I had been making my own poultry nipple waterers (PNW) for my quail recently when a new product came to my attention, The Chicken Fountain™.  I read about The Chicken Fountain, but still could not understand what was better about it than the PNWs I had been making. That is, until the inventor, North Carolina resident Frank Cardaropoli, personally delivered and installed one for my chickens. I’m a “gotta see it to believe it” kind of consumer and now that I’ve seen it and watched my chickens using it, I am a firm believer that The Chicken Fountain is better for my chickens than any other water delivery system available.

The Chicken Fountain Benefits at a glance:

-Hooks up to a regular garden hose & refills automatically- water cannot run out, get warm or stagnate and algae cannot grow

-Patent-pending, semi-sealed system provides a fresh, clean, cold water supply
-No need for constant refilling by the chicken-keeper during hot weather
-Stainless steel nipples will not rust, corrode or clog
-Nipples allow access to water on demand (one drop or a steady stream-user’s choice)
-Water supply easily accessed for the addition of apple cider vinegar, supplements or medications
-Optional heater prevents freezing of water and nipples in cold temperatures

Before I get into more detail about The Chicken Fountain, let’s look at some of the scientific facts about the use of poultry nipple waterers and the expert opinion of a practicing chicken veterinarian on the benefits of poultry nipple waterers over all other water delivery systems. I wrote to The Chicken Vet asking for his thoughts on the use of nipple waterers with backyard chickens and the following was his reply:

“In regards to [nipple waterers], there is no issue at all with availability of water. NOBODY who is raising chickens professionally has used cups, bell drinkers or troughs in the past 25 years....nipples have been used successfully on literally billions of chickens. The professional farmers across North America have made nipple drinkers the standard for all chickens and many turkeys (who are a little "slow" when it comes to finding water...even if it's right in front of them).

In fact, as a vet, I recommend that everyone raising hens change from open water sources to nipple drinkers....the hens get plenty of water, and the disease reduction is so striking that there is no doubt which is better.

A research paper published in the scientific journal "Animal Welfare" in 2008* compared broiler chicken's preferences to different water sources, and had this to say:

'These results further support the hypothesis that chickens find nipple drinkers an acceptable means of drinking, provided they are at a height that the birds find comfortable and convenient. When nipple drinkers are presented at the same height as a bowl of water, then nipple drinkers are either preferred or there is no significant preference. The importance of comfort and ease of drinking is emphasized by the finding that when both the bowl and nipples are raised and the birds have to stretch to drink from either one, stretching to peck at nipple drinker is preferred to stretching to drink at a highly unusual angle from a bowl.'

Another study on the biomechanics of drinking in laying hens from the Journal Zoomorphology in 1992** shows clearly that hens develop different body movements to drink from different sources of water, such as drinking droplets (such as found on a nipple drinker), or by immersing the beak and scooping water (as would happen in open drinkers). They found that developing these behaviors was not difficult or unnatural for birds, since they regularly will drink water that is suspended on leaves or blades of grass.

Basically, as long as you do not let your hens run out of water and make sure they are aware of the water source both nipple drinkers and open waterers provide plenty of water availability. You need to have about 3" of open waterer space per hen as a minimum and 1 nipple per 9 hens, again as a minimum.
The advantage of a nipple system is that it is quite resistant to bacterial growth, unlike the septic soup that most open waterers quickly become. I cannot recommend strongly enough that backyard chicken keepers consider using a nipple watering system for their hens, if it is practical to do so.

Make sure your hens get used to drinking out of nipples before you remove the open waterers, but once they are accustomed to drinking from nipples, they will be at far less risk of disease. Think of it this way....in third world countries, the most significant health improvements are gained when a village is able to drink water from a contained system such as a well, rather than from an open system such as a river or pond....your hens will respond similarly.  
Dr. Mike Petrik, DVM, MSc
The Chicken Vet.