Our Winter Waterer experiment!

Dipsey · Nov 23, 2015

When we priced a new aquarium heater the local Wal-Mart wanted $19 + tax (approximate) for the smallest one in stock. We still needed a small bucket. Went to Rural King to browse around and to our surprise we came upon this http://www.ruralking.com/farm-innovators-heated-2-gallon-bucket-hb60.html Perfect size for what we need and has a built in heater!! Did a few modifications to it (chicken proofed it) This is what we came up with

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Its just a cut piece of plywood we had leftover from building the chicken coop with the horizontal water nipples. We are hoping it doesn't freeze this winter

I will try to keep this updated to let you all know if it freezes or not this winter.

ChickenCanoe · Nov 24, 2015

Nice score.

mrballance · Nov 24, 2015

Dipsey said:
When we priced a new aquarium heater the local Wal-Mart wanted $19 + tax (approximate) for the smallest one in stock. We still needed a small bucket. Went to Rural King to browse around and to our surprise we came upon this http://www.ruralking.com/farm-innovators-heated-2-gallon-bucket-hb60.html Perfect size for what we need and has a built in heater!! Did a few modifications to it (chicken proofed it) This is what we came up with . Its just a cut piece of plywood we had leftover from building the chicken coop with the horizontal water nipples. We are hoping it doesn't freeze this winter I will try to keep this updated to let you all know if it freezes or not this winter.

Cool, you have giv'in me ideas !!!

whitg · Nov 24, 2015

Did the nipples freeze? Also are they leaking because it's on a round bucket? I have some of those nipples coming and should be here by Friday. I was just curious.

Dipsey · Nov 24, 2015

whitg said:
Did the nipples freeze? Also are they leaking because it's on a round bucket? I have some of those nipples coming and should be here by Friday. I was just curious.

No they haven't froze as of yet. The coldest day so far was 28F but our coldest days typically are in January so we will see. The nipples don't leak from the seal. We were very generous with the plumber's tape. They don't screw down flush but they are close and seam to seal very well.

wamtazlady · Nov 26, 2015

If I'd seen a heated bucket at the feed store this summer when I was looking for a winter watering system I think I might have added the horizontal nipples as you did and used that. It's a great solution and certainly cheaper than what I used. Instead I bought a plastic tote from Walmart. I think it's a 10 or 15 gallon tote. I added the horizontal nipples. Bought a stock tank deicer that could be used in a plastic container. The tote is clear so it's easy to see when it needs refilling. I was trying to come up with a system to make it as easy as possible for the house sitter to deal with watering the girls. He sometimes works from early in the morning until past midnight which means I needed to make sure there was always lots of water available. He can refill the tote with a 5 gallon bucket of water. I just got a message from him today. It's 10 degrees at the house in Montana and the waterer is working well. The 8 girls are still giving him 6 eggs a day regularly.

Dipsey · Dec 31, 2015

Awesome solution @wamtazlady Sounds like a really nice setup. So far our coldest day was about 20 degrees F and ours still didn't freeze. I was hoping for a cold day this year like around 5-10 degrees for a week to see how well the bucket we made holds out. We still have about 2 months left though, so it may still happen.

wamtazlady · Dec 31, 2015

It's in the single digits in Montana at night this week. So far the waterer is working well. I bought a heated dog dish to use as a back-up just in case it freezes. My system isn't insulated but thought of a good way to do that for next year. I'll put the tote in a larger tote. Will drill holes in larger tote for access to nipples. Then stuff insulation around the sides and back and bottom and between the totes.

Dipsey · Jan 1, 2016

wamtazlady said:
It's in the single digits in Montana at night this week. So far the waterer is working well. I bought a heated dog dish to use as a back-up just in case it freezes. My system isn't insulated but thought of a good way to do that for next year. I'll put the tote in a larger tote. Will drill holes in larger tote for access to nipples. Then stuff insulation around the sides and back and bottom and between the totes.

Pics of your setup would be warmly welcomed! I only request it for others who may be looking for a winter waterer solution. My father and I built our chicken tractor by looking at a craigslist ad and all that was provided was a pic and a 4' wide and 8' long for the dimensions. We added alot to that like PVC waterer, PVC feeder, and wheels all by ideas of pics found on here. Pics are fantastic if you can provide them.

aart · Jan 1, 2016

Dipsey said:
Quote: Those seal around the threads, tape shouldn't be needed if you drilled a nice clean hole.

They also don't need to be threaded in all the way, just far enough to make a water tight seal......
......and in fact shouldn't, because if they are thread in too far the pressure caused by the angle of the threaded portion can crack the bucket.

Looks like a nice setup, hope it holds up for you, do keep us posted.
I use a similar setup, but a 2 gal jug with HN's and an Aq heater, and have been very happy with it.

Our Winter Waterer experiment!

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