Automatic Drinkers vs. Manual Founts: Saving Time in the Poultry House

If you are a poultry farmer in Kenya, you know the morning struggle: carrying heavy buckets, scrubbing slime out of manual drinkers, and constantly checking to see if your birds have run dry.

While Manual Founts (Drinkers) are cheap to buy and great for chicks, they have a hidden cost: Your Time.

As your flock grows from 50 to 500 or 5,000 birds, manual watering becomes a bottleneck that stops you from scaling your business. Today, we are comparing the two systems to show you exactly how much time and money you can save by upgrading to Automatic Drinkers.

The Real Cost of Manual Drinkers

Manual founts (the standard red and white plastic jars) are the industry standard for beginners. They are simple and effective for the first few weeks of a chick’s life.

However, as broilers or layers grow, they drink significantly more water.

The Refill Loop: A mature layer drinks about 250ml–300ml of water per day. For 500 birds, that is 150 Liters of water daily. If you are using 4-liter manual founts, you are refilling them 37 times a day.
The Slime Factor: Open water gets dirty fast. Wood shavings, droppings, and feed mix in, creating a breeding ground for bacteria (slime). You must scrub them daily to prevent diseases like Coccidiosis.

Estimated Time Spent: 2–3 hours per day for a medium flock.

Enter the Solution: Automatic Drinkers

Automatic systems connect directly to your main water tank or a bucket gravity system. They rely on physics—not your back—to keep the water flowing.

1. Automatic Bell Drinkers (Plasson Type)

These are the “mushroom-shaped” drinkers you see in large commercial farms.

How they work: The drinker hangs from the roof. As birds drink, the water level drops, reducing the weight. A spring mechanism detects this lightness and opens a valve to let more water in.
Time Saved: You never refill them. You only need to clean them quickly once a day (a simple wipe).
Best For: Broilers and Growers on deep litter.

2. Nipple Drinker Systems

This is the gold standard for hygiene.

How they work: Water runs through a PVC pipe with small stainless steel nipples. Birds peck the nipple to release a drop of water.
Time Saved: Zero refilling. Zero scrubbing of bowls (since there is no open water). You only need to flush the lines occasionally.
Best For: Layers in cages and large commercial broiler houses.

The Showdown: Manual vs. Automatic

Feature	Manual Founts	Automatic (Bell/Nipple)
Daily Labor	High (Refilling & Scrubbing)	Low (Monitoring only)
Water Wastage	High (Spillage is common)	Low (Precise delivery)
Litter Quality	Often Wet (Ammonia risk)	Dry (Better health)
Contamination	High (Poop/shavings in water)	Very Low (Closed system)
Cost	Low Initial Price	Higher Investment, Long-term Savings

The “Time is Money” Calculation

Let’s do the math for a farmer with 1,000 birds.

Manual System: 3 hours/day watering = 21 hours/week.
Automatic System: 20 mins/day monitoring = 3 hours/week.

Result: An automatic system gives you back nearly 19 hours a week. That is almost two full workdays you can spend marketing your eggs, sourcing cheaper feeds, or simply resting.

Which Medilink Automatic Solution is Right for You?

For Deep Litter Systems (Broilers/Kienyeji):

Go for the 3.5L Automatic Plasson Poultry Drinker. It is robust, easy to install, and provides a high volume of water for fast-growing birds. The red color naturally attracts birds to drink.

For Cages or Maximum Hygiene:

Choose the Chicken Double Nipple Drinker or Automatic Drinking Cup. These reduce disease spread significantly because birds don’t share a common “bowl” of water.

The Hybrid Approach:

If you aren’t ready to pipe the whole house, try the Chicken Water Bowl with T-Connector. You can attach these to a bucket system for a semi-automatic setup that still saves labor.

Summary

You cannot scale a poultry business if you are stuck carrying water buckets all day. Investing in automatic drinkers isn’t just a luxury; it’s a productivity tool that pays for itself in labor savings within the first few months.

Ready to reclaim your time?

Browse our full range of Poultry Drinkers here and upgrade your farm today.