Vertical (gravity) vs. horizontal (spring loaded) watering nipples

[LoneOak]

Does anyone know where to order these that ships to Canada? No luck with eBay or Amazon yet... Looking for 5 to 15 of the horizontal nipples. Located in Kamloops bc. Thanks!

I'm sending you a PM.

 

[mainechicklet]

Last night the temperatures dropped to -8 °F, the first real test of our horizontal nipple system. I went out this morning when the temperatures had risen a few degrees. Three out of four of the chicken nipples had iced up. The one that didn't might not have could be un-iced for two reasons--one, it was nearest to where the submerged bird bath heater was, and it was also nearest a wall, so it would likely be less used by the chickens and therefore wouldn't have had a pool of water sitting in the cup to ice up.

I used a hair dryer to melt the ice on the three cups and get the metal inner piece moving again. Temperatures are supposed to get to 19 today, so once I get the chance I'll see if they are still flowing.

This is what our water bucket looked like a couple months back before we hung it in the chicken coop, just so people can see it is a pretty standard installation.

Why do you refer to your horse as "useless"?

 

[iwiw60]

Last night the temperatures dropped to -8 °F, the first real test of our horizontal nipple system. I went out this morning when the temperatures had risen a few degrees. Three out of four of the chicken nipples had iced up. The one that didn't might not have could be un-iced for two reasons--one, it was nearest to where the submerged bird bath heater was, and it was also nearest a wall, so it would likely be less used by the chickens and therefore wouldn't have had a pool of water sitting in the cup to ice up.

I used a hair dryer to melt the ice on the three cups and get the metal inner piece moving again. Temperatures are supposed to get to 19 today, so once I get the chance I'll see if they are still flowing.

This is what our water bucket looked like a couple months back before we hung it in the chicken coop, just so people can see it is a pretty standard installation.

I use horizontal water nipples also, along with a mini stock tank heater (aka bird bath heater). I'm wondering why yours iced up on you. We got temps down to -18 and had no problems, water was actually quite warmish. This is a pic of the water heater I use...it turns on automatically at 38 degrees.

It is quite heavy for its size and does a great job. Could your water heater have quit functioning for some reason possibly?

 

[Leahs Mom]

@ralleia
Do you use a heater in your bucket?

 

[iwiw60]

@ralleia
Do you use a heater in your bucket?

Yes...just like pictured in my post above.

 

[mainechicklet]

Sorry if this question has been previously answered but: What is the recommended nipples/hens ratio? I need to supply 2 water dishes and 2 feeders for 16 hens that bully each other. My other coop has 7 easy-going hens. I was thinking 2 nipples for the 7 nice hens. And four for the picking on each other hens.....2 nipples/bucket.

 

[iwiw60]

Sorry if this question has been previously answered but: What is the recommended nipples/hens ratio? I need to supply 2 water dishes and 2 feeders for 16 hens that bully each other. My other coop has 7 easy-going hens. I was thinking 2 nipples for the 7 nice hens. And four for the picking on each other hens.....2 nipples/bucket.

I would put more nipples than what you stated...here's a few pics of my setup:

This is a 2-1/2 gallon bucket with 5 nipples on it. I have a small flock of 4 hens.



If you're using 5-gallon buckets I would put at least 6 nipples per bucket...that should do it.

 

[aart]

Quote: If you read @ralleia 's post...they do have a bird bath heater.

@iwiw60 ....Leahs Mom was asking ralleia.

 

[mainechicklet]

Thank you. I looked at your "switching your girls over to HWN" but I wasn't sure what size the bucket was and how many hens you were supplying. I plan to use 2-3 gal buckets....way lighter than 5 gal buckets. But I will copy your pic and place 4-5 nipples per bucket. Thank you!

 

[Blooie]

This is good to hear. BYC member @Blooie reported sustained temps of -17F and she had freezing up in her 5 gallon bucket using a stock tank deicer in Wyoming. She said that the water didn't freeze, and the horizontal nipples didn't freeze right away but when the chickens drank, they left a tiny drip in the small indentation some call a "cup". Over several days of such cold temps, each tiny drip built up upon each other and eventually created icicles that grew up and down...up to the nipple part and eventually froze the whole nipple. Perhaps she will chime in and post a link to her report about it, as she explained much better than I just did.

I also wonder about people's different temps. For example, different thermometers, different locations (ie, some have the thermo in the coop, while others have it in the run and yet others like me have it in the garden shed). I wonder if a few degrees could make a big difference when you get into the negative teens with the HN's.

You explained it perfectly, pdirt. Every morning during that cold snap it was the same routine - start the coffee, bundle up, grab the heat gun, and go out and thaw the icicles.


This photo was taken after Ken had already thawed and freed the nipple and the cup. The ice encased the nipple, the cup and the side of the bucket, then flowed down the brick and onto the floor of the coop. We had a stock tank heater in there and the water in the bucket never froze...just the nipples all the way to the ground. We had a new chick suffer frostbite on his feet because his feet got wet when he stood on the brick to drink. Poor Scout.


Our morning routine. Not much fun early in the morning when it's -17.

In that same thread pdirt referred to, someone (I forgot who it was so forgive me) used one of those point and shoot thermometers and was surprised to find that the water toward the top of bucket was measurably warmer, cooled toward the middle, and was coldest toward the bottom. That's simple science with air - we all know warm air rises - but I'd never thought to apply that to water in a bucket, for crying out loud! Look how low the nipples are on our waterer. Now, during the warm months that bucket is hung in the run and the nipples are at the level of the chicken's back. But we didn't do that in the coop. We had eggs under a broody and knew that when the chicks got older they'd need to drink too.

This begs the question, would placing the nipples up higher when setting it on bricks make a difference? My gut reaction was "Of course, that's where the warmer water is". But when I took the time to actually think about it, I'm not so sure. While the warmer water where the metal nipple goes into the bucket might be warmer, the problem still remains that the water in the little cups just sits in there, and therein lies the problem in sub-zero temperatures.

I liked the suggestions here of drilling a small hole to drain the cup after they drink, but worry about water dripping into the litter all of the time. So then I might still have the icicle problem in winter. Higher horizontal nipple placement, might make a difference. Of course, right now it's been in the 60s and 70s for almost two months, so I have no way to test the theory in winter conditions, but it sure is worth a try.

Side note: While I was typing this, I got that little notification box at the bottom that said there are two new posts. But when I clicked on them to see what they were, I got the warning about leaving the page with unsaved data.... <sigh> So if double up comments here, it ain't my fault!