waterers

[bloomnbeauty]

This maybe in the wrong place but I need to know if chickens can use a nipple for drinking water? Are they made for poultry and where would I find them? What about some for rabbits? Would they work?

 

[Colored Egg Farmer]

yes there are such things as poultry nipples and they do work. Not sure about rabbits though.

 

[amysue2012]

I use the water bottles for my rabbits but Im not sure if chickens can use them or not. Ive never tried. Ive also never seen them in any of the feed stores around here that say they are made for chickens.

 

[eggchel]

I have taught chickens and ducks to use rabbit water bottles. They are pretty quick to learn. Just take away their other waterer and then tap on the end of the water bottle's spout until a drop of water comes out. Chickens, especially, are curious and will want to know what you are doing.

Nipple watering systems are available through some poultry supply catalogs or websites, as well as through farm catalogs.
Try http://www.farmtek.com/farm/supplies/home


I use auto waterers for all my chickens, ducks and geese and really prefer them. I mostly use the type that are made for dogs and horses. Each one is a plastic or metal pan with a float valve and a hose to hook to a garden hose or spigot. For our coops, we ran a pvc pipe across the top of the coops and using T connectors, we dropped a pvc pipe down to each coop. Each was fitted with a shut off valve and a hose connector which we then attached the autowaterer to. I would recommend a pressure regulator if you have high water pressure otherwise the hoses eventually leak. Other wise, just dont open the shut off valve all the way.

We have some waterers that get their water supply from hoses that radiate out from a spigot with a 6 way splitter. Keep the valves half way closed to prevent too much pressure from blowing out the hoses. Also, for those, I use Marine/RV hoses to supply the water. Regular hoses leach chemicals into the water, especially if they are sitting in the sun.

I also have a horse trough type hanging float valve that I have hung on the inside of a big bushel size bucket out in the yard for the geese. Im going to get another one of those to put on their biggest swimming pool.

The auto waterers save a lot of work.

Chel

 

[amysue2012]

After doing some more surfing I guess maybe I was wrong! Looks like websites do carry these type of waterers.

I love reading all the posts on here Im always learning something new!

 

[Beekissed]

Used nipple waterers for all my rabbits and am going to start using them for the chickens soon. Commercial poultry growers used watering nipples, so why not us?