Poultry Talk Ontario (pto.ca)

Show me how you quench your bird's thirst! I've got the cheap plastic ones that kind of resemble humingbird feeders that sit on the ground. I'm looking at hanging a larger one. My silkies are well behaved, they don't roost on my waterer but the new crossbreed chicks do.. And they foul up the water super fast. I've read about nipple waterers.. Does anyone here use them?? I just can't imagine a chicken would be able to figure that out. Especially since some of my birds have been drinking from the bowl on the floor deal for most of their (albeit short) lives.

I've had major problems with coccidiosis as a result of in water of young birds causing a few deaths and "lack of weight gain" on young birds. Adult birds are largely immune. So its worth reviewing your hygiene for birds for this and many other reasons.
Coccidiosis is in the environment and when ingested multiplies in a birds system and if enough is consumed it harms a birds ability to process food. When winter comes the ground freezes and the coccid system stops.

Ok - so what type of waterer would you recommend?? Obviously it's bad to drink water but I'm not sure what I should invest in, hoping for some tips and tricks.

In pens i use the galvinized ones similar to the little plastic one which i dont use in hot weather cause tend to get warm & slimy . I put up on block to keep from getting crap scratched into or hang from anove with pc of twine . . Only thing to watch for if medicating water it does not go well with galvinizing . Luck

I think the big thing is that the birds-while scratching- don't scratch litter into the water bowl. (Now) I use old cooking pots surrounded by bricks and elevated. This minimizes the problem but not eliminates it. I have no experience with hanging nipple waterers. A friend of mine has dog bowls mounted on a wall.

I have a bunch of different kinds, mostly they are the metal upside down vacuum type and I also use small rubber horse buckets for the winter. The trick with waterers is to hang them from the ceiling so that the water is level with the chicken's backs. The metal ones are rounded on the top so the birds can't roost on them. I clean them out every other day. I actually prefer the rubber buckets, those vacuum waterers seem to dump water no matter how hard you try not to. I have nipples but I have not made a water bucket from them yet. They won't work in winter anyway.

I use the plastic ones. I free range my birds so feed and waterers are outside. The waterers are up on stones so not flat on the ground and I've never seen anyone roost on them. Thankfully. Maybe you could just raise them?

I've heard you can put an aquarium heater in the bucket/nipple waterers for the winter?

Keeps bucket water warm but nipples can still freeze if exposed or far away . Luck

Aquarium heaters would break if it freezes or runs out of water. Its a metal heater in a glass tube. I think that's a bad idea. I bought a galvanised heated base for waterers...piece of junk. I now use heated dog bowls or use old cooking pots and bring them In the house to thaw.