In recent years, the use of nipple drinking water systems in the breeding process of poultry farming equipment has been extensive, mainly because the nipple drinking water system avoids the cumbersome cleaning of the drinking fountains and saves a lot of labor. Although the use of a nipple drinking system can save a lot of labor, it does not mean that management can be reduced. In fact, using a nipple drinking system requires more time, more knowledge, and more effort to operate than using an open drinking system. If the nipple drinking water system is improperly managed or poorly managed in broilers, it will seriously affect the performance of broilers.
The main advantage of using a nipple drinking system is to save labor. Some open drinking water systems, such as bell-type drinking fountains, drinking troughs or cup-type drinking fountains, need to be cleaned and disinfected every day. These cumbersome tasks made the breeder very tired and took a lot of time. With the nipple drinking system, the drinking water system needs to be cleaned between two batches of chicken. Some reported studies have shown that broilers fed a nipple drinking system have slightly better performance than broilers fed an open drinking system. At the same time, some studies have pointed out that the use of nipple drinking water system can increase the feed conversion rate of broilers and reduce the weight when laying out. Almost all studies have shown that the use of nipple drinkers is beneficial to the health of broilers, reducing mortality and reducing drug costs, and greatly reducing the chance of bacterial infection of broilers during drinking and improving litter conditions in the house.
A complete drinking water system has not yet been produced. There are also deficiencies in the nipple drinking system. First, the price of a nipple drinking system is at least 30% higher than that of a conventional open system. Repairing and replacing damaged parts is also very expensive. The mechanical part of the nipple drinking system cannot be used for a long time. The different parts and the mechanical parts produced by the manufacturer have different life spans, but this part will eventually be replaced.
The management of the nipple drinking system is more difficult than the traditional open system, and the loss of management of the nipple drinking system is much greater than that of the traditional open system. If the nipple drinking system is poorly managed, it usually causes a reduction in the production level of broilers.
Some broiler producers are convinced that certain types of nipple drinking systems have a limiting effect on broiler growth, and this restriction increases as broiler gains. At the same time, these broiler producers are concerned that in the particularly hot climates, the survival rate and other production performance of broilers are not as good as using traditional open systems when using the nipple drinking system. Although there is currently no research support to support or disprove this view, we do ensure that all nipples in the nipple drinking system are in the best working condition when the weather is hot or the broiler is raised.