My horizontal nipples in the white 2.5 gal bucket were perfectly fine from April-Sept....no leakage. I used the recommended drill bit 11/32 and inserted them perfectly square and hand-tightened. It looks like the plastic bucket has cracked above each HN. Maybe I over-tightened them originally but got away with it as long as the days were warm and as the temps dropped the plastic became a bit more brittle.... At this point I don't know if I should just purchase new plastic buckets.
I purchased a 2-gal black rubber bucket today (designed for livestock) thinking that the rubber might be more forgiving than the hard plastic. What do you think?
Also, the submersible heaters that you all recommend specify safety for plastic buckets. What about the rubber buckets?
On a slightly different note from way back in the thread: My 22 hens learned to use the HN within a minute and don't hesitate ever to use them. However, if given the choice, they totally prefer a dish of water.
Remove the HN's and apply some food grade silicone and put them back in, but not as tight... should work... OR tap the holes with a 1/8" pipe tap to add some threads... I used the tap on PVC pipe to put the nipples in...
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