RentACoop 2 Gallon Chicken Waterer with 4 Cups and 4 Nipples - Corner Placement

I really liked this at first. It was excellent for my young birds and kept them from getting their water dirty or spilling it. However, I bought it in February and by the end of August there were hairline cracks around the plastic three of the water nipples. The crazy thing is that the waterer was fine and holding water, I took it down to refill it, didn’t hit it on anything but when I put it back up, it was leaking. I didn’t adjust the water nipples and I made sure I didn’t over tighten the nipples when I installed them so I don’t know if it was just cheap plastic or the summer heat was too much. It was kept in the shade so sun wouldn’t have been a contributing factor. Luckily, this was not my primary waterer for my chickens. But, it stinks because this water was the perfect size for my flock as a secondary waterer for things like electrolytes and vitamins.

I would like to update my previously submitted review written below. The seller has since replaced the missing items, and now that the product is complete, it serves it's purpose well. I would recommend it. Just check everything as soon as you recieve your package. Thank you to the seller for being forthcoming.

Unfortunately, I did not open the package until I was setting up the coop for my chickens, and had no other means to dispense water, so I felt I had to keep it. Neither the water fill hole plug nor the protective cone to keep them from pooping on the container are not included. Worse, poop can actually get in the water through the open hole. I had to use a ceramic bathroom tile on top to protect the water, but now that's one more thing I have to clean. I notified the seller and gave a fair amount of time to send the missing items before I submitted a review, but I've received no reply nor items. I guess they got my money, so they don't care what kind of review they get. If they read this and decide to redeem themselves, I will happily retract this, and review how it actually works. But as of now, I say don't buy this, and if you get something similar, open it before you actually need it so if it's not what you expected, you have time to replace it.

*UPDATE: Rentacoop customer support was contacted, got a response within 24hrs and a replacement shipped & received within a few days!*

At first I was really excited to get this for my chicks so they’d have clean water without kicked up shavings or poop in it. Worked great for a bit, chicks caught on quickly.

Unfortunately it hasn’t even been a full month and I noticed it was emptying much faster than usual. I was sure my chicks weren’t drinking 2 gallons in less than a day. Noticed pine shavings were smelling and looking drenched, then realized the waterer has been slowly leaking and there’s hairline cracks 😕

I’ll be contacting rentacoop and hopefully get this resolved.

Yes, the chickens drink from this, but not with enthusiasm. I followed instructions and removed their old waterer, then showed them (probably a hundred times) that they need to bump the nipples on this plastic box to get a drink. Just to be honest, they acted po'd. Well, the first day, I watched for hours. It seemed that some of the chickens decided they preferred death before bumping for a drink. It was over 100 degrees out, thus I became concerned that many were refusing the new contraption. I finally gave in and brought back the old waterer. Several little feathered fools ran toward it as if they'd been abandoned in the desert and suddenly saw a shimmery mirage of gulp-WATER!! WATER!! They drank up like little parched soldiers refilling empty canteens. I felt like a jerk. As the hot days continued, I laid aside the nefarious nipple nightmare. Finally, cool air arrived...yes, time to torture my birds again. (Keep in mind, this thing is meant for the farmer, as we tire of cleaning nasty waterers, thus my determination.) Once again, I took away the old waterer and replaced with the plastic wet nurse. Once again, I bumped the nipples in quick succession as about a dozen birds looked on. They looked at me like, "Not again, Karen!" I walked away, hiding behind a bush to watch. And yes, several took a chance on the nipple bump. Sure enough, other feathered friends decided to try it out, though some continued to be unimpressed to perform a chore in order to get a bit of water. By the end of the day, I decided to leave it in the coop as the only source of nourishment. Yes, bump or die...no alternative. The next morning, much to my surprise, all chickens were still alive. I heaved a sigh of relief! However, all day long I continued to notice the same stubborn chickens from the previous trial run were on a thirst strike, yet again. After several hours, I refilled their old waterer and placed it in the run...and again, the chickens-on-strike stood by eagerly as if to say "It's about time!" then heartily drank up the minute I walked away.

To conclude...we've all finally come to an agreement: Maiden Nippler lives inside the coop. Bump option is the only option once the door is locked. Once out of the coop, the old waterer is available as well-which they all seem to prefer. Both work, as Maiden Nippler serves my ultimate goal in that she stays clean inside the coop. I LOVE that! I see the chickens bumping her every morning as I walk toward the coop. No one has died, thus I surmise the chickens-on-strike must also bump while locked in their cell, though they aren't about to allow me to see them yield to such a secondary means for a simple drink of water.

