Water nipples

[rick]

Bought some chicken water nipples online. Took ages to arrive from China and then just when I'd forgotten they arrived. Set 3 into the bottom of a plastic 2 litre 'kilner' jar, with a small air hole in the top, and hung it up. They learned how to drink from them very quickly. Showed the top hen how to do it and she taught the rest (love the way that works!)
Now the water is fresh and clean all the time.
Only one catch - they don't come with nuts on the tank connector. I just glued them in with uPVC pipe weld (and left overnight for the solvent to evaporate)
If I find a common source for plastic nuts I'll post it. I guess when they are used commercially there is a special thread tapped hole into the pipe or tank so nuts are not needed.

 

[Marigold]

Glad its working for you, Rick, but do you have alternative drinkers for the first frosty morning when the line freezes up? And if you've sealed it off, how will you clean out algae in warmer weather?
Personally I like seeing hens having a good beakful of water, tipping their heads back and letting it run down naturally. Did you know they can't swallow, they have to let gravity take the water down?
Also of course, with a traditional drinker several can drink at once, pointing themselves in different directions round a circle, and thus they can more easily drink whilst avoiding a bully.
I find the easiest way to keep the water clean is to place the drinker on a block, at chest height for the smallest bird, or to hang it on a hook from a beam. That way, they don't seem to scratch rubbish up into it from the ground.

 

[rick]

Have to agree there - traditional drinkers (or a puddle) seems more natural though even on bricks I was having to rinse bedding out of the tray regularly. The drinkers are at just above head height, directly into the tank (one each) but only time will tell if they are more prone to freezing than a tray. When it gets cold I'll have a backup just in case. It's an interesting design though. I can see how ice Cristal on the small drinker would easily break down with a bit of pecking. Unlike the ice on top of a puddle. Clearly with a bit of care trays can be kept liquid when its really cold ( when its that cold I'll be knitting them little jumpers!)

 

[Icemaiden]

Little jumpers aren't required when you're wearing a feather duvet
Having a second set of drinkers really helps though- you can keep one in your house overnight, fill it in the morning & take it out to the run & bring the other one back indoors to defrost. Simples :lol:

Out of interest, what do other people use to descale their drinkers? Despite regular cleaning out with hot soapy water, my drinkers are both getting a build-up of limescale after 21 months' use in a hard water area. This is attracting dirt & also making them harder to take apart.
Viakal will make the drinkers smell funny, as it's perfumed & the scent is quite longlasting. I guess I could use sulphamic acid (used to descale kettles) & rinse thoroughly, or I have some dilute hydrochloric acid in the garage that I found along with the aged creosote? Both drinkers are plastic, so I don't have to worry about dissolving them.

Any thoughts?

 

[Marigold]

I would say that the stuff used for kettles would be OK, because you can't taste it in the water afterwards if the kettle is well rinsed out. Maybe treat; rinse; and then put through the dishwasher if you wanted to make a really good job of it? I find an occasional go in the dishwasher also helps remove the algae residue which sticks round the curved-in parts and slight irregularities of the lip of galvanised drinker, even though I scrub it with a bottle brush each time I change the water.

 

[Lucylou]

You could try white vinegar, its a good on limescale on things like shower heads, never tried it on my water drinkers though.

 

[rick]

Update. Although they have drunk at least 6 litres through the drinkers in the last week (and I know it hasn't gone anywhere else) they clearly prefer a dish! Going to keep the tank though as well so that if they trash their water while I'm not around it will be a constant and low maintenance backup.