Winter and Summer Watering system w/ waterer nipples and heater.

Robert M said:

Obviously it is almost 100% easier to drain the hose each time rather than hauling 5G buckets of water several times a day, so I don't get it.
If you disconnect the hose at the faucet after use and blow in it, you will remove enough water that it won't freeze solid.
Best case scenario; blow it out with an air hose on an air compressor.
And Bear Foot is right, a 100W bulb in a 3' x 3' box would keep it from freezing, but, then again, if you have to roll and unroll it each time, why not just "walk" the water out from one end to the other?
It ain't rocket science. LOL

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Good point...IF you have an air compressor AND it is handily near the spigot.

you know, there has to be a simple answer to this. if we were all rich we could just have plumbing installed it our coops. i though very hard about building my coop closer tho the water but that would have been real close to the house. i am going to look for that heat tape, im not sure what its called but you wrap it around your pipes like under trailers, i am going to wrap my hose because i do have elect. at the coop and i will plug it into a remote like you can buy at Christmas time for your lights or a timer and hit the button about an hour before i go out, if the hose freezes i don't know if it would bust or not but if i don't use a nozzle and i do use a kwick disconnect on the other end i think enough will drain to keep that from happening. as of now that sounds like it just might work with no straining my back or freezing my hands. if anyone sees problem with this please let me know.

Thanks for all your input. We have had chickens for many years and yes they do survive at - 30. However , our winter nights are usually 0 to -20, -30 doesn't happen too often. And yes we do drain the hose every time we use it but it is a pain. So we usually haul buckets. I guess after this many years we should be able to figure something out, but the hubby is a farmer and his 300 head of mama cows and 75 head of mama sheep come before the chickens! I have actually taken over taking care of the chickens this past summer and he has been amazed that I have. I don't know what has come over me, except I really like all the info on here and have learned a lot and I love my eggs every morning!

Quote: A bicycle pump would work just as well.
Anything that will build up a little air pressure would push the water out

Didn't read whole thread, what I do for the hose that runs out to my dog pens and coop is always leave it on a little downward slope (doesn't take much) At the spigot I installed a "Y". The hose hooks to one side of the Y. Nothing on the other. Turn off the spigot and open the side of the Y with nothing on it. Water drains right out of the hose and no detaching.

my breath wont, i tried. hahahah

ha

what?

I have been researching about watering in the winter also. I live in upstate new York. I do not have electric to my coop and It's to far for a hose to reach . I don't want to have to carry buckets in 6 ft of snow everyday.... So here is my plan... I got a 50 gallon black barrel with a lid I'm going to put it on a black rubber mat and around the barrel I want to build a box to stop the wind from hitting it and fill the space between the barrel and box with hay and other insulators I have laying around . I have read that it would take a few days for they water to freeze in the barrel. Once or twice a week I could replenish the barrel and get threw the winter .Hope this works! Any ideas?? Or advice??

kimmerjo said:

I have been researching about watering in the winter also. I live in upstate new York. I do not have electric to my coop and It's to far for a hose to reach . I don't want to have to carry buckets in 6 ft of snow everyday.... So here is my plan... I got a 50 gallon black barrel with a lid I'm going to put it on a black rubber mat and around the barrel I want to build a box to stop the wind from hitting it and fill the space between the barrel and box with hay and other insulators I have laying around . I have read that it would take a few days for they water to freeze in the barrel. Once or twice a week I could replenish the barrel and get threw the winter .Hope this works! Any ideas?? Or advice??

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Build a frame, not a box, and put the black barrel inside the frame and wrap the frame with black poly. The black barrel and poly will soak up the heat from the sun and (polyurethane) will hold the heat inside. If you put "insulation" around it, you are defeating the purpose of the black color.

A lot of people put black barrels of water in the greenhouse to collect solar heat, to help with overnight heating costs, in the Winter.

Actually, if you have a tractor and small wagon, that would be ideal. You can even get chains for riding mower tires. A tractor with a drag blade would also help with that snow, to keep a lane open.