Good by Dirty water!

I am fed up with the chickens making a mess with the water. I put fresh water in the pan and they go and stand it in! and the 1 gallon fonts are not meant for Nova Scotia's weather. I have had countless (15+) of them go brittle and crack in the winter. I am moving to Watering nipples. I have 70 on the way two different types. So am going to do some testing. I was just on Kijiji, and some one in ON posted in the halifax one. For sale for 3.50! I almost had a heart attack. Consdering the ones i am getting are costing a buck.

One thing i hate is leaving the chickens with out water, so this should help. I plan on getting a small solar panel and some heat tape for the winter to keep every thing from freezing.

Their are two different colours, and i am curious to know if the yellow or the red well attract them. or what one they use more often.

i picked up a 100 pack of these on ebay, all cost was 70 bucks. I haven't set them up yet but am looking forward to improving my watering system. I am curious how you will set them up for winter.

in winter, i well need to add pvc pipe insulation to the pipes, and as i said i want to rig some sort of heater up.

I used to bring in and resell these. The reason $3 sounds great is, if a person only wants a few, the shipping is the same as for 75. It gets cheaper per nipple, the more you buy. Plus the price has gone down a bit, as more people are ordering them.
Here I used 2 mounted in the bottom of a vinegar bottle. I hang 3 vinegar bottles full of water each morning, and change them for fresh ones in the afternoon. Any that freeze are able to thaw inside while the others are in use. If I had electricity at the barn, then perhaps I'd have used the heat tape.
You should be quite pleased with them. I've only used the red 360 degree nipples, so I can't comment on the yellow ones. The chickens will learn to use them really quickly. Once one finds one, they all will figure it out really quickly.
Good luck.

I use the red ones (two kinds.... screw in and pop in) and need more!.... where are you getting them? A canadian source? $1 each is a real good price. They are the best thing for watering... I can't use them in winter because of freezing and I haven't got a system yet to prevent it. They cut down on watering a great deal!

I am getting mine off ebay. I am bound to make find a way to prevent freezing.

My Dad likes to solve problems and so he made 2 different kinds of heated watering jugs with the red nipples.

One worked great in the very cold weather (-20 and colder) but the water got warm if it was mild westher and so grew bacteria etc. too easily. This one was made with an RV antifreeze bottle with 2 nipples in the bottom. He put a small string of the tiny christmas tree lights around it and bubble foil around it. He then used a cat litter pail, put holes in the bottom to line up with the nipples and put a peice of the bubble foil on the bottom with holes to match the pail. The jug goes inside, cord hangs out through a notch and the lid goes on. Hang it an plug in. Worked great, just too hot for mild days.

The other one he made was almost perfect! Using it for the second year.

He used a huge icecream pail, 2 nipples in the bottom. Same thing as above only he used a woodden box and heat trace and metal tape. The sides and lid of the box had the dense blue insulation glued in. The back ot the box was left long so I could screw it to the wall of were I needed it. The only thing I needed to make sure no drafts go to the nipple themselves. Even when the nipples iced up I held my fingers on it and it melted and worked.

Last year it was in my coop and it did not freeze up, even the nipples...not once. This year the nipples kept getting frozen because it is in a large tractor and by the door. Drafty but didn`t have much options as far as room.


Just a note....smaller jugs with the nipples are awesome for chicks! keeps the water and there bedding much cleaner.
Not sure if this will help. Good luck with the experimenting:)

I would love! a system that used the nipples. Send us pictures of your set up later on and we can copy it! lol. In the meantime I have made a system that works well in our northern alberta winters. Last year, our galvanized font would freeze even with heat tape wrapped around. (cold in there) All i have is heat lamps. I was hesitant to use an open dish because I knew the birds would walk in it. So, I have found that the Water Dispenser Jugs are the perfect fix. Our Costco actually sells disposable 15 L jugs which are only worth $0.25, after you drink the water.
Anyways, how it works:
The jug sits on the floor in a shallow spill tray (Largest planter dish etc). I cut large openings into the jug starting at chest height to the birds. The pointy part of jug acts as a "roof" and no wet feet. When filled the jug holds approx half of original. I refill once a day for 20 birds. If frozen, exchange for freshly dethawed one from house. Rarely do they get tipped over, usually from fighting and only when they were near empty anyhow.
When it warms up outside and stops dipping below -10, I go back to using the font. I have been using the same disposable jugs for 2 winters. I like cheap fixes!

