Chicken Nipple Waterer Tips

Premier's Heated Poultry Water, Chick Nipple Waterer and Bucket Nipple Waterer. 

For those having trouble getting their chickens to drink from a nipple type waterer, here are a few tips:

• Remove alternative sources of water. If a trough type is available, chickens will use it instead of the nipple drinker. 
• Tap the nipple with a finger. The resulting sound and water drop will draw the birds' attention—they will investigate the source. 
• Take a bird and hold its head to the nipple. Touch its beak to the nipple so the animal knows where to get water. 

Determining the right poultry waterer

Summer typically brings a few questions regarding water consumption and chickens. Water consumption is hard to nail down as there are many factors that influence intake; salt and protein levels in the diet, humidity, temperature, productivity (growth or egg production) and the birds ability to process feed and water.

A quick internet search will show that the average daily consumption of a chicken is about .3 liters in the cooler months and up to .5 liters per day in warmer months. Remember that there are many factors that influence intake. 

To determine the number of birds per waterer, convert the gallons to liters (3.78 liters per gallon) and divide by .3 for cooler months and .5 for warm months. For example, a 5 gallon Quick Clean Bucket Waterer holds 18.9 liters of water. This is sufficient for 63 chickens in cooler weather or 38 in hot weather. It is best to have more water available than what is actually needed. 

Another way to think of it is, 7-12 birds per gallon of water. (1 gal = 3.78 liters = 7-12 birds). Make sure to always have clean and fresh water in front of your birds. If your birds run out of water between chore times, they a need a larger or an additional waterer. 

New chicks!

Premier welcomed spring with 65 day-old peeps. Jean (co-owner of Premier) and I picked up the little birds from the post office, where the employees were only too happy to hand over the noisy box of chirping chicks. The incessant chirps were a good sign, indicating that the chicks where healthy and energetic, and indeed they were. We ordered them from an Iowa hatchery, which ships the birds via the U.S. postal service. This brought back childhood memories, as I recalled my dad picking up several hundred Leghorn chicks from the post office each year.

Our current flock of brown-egg layers is now two years old, and this summer they'll be moving to their new range -- a pond pasture behind the Premier offices. Most of the poultry photos on Premier's website and in the catalogs are of this flock.

Premier's new flock is a colorful group. The chicks don't know it, but it's their job to test a bunch of new poultry feeders, waterers, etc. and look their best for in-use product and netting photos. Accordingly, we ordered a variety of birds so we could test a wider variety of products for both free-range and backyard use.

On the list:

1) Brown-egg layers. We've been especially pleased with the Laced Wyandottes and Brahmas, so we ordered more of them, along with several each of Speckled Sussex, Partridge Rocks and Cuckoo Marans. (Another reason we like these chickens -- we enjoy the fresh eggs!)

2) Cochins. These are new for Premier, but popular among our backyard poultry customers. We selected Blue, Black, White and Silver-Laced.

3) Bantams. Incredible -- these wee birds make standard-size chicks look jumbo-sized! We have 24 of these, two or three of each: Frizzle Cochins, Golden Laced, Mottled and Barred Cochins, Black Silkies, Dark Brahmas, Mille Fleur, Golden Sebright, Japanese and the amazing White Crested Black Polish (these were the only ones we could immediately identify with certainty -- because they have what looks like little pom-poms on top their heads, even as day-old chicks).

It's proving to be an interesting little flock. Problem is -- as downy little chicks, they all look alike! We're slowly figuring out which is which as they grow their new feathers and begin to show their colors.

                                              –Vivian Rothe