For the best results, set the nipples at the correct height for the birds, get the water flow rate right, provide sufficient drinkers and keep them clean and well maintained. Nipple drinker systems were first used in the 1950s to provide water for commercial layers. The early drinkers had a trigger pin that had to be pushed up vertically by the birds to release the water. The first attempts to grow broilers with this type of drinker were not very successful - the birds weighed less at market age than those with the bell-type drinkers or with troughs. In the 1980s, however, a new nipple drinker design suitable for broilers was developed and accepted by the industry (see figure).
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