Training chickens to drink from automatic watering nozzles

[Guerillachickenherder]

I was researching large volume waterer solutions, for when we leave town for the weekend, and came up with this: http://www.fowlvisions.com/?p=132

I couldn’t find the pics or info here, though apparently, BYC is where the idea was gleaned. Anyhow, I built one for ~$15 with slightly different hardware.

I bought an automatic dog waterer attachment, hose bib, ¾” ID washer, 2 o-rings, PFTE pipe tape, and a pipe coupling nut. The procedure is similar to the drain on this rain barrel setup: http://home.comcast.net/~leavesdance/rainbarrels/construction.html. I had the bucket already and didn’t want to get too complicated so I went for it.

The rub is that I can’t get the chix to drink from it! I’ve removed their other water and let it drip to get them interested, but they just lick at the ground beneath. I’ve tried pecking at it with my finger, and tried different elevations for the waterer. They just won’t put their beaks against the nozzle.

Is there a proper height for the nozzle and is there a good way to train my flock of simpletons to drink from this thing? Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated.

-GCH

 

[chicks for better health]

I would remove the old waterer, and then take each chicken and touch there beak to the nozzle so they get a little water.

Chickens are naturally curious so they will check it out on their own as well.

Let me know how you make out.

 

[CARS]

I wish I could train the water to not freeze in winter so I could use an automatic system all year long!

 

[treeclimber233]

I have trained some of my chickens to drink from a small nipple made for rabbits to drink out of. I wonder if your nozzle is too large for them to trigger. I just let the water drip slowly and they automatically pecked at it and learned to work it practically overnight.

 

[Dawn419]

Hi and Welcome to BYC!

We use the ballpoint rabbit waterers (2 liter bottle conversion) for some of our chickens. Since chickens seems to be obsessed with shiny things, they took right to these with no help from us.

Hope this is some help!


Dawn