Teaching Chicks How to Use a Nipple Waterer

[KimChick]

We decided to use a nipple waterer with our chicks this year.
@Kbr42 - I know your mother hen has taught her chicks to drink from one, but right now I'm the mother hen.
So far, they are either not able to use it, or have not figured it out. They drink when I tap it for them. Then again, they are not a week old yet.
I saw on a site that waiting until they are 2 weeks old is the way to go.
Any ideas are most welcome.

[Kbr42]

We decided to use a nipple waterer with our chicks this year.
@Kbr42 - I know your mother hen has taught her chicks to drink from one, but right now I'm the mother hen.
So far, they are either not able to use it, or have not figured it out. They drink when I tap it for them. Then again, they are not a week old yet.
I saw on a site that waiting until they are 2 weeks old is the way to go.
Any ideas are most welcome.

Take each check, one - by - one and show them how to use it. I do it as I'm transferring the chicks from the incubator to the brooder. Make sure it isn't too high for them to reach. It should be easy for them to touch with their beak. Mine have it within an hour they are all drinking.

[KimChick]

Yeah, but DH got the horizontal nipples, not like the ones you have.
I think I will have to put in a small water fount in the brooder until they are old enough to use the horizontal nipples.

[lolotsung]

mine were 1 week old and I put one in front of it and started tapping with my finger and it started pecking..then it stopped... then another pecked then it stopped...I had the corner of a square rubbermaid container that was holding my plastic chick water (the ones with a red bottom)...lined up with the nipple waterer...filled the waterer to the top to created more pressure so there was a very slow drip and if a chick didn't get the drip it would fall onto the rubbermaid lid and not get the shavings wet...I have seen the millies drink water from a blade of grass so this is similar and maybe instinct? so I was hoping that they would see a drop of water and peck at it...everyone started seeing the drop and pecking at it...maybe I was lucky?

[Killerbunny]

Have you tried a cat toy pointer? I use one to get my turkeys to eat and drink with normal waterers.

[Jaye]

Yeah, but DH got the horizontal nipples, not like the ones you have.
I think I will have to put in a small water fount in the brooder until they are old enough to use the horizontal nipples.

yeah, those horizontal ones are too difficult for chicks to operate. In fact even my full grown chickens couldn't get enough water out of them. The metal button toggle that they are supposed to knock to get water to come out are really stiff, and require quite a bit of force to move them.
We abandoned those, and bought the plunger style cups and they are much easier to activate. More recently we found these

and they work really well! Not cheap, but very effective.
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07LC2RLVX/?co ... _lig_dp_it

[KimChick]

They don't look like that. Let me find a photo.

[KimChick]

They look like this:

[Jaye]

Yes, I knew the ones you were talking about. Those are the kind that we ditched because we found that they were too difficult for the chicks, or even our full grown chickens for that matter, to peck hard enough to get any/enough water out. We didn't want to risk dehydration, especially in the summer months when they need water to regulate their body temperature.
That's why we switched to the ones I added a photo of in my post. The photo in the post is of the ones we are using now, and we like them. So do the hens. I posted the photo as a suggestion for an alternative and IMHO better product.

[Kbr42]

These are the ones that work the best for chicks and chickens. They are the ones I use for all my chicks.