Watering with Lixit Bottle

[JenniferK]

I got a half-gallon Lixit bottle (for rabbits etc.) to try for our four chickens, thinking if they would drink from it we wouldn't have to worry about them dirtying their water so much. We still provide the standard type of water dish, but they seem to use both. Is there any reason drinking from the bottle could be bad for them?

 

[allen wranch]

Sounds like a good idea. A lot of the commercial poultry farms use nipple waterers for their laying chickens and it works on the same concept.

The only thing I see might see happening is if the waterer is over shavings and drips a lot, you could get some mold.

 

[Nichole77]

I was thinking about that myself. Are you talking about the big hamster bottles with the ball on the end? I wouldnt have to worry about all of the water evaporating or filling with poop and grass and junk.

 

[JenniferK]

Yes, those are the ones. I got one at Petco that holds 64 oz. I think some of them are actually labeled for dogs. The water is definitely far cleaner, and it doesn't seem to leak except for a drop here and there -- the straw/ground underneath seems to be dry.

If you want to try it, you could always do what I did and stick some nutrigrain bar (or other sticky food) onto the end of it to get them interested.

As I mentioned, they still have both waterers and seem to prefer the standard one or the hose while I'm out watering, but we do see them using the Lixit bottle occasionally and it's usually empty in about a week.

 

[stgagnon]

Hi Y'all:

I have my three young birds drinking from a Lixit. I "trained" them to it by just sticking their beaks in there and getting it going for them. I think mine holds only 32 oz.

Prior to that, I was using a rabbit waterer with the little bead in the end. I'm pretty sure that they preferred that one, but it doesn't hold enough water.

They have to work harder to get water from the Lixit. They have to peck at that little post in the middle. With the ball mechanism, all they have to do is move the ball and water drips fairly freely for them.

I found a pop-bottle conversion kit with the ball mechanism in the rabbit section of the farm supply store.. I would like to use that but it didn't work well. It just dripped continuously.

These guys are about 2 mos old now. I haven't moved them to a real coop yet. They are in my partially heated garage in an old playpen.

When I do move them to the coop outside (a chick'n barn), it am planning on making my own version of the "henspa" nipple-heated bucket waterer. I have ordered some nipples from Farmtek.

I would like to set up a nipple system with tubing like they show on the Farmtek website, but it will have to be freeze-proof. I'm thinking about getting some pipe-freeze protection cable to wrap around the tube. I haven't really gotten into the details of this. I'm starting with the easiest solution.

Suz.

Suz.

 

[wegotchickens]

We use the rabbit water bottles for our peeps. They've used bottles since they first arrived at our house. It's made keeping water clean & sanitary a LOT easier, plus I like seeing how much they actually drink. We had 3 bottles for summer to make sure they never ran out, but they clearly don't drink as much now that it's cooler.

stgagnon, I'd love to see a pic of your waterer when you're done. We have our peeps in a tractor and DH has been worrying about the waterers we're using freezing up.

 

[silkiechicken]

I also use the rabbit water bottles with my chicks. It keeps the brooder much cleaner. I have found though that if given the chance, they will drink from regular waters much more readily and I have to start with the water bottle because I've had a few just not figure it out so I had to give their fount back.

Once they are adults though, they figure out water bottles really fast. I use buckets for adults though since they are easier to clean and fill.