prey - the stare and the silence and then the strike. One more strike at me, one more flick from me, and it was exactly as you described - she was trying so hard to avoid the giant Superchicken that she literally ran up and down the length of that brooder looking for way out.

Funny, at some point in the battle Charlie decide that the fun of watching the fight was over. He went back to the feeder and started munching. Guess he figured, "See, I'm being good. I'm the good chicken. You love me, right?" He got the Rose treatment. A grab and a dump and for him the show was over. Jane was next. A grab, a few squawks, and she was in the holding cell too. I DID it! No gloves, no blood, no kidding! Now, of course all of this took longer to describe than it did to actually happen, but when I took them all back out of the box to put them into the clean brooder Jane the Evil looked like the playground bully who'd been bested - she would see my hand and she actually looked like a worm squirming under all the other chicks to hide.

Have I licked her? Heck, I dunno. Charlie and Rose seemed to have learned by watching, but Jane may be one of those critters who holds a grudge, so we'll see. All I know is that the next time I ever have to put my hands in there, except for changing out their waterer, I'll be ready. The last time I'll need to handle her will be to move her out to the coop so I guess we'll find out then.

Sniff! Sniff! <sob!> I'm so proud!!!

These methods are developed by years of chicken research in my coop based lab

and when implemented properly and with consistency will yield the desired result. I'm so very glad you tried it and got to see first hand a little bit of chicken psychology at work...it's all they really understand and it's their normal language. So confusing to be a chicken and owned by humans trying to communicate in the wrong way. That chick got a mama lesson today and those mama hens don't feel a bit bad about doing what is necessary to discipline an unruly child...it's natural and necessary.

Blooie's gots chicken skills!

P. S. I enjoy it too and it's because I finally communicated in a language they understand and the words are coming out loud and clear, "Don't bite the hand that feeds you, stupid!"

 

[Blooie]

Sniff! Sniff! <sob!> I'm so proud!!!

These methods are developed by years of chicken research in my coop based lab

and when implemented properly and with consistency will yield the desired result. I'm so very glad you tried it and got to see first hand a little bit of chicken psychology at work...it's all they really understand and it's their normal language. So confusing to be a chicken and owned by humans trying to communicate in the wrong way. That chick got a mama lesson today and those mama hens don't feel a bit bad about doing what is necessary to discipline an unruly child...it's natural and necessary.

Blooie's gots chicken skills!

P. S. I enjoy it too and it's because I finally communicated in a language they understand and the words are coming out loud and clear, "Don't bite the hand that feeds you, stupid!"

<taking a bow> I got more than chicken skills - I got CHICKEN BRAINS!! Um, wait a minute.......I have to go and rethink this one........

 

[enola]

Is there a difference between chicken brained and bird brained ?????

 

[Blooie]

Is there a difference between chicken brained and bird brained ?????

Oh, goodness, Enola, I sure hope so....