BriteTap Chicken Waterer

Just purchased this about 6 weeks ago, as my other chicken watering devices always seemed to be dirty or difficult to fill, etc... i have used the old fashioned galvanized steel ones (consistently dirty water, hot in the summer, and run out quickly), the hanging buckets with nipples underneath (difficult to clean and fill, as you cannot set them down anywhere, and chickens did not seem to like using it), and plastic top fill (consistent dirty water... and got hot in the summer), amongst others, so i am no stranger to other watering systems.I like this because it attaches to a cooler..... and a large one (i use 5 gallon Igloo). In the last few weeks, i have frozen a plastic bowl of ice in the freezer and placed in this on the hot days (and we have had the hottest summer on record in Utah this year) I like it because the lid on the cooler fits snuggly and it inside has stayed pristine, therefore, the water my girls are drinking is the same.I have read complaints about how to set it up. I bought two plastic "milk crates" from Walmart, stacked them and set it on top of that... perfect height and very stable. I have fortunately not had any of my girls try to perch on either the cooler or the valve apparatus, but i have plenty of perches in the coop, so they really don't need to.What i don't like are the stoppers on the side of the unit that need to be removed to clean or "charge" the nipples... they are flimsy and highly difficult to remove. I am heading out this morning to get some rubber stopper replacements, hopefully. I read on another review that they can be found at Home Depot. Another thing i dislike is that i have walked into my coop and found one of the nipple taps askew in it's housing and streaming water.... it was fixed with a simple tap of my finger, but as i bought this unit so that i could go away for a few days and know that my chickens would always have fresh water, this is, indeed, a big problem and has h happened on several occasions ...... it emptied a newly filled Igloo overnight last night! I have written to the company and will see what they think..... i'm thinking faulty nipple?Regardless, this is still the best system i have found for my chickens.... no more dirty bums from foul, hot, water and slimy receptacles.... anxious to see how it does in the winter.....

First time we have raised poultry and I've done a lot of research. This was one of my first purchases! We got 10 Pekin ducklings. It worked great in a half gallon plastic water jug from Target with large handle to hang over edge of plastic brooder box. We showed one how to drink and within half a second, all the others were drinking from it too. Ducklings are very messy and would have pooped in their water or dumped it over in three minutes without this waterer. However,by about three weeks old (they are larger than an average chicken now!), they prefer dunking their head into a one gallon plastic pail (too narrow to get into but tall enough and strong that they don't knock it over). They will drink out of waterer but prefer the pail. They need to clean their noses when eating unlike chickens. Without a dish of water every day, they will get labored breathing. I noticed. So I might keep this in their coop to keep water at night but avoid mess (trust me they still dribble it plenty even with this device), but I will do a pail during the day outside so they can rinse their bills properly.It says you have to clean it out every month, but a week is the max I find. Even with a lidded container,the water inside gets feathery and the container gets a bit slimy inside. It is very slimy inside the narrow waterer parts and the plugs and hard to clean out without a small brush. Maybe the ducks are slobbering food thru the nipples into the waterer? Sometimes I have used apple cider vinegar in the water,other times not...Doesn't cut down on water degradation at all. I put it out in our enclosed garden only once with and them it was in sunshine and within hours, the water was very ropy, so if u plan to use outside, u need full shade or get the cover for this. I use a pail now.

This is a good product, very convenient when it comes to watering multiple birds. Plugs right into a standard beverage cooler hole. I have had 2 or 3 since I started caring for Chickens. First one broke when the cooler was dropped during refilling (that's on me) Algae will grow inside this part and require dismantling to clean it out, not the easiest thing to do. The current issue I seem to have is that my chickens will attempt to hop up on top of it. Causing it to snap right off the cooler its mounted to. It will snap at the threads and there is nothing you can do to fix it, Ive tried all types of glues, PVC cements and silicone products, wont work. With that being said, come up with a way to keep your birds from jumping on it and the occasional water treatments to keep water clean and you cant go wrong it this product. I've seen lots of questions about freezing, well I'm in Florida, but it has gotten below freezing here. I noticed the water inside was frozen so I didn't touch anything and just put it in the sun and it thawed out just fine no issues. But continuous frozen temps might develop issues IMO. I know the appeal of the DIY pvc waterers of youtube will tempt you with a low startup price but you cant beat a plug and play product like this. Highly Recommend.