KatuskiFarms wrote:
Anyways, how it works:
The jug sits on the floor in a shallow spill tray (Largest planter dish etc). I cut large openings into the jug starting at chest height to the birds. The pointy part of jug acts as a "roof" and no wet feet. When filled the jug holds approx half of original. I refill once a day for 20 birds. If frozen, exchange for freshly dethawed one from house. Rarely do they get tipped over, usually from fighting and only when they were near empty anyhow.

This is confusing. Do the birds put their heads into the holes you have made? Please explain.

This use of the nipples in the jugs sounds very interesting and I would like to know more. I am thinking large 5 gallon pales that hang. I can get as many food grade big pails from our local store as I need. I have lots and lots, as I use them so much during the summer for food gathering and working stuff like that, and storing rainwater.....

could someone please take the time to make some pictures and/or explain INDEPTH how the nipples are attached to the apparatus and why they don't leak? I need to know, because, well, I just do. How do the chickens get the water to come out? I can see this would be a very simple method to get water to the chickens with much more ease. Clear and precise instruction on how the nipple works please, did I mention please have an awesome day, CynthiaM.

chicken crack wrote:My Dad likes to solve problems and so he made 2 different kinds of heated watering jugs with the red nipples.

One worked great in the very cold weather (-20 and colder) but the water got warm if it was mild westher and so grew bacteria etc. too easily. This one was made with an RV antifreeze bottle with 2 nipples in the bottom. He put a small string of the tiny christmas tree lights around it and bubble foil around it. He then used a cat litter pail, put holes in the bottom to line up with the nipples and put a peice of the bubble foil on the bottom with holes to match the pail. The jug goes inside, cord hangs out through a notch and the lid goes on. Hang it an plug in. Worked great, just too hot for mild days.

The other one he made was almost perfect! Using it for the second year.

He used a huge icecream pail, 2 nipples in the bottom. Same thing as above only he used a woodden box and heat trace and metal tape. The sides and lid of the box had the dense blue insulation glued in. The back ot the box was left long so I could screw it to the wall of were I needed it. The only thing I needed to make sure no drafts go to the nipple themselves. Even when the nipples iced up I held my fingers on it and it melted and worked.

Last year it was in my coop and it did not freeze up, even the nipples...not once. This year the nipples kept getting frozen because it is in a large tractor and by the door. Drafty but didn`t have much options as far as room.


Just a note....smaller jugs with the nipples are awesome for chicks! keeps the water and there bedding much cleaner.
Not sure if this will help. Good luck with the experimenting:)

I like this. How do you support the little jugs for the chicks, mounted on a wall? Clearly define please.

I imagine with the pail in the insulated box, any size would work, just need to make the box big enough to hold different sized pails. This idea is very interesting. Have an awesome day, CynthiaM.

here is a link that shows a nipple and some instructions how to install, seem quite easy.

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now this is in the US, but they must be available in Canada somewhere

here is a bucket with some installed

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here is a video on YouTube but he don't talk to much

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rowdyrooster wrote:here is a link that shows a nipple and some instructions how to install, seem quite easy.

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now this is in the US, but they must be available in Canada somewhere

here is a bucket with some installed

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

here is a video on YouTube but he don't talk to much

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Looked at Scotian Gold to day ( co op reseller) and they were 4.00 a peace

Nice to see ya!!!!!!!!