How To Make an Easy Chicken or Quail Waterer for the Brooder

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Problem: Baby birds make a huge mess with their water

Unsanitary

Shortly after baby birds are big enough to safely drink from a mason jar base without drowning, they start to make a mess. They scramble around kicking up bedding and poop into the reservoir, contaminating the whole water supply. Sometimes bigger babies tip over the whole dang thing and saturate their bedding, which gets stinky, not to mention the risk of dehydration.

Wasteful

I dislike wasting my time and effort by constantly washing a full-ish but cloudy water jar. I also don’t appreciate replacing the entire brooder’s worth of saturated bedding when the water is spilled. Bedding isn’t free.

Inconvenient

All this messing around is fine for a few days, but the brooding period can be up to a 8 weeks during cold weather. As a busy homeschooling mom, I am always looking for ways to streamline the process and save my energy!

Solution: DIY nipple waterer

Clean

I love nipple waterers (AKA nipple drinker, chicken nipples, poultry drinker) for how much cleaner they are. There might be a slight dribble into the bedding but a properly constructed nipple waterer prevents spills and contamination of the water container.

Cheap

I’ve bought these chicken nipples from RentACoop on Amazon multiple times. They are highly rated and I have had no problems with them. They are around a dollar each and you can repurpose many types of containers into a chicken waterer.

Easy

The installation is so simple. It doesn’t have to be perfect or pretty, but these handy little things will make watering your chickens or quail so much easier. With a DIY nipple waterer you will save time cleaning up messes and refilling water containers.

Today I will show you how I made a nipple waterer for my chick brooder. Chickens can use the red cross-shaped nipples as early as a few days old. Quail might need closer to a week to have the strength to peck at the metal button and release water.

How to make:

Step 1: Gather Supplies

First, gather all your supplies. I’m making this waterer for a chick brooder box, so I’m using a small protein powder container. You can use any size container. I’ve seen them on PVC pipe water systems, buckets and even plastic 55 gallon drums.

You will also need a drill, a 9mm (or 3/8ths) drill bit, a Sharpie and a few chicken nipples.

Step 2: Measure and Mark

Hold up the nipple to the bottom of your container and mark where you want to drill. I like it to be as close to the bottom as possible, but be sure the bottom of the cross is slightly higher than the bottom edge of your container, or the nipple will pop off when you set it down.

Side note: I remove the dribble dishes from the chicken nipples. I don’t like cleaning them out, but then a little water does drip when they drink.

Step 3: Drill Holes

Starting with a slow setting, drill a shallow dent into the side of your container. Once it gets going, increase the speed until you punch through the plastic. DO NOT DRILL A HOLE RIGHT THROUGH YOUR HAND!

Repeat this step for a hole in the lid. If you do not put a hole somewhere else in your container, a vacuum will form after your birds’ first couple of drinks. Then water will not dispense!

The nice thing about reusing a container is you don’t feel so bad if you mess it up.

Step 4: Install Nipples

Install the red chicken nipples by gently screwing them into the holes you drilled. Twist until you can see the rubber washer flush against your container. Do not over tighten.

Step 5: Test

Fill your container with a little water and give your new DIY chicken waterer a try! The water level has to be above the metal button. Press the metal button gently and watch the water drip out.

Step 6: Teach Birds

Place your new waterer in your brooder or coop on a nice stable spot. I like to put the water in the corner of the brooder box for added stability.

The chicks can be terrified of new furniture, so place the container gently and make reassuring noises if that’s your style 🙂 Then gently tap near the red nipples to draw your chick’s attention.

Release a couple of drops of water to the lip of the waterer. When the chicks come to investigate, they will find a little drink and become curious about how to get more water! It’s really fun to stand back and watch.

A few more examples

Fail

I was really excited about this one, since we eat so much peanut butter. Unfortunately, this type of clear, semi-flexible plastic was brittle and prone to splintering, cracking and leaving spiral slivers that i was not able to shave off with a utility blade. FAIL.

Wins

While a regular round bucket will do, I feel the flat sides make better contact with the rubber gasket on the red nipples. This square 5 gallon bucket lasts my hens a couple of weeks and the opening is large enough to drop in a bucket de-icer.

This translucent 12 lb plastic honey jar from Azure works really well too! I like this size for my quail aviary and for brooding baby chickens.

Go forth and water your poultry

Well, now you know about as much as I do about chicken nipples. Let me know if you have any fun new ideas about how to use poultry nipples to make your own DIY quail or chicken waterer!