Our chickens love this! It makes keeping their water clean so easy and accessible.

This is such a huge improvement over the old school gravity drinkers that I've used for decades. I've wanted one of these for a while but balked at the price. Until last week when I'd just had it with my girls trying to roost on their drinker, defecating enthusiastically in it and ultimately knocking it over.
This arrived this morning and only took about 5 minutes to put together, very simple. I was worried my chooks would struggle to learn how to use it, but I didn't even have to show them how to use it, they seemed to be drawn to the shiny metal nipple and figured it out within 10 minutes!
I stacked a few bricks on top of each other to make a pedestal for the drinker so it's level with their faces and it seems very easy for them to use.
I was washing out/refilling their old drinker a few times a day, either because it had poo all over in it or because the little stinkers had knocked it over. It was so nice today to repeatedly check on it and each time see the girls drinking from it without trouble, the few times someone did try to roost on it they slid off and by this afternoon I didn't see any more attempts. I checked for leaks a few times and didn't find any.
I'll update my review if problems arise but for now I'm really happy with it.

I've been keeping chickens since 2008...and keeping a waterer clean has been such a pain in the you-know-what.

We recently moved here to our new home in NC and started my new flock. I found these (there are both waterers and feeders) here on Amazon. They were more expensive than traditional waterers, but I felt it was worth the risk.

These are awesome! There is no leaking, so the coop stays dry & does not increase the humidity. There is no getting the water dirty with all their scratching. And cleaning is a cinch for when you do need to clean it! You can hang it - or set it on a base.

There is not one negative thing I can think to say about this waterer!

I loved the corner aspect of this waterer. I have bought several over the years, and this is easy to place out of the way.

No me gustó porqué no se amarra bien y tira agua

Overall this waterer works fine.
My biggest complaint is because the 4 spouts are on two sides next to each other (like an L), when it gets low it leans over and spills out (if you use the open cup dispensers). My chickens haven't figured out how to use the other style so I just have to make sure it stays more than half full to avoid tipping.

At first I really liked this as the water stayed cleaner and less of a mess. Didn’t last a year. Emptied and stored for the winter. The container cracked where all the water spouts are and now leaks. Tried fixing but still leaks

These save me soooo much time now just bringing my hose in and filling from the top. Instead of carrying smaller water things in and out of coops. Love the anti roost tops too. Highly recommend getting these for your coops to save you time!!

2 of the 4 cups don’t fill. When we first started using this product it worked great, just recently I noticed that 2 of the cups aren’t filling. I’m not sure of the cause. I will continue using this product and maybe get some replacement cups to see if that solves the problem.

I love these nipple waterers for my chickens.

Unfortunately, in my experience, the "RentACoop 2-Gallon Chicken BPA-Free Plastic Bucket Waterer Set with 4 Horizontal Nipples - Corner Placement" doesn't seem to hold up. I have purchased 2. The first one leaked upon arrival so I returned for a replacement. While the replacement did not leak upon arrival, it didn't take long for it to start leaking. It's sad because I purchased for my brooder when raising my baby chicks this past spring. The baby chicks can get very messy with the water and I love how the water stays clean with these nipple waterers and you don't have to refill as often because they are not wasting the water. Bummer that the smaller size does not seem to hold up, or at least in my case it hasn't.

If they were impoved and did NOT leak. I would definately purchase again. I can't use them when they leak like they do. Wastes water and makes a mess of the brooder. Very disappointing.

On the contrary, I currently use the larger 5-gallon waterers for my grown chickens - "RentACoop 5-Gallon Chicken BPA-Free Plastic Bucket Waterer Set with 4 Horizontal Nipples - Corner Placement" that have done great throughout the summer of 2023. I will swap the 5-Gallon out for heated waterers through the winter (same nipple concept that worked wonderfully this past winter of 2022-2023 "Farm Innovations HB-60P Heated 2-Gallon Poultry Drinker".

