Drink nipples are very effective watering systems for both breeders and broilers. They deliver clean water, need little maintenance and avoid water spilling, which helps to keep the litter dry.

An important point of attention is, next to the number of birds per nipple, also the flow rate through the nipples.

As broiler have unlimited access to feed and water, the flow rate through the nipple system can be rather low, as they can spend a lot of time drinking. For broiler nipples, usually a maximum flow rate of 40 to 60 ml/min is sufficient.

Breeders are restricted in feed, which means they eat and digest the feed during a limited period of time, in which they need the majority of their daily water quantity. That means that the occupation of the nipple lines during and after feeding is quite high. If the water flow is low, they need more time to drink, which means the lines will be occupied for a longer time. This by itself is not a problem for the birds, as they have plenty of time to uptake the water (when the number of nipples is sufficient). But as the nipples are normally placed on the slats in front of the nests, a lower flow rate of water will mean that the drinking birds will block the access to the nest for a longer time. This might cause an increase of floor eggs, as birds that are ready to produce an egg cannot easily access the nests.

It is therefore important that the flow rate in breeder lines is high enough, 100-120 ml/min. Using broiler nipples for breeders is therefore not recommended.

Also attempts to limit the water intake by very low pressure levels in the lines might cause a too low flow of water in the lines. When water restriction needs to be done to keep the litter dry, it is better to turn the water off for a few hours then to restrict the water flow severely. Of course birds should have water to digest the feed, so the water can only be turned off when the feeding is not done yet, or when the birds have taken up enough water in the crop to transport and digest the feed.

In every case, water consumption needs to be checked by palpating the crops of the birds.