Chickens, being fussy and sloppy creatures, can extremely quickly contaminate any open tank with water with fluff, feathers and all the surrounding litter, unless, of course, they can turn it over. Therefore, it is so important to make drinking bowls closed for these birds. About one of the best types of drinking bowls - nipple - and will be discussed in the article.
Chicken Drinker Requirements
The main thing that is required from a chicken drinker in the first place is its availability for birds at any time, because they do not drink according to the schedule, but according to the degree of their thirst.
In addition, drinking bowls for chickens should be:
- convenient for birds and their owners during servicing devices;
- durable and resistant to chickens;
- safe for birds in the sense of the absence of sharp edges and corners, which they could hurt, and with regard to the non-toxicity of the materials from which the drinkers are made;
- closed from litter and excrement;
- heated in the cold season in an insulated chicken coop.
What is a chicken nipple system
As the name implies, the main element in this system is a nipple, which is a device that opens access to water when you press its stem and blocks the flow of water when the rod returns to its original position.
The rods in the nipples move either up and down, which is quite enough for adult birds, or in any direction, which is more convenient for chickens.
Did you know? Being a pure vegetarian, the chicken, nevertheless, has the vision that another bird of prey would envy. At the same time, she can visually recognize up to one hundred individuals, whether her relatives or people.
Nipples are mounted at a certain distance from each other - most often in pipes that are connected either to a water tank or to a water supply. Depending on the size of the stock of birds, the nipple system for their watering may consist of one or more of these pipes equipped with nipples.
Benefits
The advantages of such systems are obvious and are as follows:
- pros
- automation of water distribution;
- hygiene of devices, lack of conditions for pollution and stagnation of water;
- sufficient ease of manufacture and affordable price;
- convenience of service;
- Ability to service large numbers of birds.
Disadvantages
There are no obvious shortcomings in this system, but you can find them if you wish:
- Minuses
- installation of drinking bowls will cost more compared to using bowls, bowls and troughs for watering birds;
- if chickens use pipes leading to drinking water as a perch, they can break this pipeline;
- although getting used to using a nipple drinker is not a problem for chickens, roosters and chickens, nevertheless, an open bowl with water is much more familiar to them.
DIY nipple drinkers for chickens
Making a car drinker for chickens using a nipple system is not a big deal for a home master. Moreover, home-made products practically do not differ from factory ones in their functionality, and they often surpass them in a creative approach to their design.
Important! You should not pair the drinker with the feeder or even place them close to each other.
Materials and tools for work
This will require:
- nipple - 3 pcs.;
- syringe - 2 pcs.;
- plastic pipe 50 cm long and 25 mm in diameter;
- drill with a diameter of 8 mm;
- tap with a diameter of 10 mm;
- hair dryer;
- plastic clamps - 2 pcs.
Step-by-step manufacturing instructions
To make this simple nipple drinker for chickens, you must:
- Seal one end of the plastic pipe with a syringe, for which use a hairdryer to heat the end of the pipe and insert a syringe into it to the depth of its body without removing the piston. This syringe will serve as a plug for one end of the pipe.
- Mark three proportionally located holes on the pipe and drill them with a wood drill.
- Cut a thread in these holes with a tap.
- Screw the nipples into them.
- Insert the syringe body into the second end with a hairdryer, without its lower tapering and upper parts and without a piston. This part of the syringe protruding from the pipe will serve as a fitting to which a rubber or plastic hose leading to the water supply can be connected.
- Put plastic clamps on the pipe edges to secure the drinkers in the cage with chickens.
Important! In the cage, one nipple is able to supply up to 15 birds with water, and in the open area - twice as much.
Video: making chicken nipple drinkers
Drinking bowl installation
As a rule, chickens and even chickens quickly enough figure out how to get water from a nipple drinker, they should demonstrate a couple of times water droplets at the end of the nipple rod. But the drinker itself is attached to the walls of the chicken cage by means of clamps not arbitrarily, but at a certain height, providing the birds maximum comfort while drinking.
This height depends on the age of the chickens and is determined by the size of the angle formed between the conditional line drawn through the tip of the beak and the lower edge of the bird’s eye along its body and the lower horizontal of the nipple drinker pipe.
Did you know? Hens were tamed by humans almost three thousand years ago in African Ethiopia.
The dimensions of the angle should be as follows:
- for chickens up to 2 days of age - 30–45 degrees;
- for chickens from 2 days to a week - 60 degrees;
- for weekly broilers and older - 75–85 degrees.
The nipple device for drinking chickens, fully automating this important process, at the same time solves hygiene problems. At the same time, creating it at home with your own hands is available to almost everyone who has little skills in owning the simplest tool.