Tried many different styles of waterers. This one is superior in several ways. The anti-roost cone fits snuggly and is effective. The quick refill plug is easy to remove. No trays of water constantly getting plugged with dirt and debris like every other one I’ve tried. Easy to clean. The chickens have no trouble learning to use it. Downfalls are few but noteworthy. Baby chicks aren’t strong enough to push the nipples that allow the water to come out. Therefore not suitable for chicks, but this was made clear in the description. There are only 4 ports, 2 each on 2 sides. I’d have preferred 8 ports or 1 port per side to allow the chickens more “privacy” and less bullying opportunities. Lastly, I haven’t tried it in freezing temperatures yet, but I suspect the port nipples will freeze even if the waterer is on a water heater and the bucket contents remain liquid. Very pleased with the product overall. Great warm weather waterer. Hope I’m wrong about it not being useable in freezing temperatures.

First, I would like to say I LOVE this waterer! Years ago I purchased my first one, the bigger one. I had to replace it about a month ago just due to cracking due to weather and years in the elements. Arrived timely and perfect. This week I purchased another one that I received today. I am a little disappointed that it is missing the water hole plug on top and paperwork. Of course, I'm not worried about the paperwork, I just knew it was missing since it came with it on the one I received last month. I tried to submit a request from the order link, but it will only let me return the entire waterer for replacement. I don't want to return the entire waterer. My babies need it now in this no end in sight 100 degree temps we're having. It would be great if they could just send the missing part(s). Thank goodness I still have the plug from the old broken one to use, but it is a little worn too. With that being said, I highly recommend this waterer, the seller just needs to double check the product before shipping out.

I have bought 3 of these now. The first one I bought always had wet spots under it. I just thought the chickens where just letting water run out when using it. We got some new chicks and I liked it so much I bought a new one for them. well there was never water under the one I bought for the chicks. So, I started looking closer at the first one and found that 2 of the 4 spouts had cracks behind the spout. these things cost way too much for that to slip by. the 3rd one replaced the first one but will not buy another one.

With gentle treatment and non-exposure to the elements, this smartly designed waterer may endure a couple of years of use. Older models had heavier-duty plastic construction but succumbed to UV degradation of the body plastic (brittleness). I ordered two of the current, more lightly constructed (lighter plastic) model last year. They were used for one summer and winter, and now both are leaking near the outflow areas because the body plastic is cracking in those areas. I intend to patch these areas with epoxy to fill the cracks but will not purchase this model again.

The nipple components screw directly into the plastic body without any adjacent body reinforcement, and is a serious design flaw- because the insertion of the nipple inevitably compromises the body plastic and can quickly lead to cracking. There should be a separate integrated threaded "nut" in the plastic body that accepts the screw-in nipple component. The high price vs. value seems quite unreasonable. I could likely screw the nipples directly into an empty plastic cat litter product container (that has similar plastic thickness) and achieve similar (poor) results.

For adult free-range chickens, I use rubberized fortex feeder pails for watering (adult chickens can perch and drink from the edge without contaminating it), and the rubberized material withstands the elements much better than this product.

I was initially very pleased with this product (purchased in December 2022). It replaced an open dish-type waterer which was constantly freezing (Ohio winters), spilling, and getting soiled with bedding. The new waterer helped solve all these problems. So I was disappointed when the waterer began leaking around two of the nipples after 8 months of use. I removed the two that were leaking and noticed that cracks had developed around the holes which receive the nipple inserts. Replacing the nipples won't fix the problem since the cracks are in the bucket itself. I'd like to know if the bucket can be replaced but I don't see where I can contact the seller directly for a replacement.

**UPDATE (8/12/23)
The seller reached out to me and quickly sent a replacement that I received today. Upon close inspection I see no cracks or flaws in the bucket. I really respect a seller who wants to make things right. Great customer service! I updated my initial rating from 3 stars to 5.

We purchased three of these 2 gal waterers so we can keep two in use and always have one clean. The size is great and the chickens learned to use it quickly. The pyramid topper is also nice to keep them from perching on the waterer. The down side is that of the three I purchased, two leaked upon arrival. It looks like the plastic cracked when the holes were added. I did a quick visual inspection when they came, but didn't do an actual water test or I would have found the imperfections that are causing them to leak. I had already read in some of the chicken interest groups I'm part of not to over tighten, so I couldn't actually see the crack until I removed the waterer from the port.

I kept all three, since I had already added the two leaky ones to the coop, and hope I can glue the very small cracks around the holes and still use them as intended. If I can't, the size is perfect and I'll use it as a basket to bring things to and from the garden.

I would purchase again, but I would very closely inspect all holes and do a leak test as soon as they arrive.