Watering Devices for Groups and Single Rabbits

I have some rabbits in outside dog pen and they consume quite a lot of water. Would one of those three-gallon gravity poultry waterers be good for them?

Also, I have some of those push button waterers for when I move some of them into the cages - the kind they have to nudge to get the water out. How will they know to push the button? I don't want them to dehydrate for not knowing how to make the water come out.

the nipple type would work, I know here at work we're partial to the Lixit brand, but any appropriately sized one should work. for the push type, I'm guessing they're the little cup-like ones? prime it for them before moving them in, and they should associate it with water. they might not get the mechanism at first, but if they know water is there, they'll bumble about until they figure it out. If you're worried, you could provide a water bottle when you feed them at first. if they attack the water bottle, they haven't figured it out yet.

They *will* drink from a bottle, or nipple type waterer, but will prefer, thus usually stay better hydrated with a bowl of some sort. I used to use the gravity-fed ones for dogs, as they have a generously sized bowl. If you keep it a foot or so away from the food, it should stay pretty clean, as (unlike cats, dogs, and many poultry breeds), rabbits are rarely fond of getting wet, so tend not to play in it.

Hi Ken!  We have the “rabbit nipples” if that’s what you’re referring to...my rabbits went from the hanging water bottles to the nipples quite easily. I only had to demonstrate for one rabbit, but the rest figured it out on their own. We hooked up ours to a 4” PVC pipe, gravity fed by a 5 gal. bucket. I only top it off about twice a week for 8 rabbits. Hope that helps!

Has anyone had any specific issues that they have learned from in using the automatic water systems. I've used some gravity flow types that are free standing reservoirs attached to a bowl base. They are not ideal for our rabbit set up because they take up too much space and have been dumped a number of times. I see from online images there is a nipple type and I've also seen what looks like a little bowl attached to a tube that runs to the water source. I'd love some information on any experience using these. Thanks