Water cups/nipples vs water container

[EastCoastChickens]

Anyone have suggestions on the best water system for my birds. I see a lot of people using the water cups or nipples on a bucket or pipe, but I worry with our high winds in the winter months they may freeze up. Is it best to just use a standard water/feeder hanging in the coop or run?

What do you do for water systems? especially in the winter months.

 

[Mvan42]

I have a bucket with horizontal nipples, it use to have cups i changed them for the winter. And will leave them on it. I have water outside in the run is warmer weather but put it inside in the winter. I also used a dishtank heater to help prevent freezing.

 

[CindyinSD]

Where do you live? How cold are the winters? I prefer the horizontal nipples over all the kinds I've tried. (Don't use them for waterfowl, though. They need to submerge their heads.) If you keep a bucket deicer in your water bucket, the horizontal nipples don't freeze. You do need to keep on top of the water levels though, because the deicer will burn out if it's not submerged in freezing temps.

This is how they work: They're controlled by the temperature of their surroundings and cooled by water. They have no mechanism to turn them off if the water level drops too low. As long as the air temp is above freezing, they'll be okay, but if the temp is below freezing, they will turn on and quickly overheat and burn out unless they're under water.

The whole point of using water nipples on a bucket is to keep the water clean, so you really need a lid, which makes it easy to let the water level drop.

I just give my birds a bucket full of water with a heater (er... I mean deicer--different things) in it. As for using PVC pipe with nipples, you'd need a deicer or heater and a recirculating pump--too much for me to figure out and not really worth it to use nipples. Some folks use them in summer only, as for quail cages--where it might be worth the trouble.

 

[DobieLover]

I have a thermostatically controlled bird bath deicer in a 5 gallon bucket with 4 horizontal nipples on it. It worked fine this past winter where the temps only got below zero a few nights. A more normal winter and I'd want to wrap the waterer in reflective insulation then cover that with something to keep the chickens away. The nipples can freeze in very cold weather if the entire waterer isn't insulated.

 

[CindyinSD]

I have a thermostatically controlled bird bath deicer in a 5 gallon bucket with 4 horizontal nipples on it. It worked fine this past winter where the temps only got below zero a few nights. A more normal winter and I'd want to wrap the waterer in reflective insulation then cover that with something to keep the chickens away. The nipples can freeze in very cold weather if the entire waterer isn't insulated.

I used horizontal nipples all winter--not this past, but the one before that. Way below zero many, many times. I kept expecting the nipples to freeze up, but they never did.

 

[DobieLover]

I used horizontal nipples all winter--not this past, but the one before that. Way below zero many, many times. I kept expecting the nipples to freeze up, but they never did.

Mine did.

 

[blackdog043]

Below is the link for my heated waterer build, using horizontal nipples. My son uses the same set up in SE PA, his water never freezes and it is in his run. In NC we don't get cold temps that last for day's, so I don't really have a problem. I've seen others on here that use the same set up and have used this with temps to -20, without the water freezing. It's important to have the deicer on the bottom, so the nipples don't freeze(heat rises). Also use at least a 250 watt deicer.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...ock-tank-deicer-and-horizontal-nipples.74609/

 

[EastCoastChickens]

Where do you live? How cold are the winters? I prefer the horizontal nipples over all the kinds I've tried. (Don't use them for waterfowl, though. They need to submerge their heads.) If you keep a bucket deicer in your water bucket, the horizontal nipples don't freeze. You do need to keep on top of the water levels though, because the deicer will burn out if it's not submerged in freezing temps.

This is how they work: They're controlled by the temperature of their surroundings and cooled by water. They have no mechanism to turn them off if the water level drops too low. As long as the air temp is above freezing, they'll be okay, but if the temp is below freezing, they will turn on and quickly overheat and burn out unless they're under water.

The whole point of using water nipples on a bucket is to keep the water clean, so you really need a lid, which makes it easy to let the water level drop.

I just give my birds a bucket full of water with a heater (er... I mean deicer--different things) in it. As for using PVC pipe with nipples, you'd need a deicer or heater and a recirculating pump--too much for me to figure out and not really worth it to use nipples. Some folks use them in summer only, as for quail cages--where it might be worth the trouble.

Thanks! We live in Nova Scotia, on the coast our winters don't get that cold. Maybe -10 for the odd night here and there but they consistently hover around -4ºC to +1ºC. However our strong winds can create cold windchill that freezes pipes easily. I do not have power running out to the coop and wasn't really planning on it. In the future I may look into solar options but right now I'm just trying to get the bare necessities going for when the chickens arrive in June I appreciate your help and suggestions!

 

[EastCoastChickens]

Below is the link for my heated waterer build, using horizontal nipples. My son uses the same set up in SE PA, his water never freezes and it is in his run. In NC we don't get cold temps that last for day's, so I don't really have a problem. I've seen others on here that use the same set up and have used this with temps to -20, without the water freezing. It's important to have the deicer on the bottom, so the nipples don't freeze(heat rises). Also use at least a 250 watt deicer.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...ock-tank-deicer-and-horizontal-nipples.74609/

View attachment 2084120

Thanks! Thats looks great

 

[CindyinSD]

@R2elk has a waterer that may well work for you. He'll probably hop in here and give you a link for it, but essentially it consists of a hole big enough to receive your bucket (no bigger than a chicken can reasonably be expected to escape from if it falls in) as well as a thick layer of fresh(ish) horse/cow manure to plaster the inside of the hole. It will hold its shape when you pull the bucket to refill it. The manure produces enough heat to keep the water liquid all winter.

For chicks, you just have to replace their water regularly. That's what I do, and it gets a lot colder, a lot longer here.