Nipple Waterers & rabbit/hamster water bottles

[Rozzie]

There have been posts quite a few times both here and on the chicken boards about people using these types of things to supply water for their birds.

Is anyone aware offhand of any studies that have been done regarding the amount of water consumed per bird with different types of watering systems?

I'm thinking it would be pretty hard to measure with the automatic watering systems. It would mean adding some sort of device to measure total water usage & averaging out per bird, and accounting for any drips OR doing the same on a per cage basis.
This would take some serious financial investment.

How about some "on the ground" observations with rabbit & hamster bottles? How much do your birds go through, on average? Have you compared this to watering with a more traditional system?

The reason I ask is because my Rabbit knows how to drink from a rabbit bottle. However, he consumes VERY little water with one of these. The former owners found out by accident one day that he drank several times as much a day when provided with a bowl. I've continued to supply a bowl and no longer even give him the rabbit bottle. I know that birds & rabbits are very different (duh) and that we can't generalize from one species to the other. However, it did make me wonder if anyone has observed anything similar.

I know that with people chronic low levels of dehydration can create a variety of health issues without us even being aware we are dehydrated. It would make sense that the same would hold true for other animals.

It would be interesting to see a comparison of how much water is used with automatic nipple type watering systems versus automatic cup style watering systems (which would also have to account for loss due to evaporation).

 

[kingmt]

They waste more in open waterers then they do nipples. They also poop in them. Evaporation would be more of a problem in a open water because you have more liner coverage.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[BlacksheepCardigans]

Mine started on a rabbit waterer and drink eagerly from them; they prefer them to open water. They also prefer them to chicken nipples, though they're willing to deal with the nipples. The rabbit-type waterers allow them to stick their beaks in and drink continually; they don't have to keep wiggling them like they do the nipples. I don't know about per-bird consumption in the big guys because they're using a Tidy-Cat bucket with nipples but I can tell you that my 7 one-week-old babies are currently going through 8-10 oz a day in a rabbit bottle.

 

[shelleyd2008]

Some of my coturnix would rather use the rabbit bottles, others (in the same pen) would rather have the chick waterers. In the summer my breeders go through almost a gallon of water a day in a 'chick' waterer, or they empty 2 1-liter bottles on the rabbit waterers, so I guess it's about the same either way.

 

[Buttercup Chillin]

I noticed my Jumbos drink more from the pop bottle with the white cup that sticks thru the cage than the glass bird waterer, (I am going to try the rabbit waterers for them, on new cages. Have a few bottles, not the cages, yet. They will go thru twice the water in the little cups than in the bottle. I found that the walmart 1 liter Zero water bottles fit perfect, so less spillage. They prefer Pmegranate,Blueberry, Acai to the peach flavored bottle. FYI

But I have one Gold that will only use the little bird waterer and that is My Delima.
I have yet to try the water nipples, DH wants to set them up, so in the Spring, maybe.

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

I've had a few rabbits in the past. I always had bowls of water out for them. But the last 'few' I had I used the Rabbit Bottle thingy. I didn't really notice them not drinking alot of water. They drank a huge water bottle half way down everyday.

I use small 2 oz. water bottle for my Buttons ...I house them in pairs and they drink so little it takes them about a week to drink 2 oz.