Winter Water

[bigfoot11]

Hey guys!

I have a question regarding water for the chickens in the winter time ( East Central, MN). Last year I used a couple metal water cans. This year I rigged up a 5 gallon bucket with a heater and some nipples at the bottom. This is seeming to work but I still have to haul in and out 1 gallon milk jugs.

Has anyone tried using a heated hose connected to the house? I would like to use it to fill up the water bucket but I am worried about the pipe freezing in the house and having a bigger issue.

Is this a good idea or should I stick to just hauling in 1 gal milk containers and filling them with water?

Thank you!

 

[silly silkies]

hey this seems to work for my ducks and chickens i bought a heated dog bowl and put a piece a ply wood over half of it (you dont have to put a piece of wood on it but i have ducks so there wouldnt be any water left in it my the next minute.) ) but that works great if you have ducks you have to fill it up to 2-3 times a day cause their really messy but it works great!!

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hope it helped!!

 

[bigfoot11]

That is a freakin' amazing idea.

Does it still help with the ducks not causing a mess?

I'll be trying that!!!

 

[DCMuffin]

We have the duck and chicken struggle, too LOL. It isn't cold enough here yet, but for the times that we do dip below freezing, we'll just use heated waterers.

 

[silly silkies]

it works for ducks but they spill water so then i put grit onthe ice but it works gr8t

 

[bigfoot11]

What about a heated hose running from the house?

Has anyone used that before? Pros/ cons?

 

[flyin-lowe]

I am know expert but I don't think the chickens use enough water to keep warm water flowing. Even if it is supplied to hot water the water will sit in the pipe and freeze pretty quickly. I got a 1.5 gallon heated dog dish for under $10.00 on black Friday I am going to try that. I thought about cutting a piece of hardware cloth to sit in the bottom of the dish, if the water gets a bunch of debris floating in it I can lift out the screen (pulling out the debris) dump it off and set it right back in. A quick way to filter out "stuff".

 

[ChickenCrazed]

You can use the heated hose and it should work well for you...I would make sure to replace the faucet with a freeze free faucet...I used this set up for filling water in my grooming van years ago!

 

[RipsRidges2]

I am a self proclaimed inventor, in other words I experiment. I took my 1 gallon Galvanized self waterer and drilled about a 1 1/4 inch hole in the top.
I then inserted an aquarium heater in it, then I used Silicon Sealer around the top and bottom. Making sure it was totally sealed. If it is not it will not hold the necessary
vacuum and the water will slowly drain out. So far it has worked great, hasn't gotten really cold out yet, but the temperature is adjustable.

 

[bigfoot11]

You can use the heated hose and it should work well for you...I would make sure to replace the faucet with a freeze free faucet...I used this set up for filling water in my grooming van years ago!

Thank you!

I am really leaning on that idea.

My bucket with the heater inside and the nipples seems to keep freezing so I think I might scrap that idea.