Aquarium heater to keep water unfrozen?

[Josh Clarke]

I just noticed today that my chickens' water is frozen despite being in a coop that is covered with a tarp (don't worry, I ensured there is adequate airflow) and has a heat lamp inside. I have an old, working aquarium heater laying around. It is fully submersible, but it doesn't have any way to adjust it. It maintains a constant temperature between 70-80 degrees Fahrenheit. Will that be too warm for the chickens to drink? It is bad to have them drinking warm water while it is so cold outside?

 

[NYcue]

No... I don't believe it will harm them having them drink warm water when it's cold outside. However, as you said the Aquarium heater will continue to heat the entire content of water for temperatures designed for tropical fish increasing your monthly cost in electric. There is also a safety issue with regards to aquarium heaters outside as they were not designed for that purpose.
I would suggest you replace the aquarium heater with a bird bath heater. It's inexpensive, will save you money monthly and is safer for both you and your birds. A birdbath heater doesn't warm up the water like an aquarium but it prevents the water from freezing.
Amazon sells one now with 44Watts... $17.99 http://www.amazon.com/Farm-Innovato...id=1386706933&sr=8-1&keywords=birdbath+heater

 

[JackE]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Josh Clarke

I just noticed today that my chickens' water is frozen despite being in a coop that is covered with a tarp (don't worry, I ensured there is adequate airflow) and has a heat lamp inside. I have an old, working aquarium heater laying around. It is fully submersible, but it doesn't have any way to adjust it. It maintains a constant temperature between 70-80 degrees Fahrenheit. Will that be too warm for the chickens to drink? It is bad to have them drinking warm water while it is so cold outside?
</d You are in ARIZONA, get that stupid heatlamp out of there. Come on.

 

[rekkas peeps]

we use a bird bath heaterin our water setup and only had 1 day last season that it didnt help

 

[Josh Clarke]

Quote: It amazes me how everyone thinks ALL of Arizona is a hot desert all year long. In the last week it has barely been higher than 32 degrees and at night it is around 10-15 degrees. I only turn the lamp on at night. TO EVERYONE ELSE: Thanks for the replies. I'm going to order a bird bath heater. Do you think the aquarium heater will be ok to use until the bird bath heater arrives?

 

[NYcue]

Rekkas... why do you think it failed that day? Too cold or some other factor?

Same with me... 1 day it failed but it was my fault. Woke up... it snowed big-time during the night... used a snow blower and ran over the power cord (splitting it in halve) with the birthbath heater. Lucky for me... I had it on a GCI outlet. I ran out of time because I needed to go to work so shoveled a large amount of snow in one corner of the run until I got home from work to replace the cable to get the birdbath heater going again. The nipples on the bucket I used froze solid. After about 2 hours after electric was restored the nipples defrosted and worked again without issue.

 

[JackE]

Quote: I will stand by what I posted. Get rid of the heatlamp. Those temps are nothing to a chicken. All you are doing is running up your electric bill, and possibly taking a chance on burning your coop down. Get rid of it.

 

[jmagill]

I use aquarium heater 24/7. Same ones for 4 or 5 years now. They work great and use no more energy than a light bulb. The water never gets to 70 degrees. Minus 15 this week an no frozen nipples.Mine operate 6 months of the year and I have been using the same ones all these years.