Water nipples? (Vertical, Horizontal/side mount, saddle)

[aart]

Good info thanks for that aart. I admit I haven't tried them in a thin walled jug.

How old were the chicks you've tried to get onto them? I might have to make a new drinker pail today and see how they get along. The brooder has birds from 9-25 days old in it, with shavings and a lipped pail Someone, somewhere didn't recommend the horizontals for chicks less than 10days IIRC. They sure would nice to use for younger chicks, my current turkey chicks just love to rattle the vertical nipples until all the water has drained out into the shavings. They are worse than my kids for making a mess, lol.

I've read and had various experiences with the HN's.....the main key might be starting them out at a day old with no other waterer exposure.
I've always been to nervous to do that, tho I did have some 2-3 day olds pick it pretty quick...all the others took longer to figure it out.

From what I've seen there's no hard and fast 'rules' that garner success...tho removing all other waterers does help,
but can be nerve racking and should not be done in extreme weather where dehydration could be seriously quick.

 

[hillbillyreefer]

We did some one day old on HN's, but not everyone truly picked up on them until about day seven. That was nerve racking, especially with the smaller chicks that couldn't actually move the nipple and make water come out.

Now, we do several phases:
1 day - 1 week: open waterer (they just sleep anyways so who cares...lol).
1 week - 2 week: fount waterer, with nipple drinker available (for visual only).  
3 week +: sink or swim with the older chicks, immediate training upon entry, but nothing afterwards.  There is no other water available, just education on how to use the nipples.

We have never lost a bird to this method and it seems to work pretty well.  No vertical nips, only horizontal for us!

I was going to login and ask about a very similar method this morning! Thanks!

My day old turkey chicks will get vertical nipples today in the brooder, in the next couple days I will put horizontals in and observe the reaction, if they go for them the vertical will be removed. The other brooder has chicks more than a week old, that pen will have the nasty lipped pail drinker removed and horizontals put in. They might as well figure it out when they are young.

Bye-bye nasty pails, leaky verticles, hello horizontals with minimal mess! Woooohooooo!

 

[hillbillyreefer]

All my chicks are now on horizontal nipples. The youngest ones are week olds and they took to them instantly. The other pen of 2-4 week olds went from a lipped pail to a bucket with horizontals without any issues whatsoever. This weeks hatch will begin tomorrow, the chicks will only have horizontals at first to see how they get along. Hopefully it works, messy wet pens from dripping water is absolutely the worst part of raising poultry.


Aart, thanks for the tip that those nipples will seal in thin containers. Like you said they work just fine. Myth busted!