Giving water twice a day - no heating

[3riverschick]

Hi all,

I thought I had a great solution to heating water. needless to say the 1st attempt at this battery powered water heater failed, and I need to rework it. in the meantime, If I give them water at 7 a.m. and again at 6 p.m. Will that be ok? I figure the water will take a bit to freeze, so say it freezes by 9 or 10 a.m., they'll at least get a good drink in the morning. then have to wait until I get back from work. Will they be ok with this arrangement? I pretty much have no choice with the complications I ran into. Thanks!

Go to the grocery or bakery store and buy a small bottle of food grade glycerin. The kind they use to make frosting shiny. Put a small amount on top the water in an open dish. It will not freeze and will keep a hole open for them to drink. It will not hurt them if they should drink some of the glycerin too. I got this tip from a now deceased veteran British poultry man.
Best,
Karen

 

[jcoz]

When it is freezing or below, I use warm water in the waterer and wrap it with one of those neoprene "belly buster" belts. Keeps the waterer from freezing for quite a long time, even over night. I do change my water twice daily though, before i go to work in the morning and before the girls pen up. It worked for me in teen to 20 degree weather last year and actually a few below 0 nights. I just make sure the neoprene isn't touching the water. Your mileage may vary...

 

[UtePassChickens]

it gets very cold here in the winter and I was having to change water twice a day. I like the little waste the drip nipples have but must say they didnt last long with temps well below zero! I recently invested small birdbath heater and it works great. for now i have ugly orange cord stretched from home to hen house...but this next spring will be investing in outdoor romex and wiring in an outlet down there. nice to have power for those "i'm bored" days lets go build down by the coop! oh i got K&H 9000 Ice Eliminator BirdBath 50-Watt De-Icer. it has a very short cord but if you cut small hole in the lid so the plug literally sticks out the top of the bucket. works great, in the early morning the water nipples have thin layer of ice build up, but one jiggle and water flows free...so no more trips down to the coop twice a day!

 

[Howard E]

Quote:
We may be getting our threads crossed over terminology. I read this again and you may be referring to the spicket (or spigot) on the cap end of my proposed buried pvc pipe?

In the video, the guy was using a ball valve to turn his water on and off, but it was then going to a tub for his ducks to play in. I am proposing the same tube sticking out of a dirt bank or compost pile, but only the very bare end of it. The rest of it buried deep where either the latent heat of the ground (same theory and source of heat as ground source heat pumps use) or if you were to use a compost pile, heat generated by the compost, would keep the large mass of water above freezing temperature. No electricity required. Theory is the large mass of 45 to 50 degree water contained in the deeply buried pipe would keep the very end from freezing up. The very end would have a cap with horizontal nipple in it. In my experience, those don't freeze up if the water behind them isn't frozen.

 

[JackE]

Thanks for the replies! I hear to use Romex cord which is more suitable for outdoors, so I may do that. I just didn't want to have to trench it so was hoping for a battery operated system.

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I used two 100', 12Gauge cords, rated for outdoor use. They were plugged into an outside GFI outlet. This was used for two winters, from Nov to Mar, with no problems. You could go with outdoor rated romex(The gray stuff) But if you are going with that, you might as well take a spade, and open a slit in the ground all the way to the coop, bury the wire, and be done with it. You'll know where it is, so you won't dig into it. And someday, if you want, you can pull it out of the ground and do something all legal and proper, with a new wire.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

I don't use a heated water dish either. Black rubber water dish from the feed store. It doesn't freeze in sun until serious cold and when it does you just turn it over and stomp out the block to refill. By February there is an obstacle course of ice blocks in the run. Putting a ball in the dish sounds like an excellent idea. I saw a golf ball beside the deck before snow fall so will dig that out for use. My birds get water twice a day. I make arrangements for someone to water afternoon if I can't make it home in time.

 

[shortgrass]

I don't use a heated water dish either. Black rubber water dish from the feed store. It doesn't freeze in sun until serious cold and when it does you just turn it over and stomp out the block to refill. By February there is an obstacle course of ice blocks in the run. Putting a ball in the dish sounds like an excellent idea. I saw a golf ball beside the deck before snow fall so will dig that out for use. My birds get water twice a day. I make arrangements for someone to water afternoon if I can't make it home in time.

I do the same thing as you, rubber pan frozen pansicles everywhere by spring ha-ha

I'll try the ball thing too; I like the glycerin idea but my pans are much too big and they get cornstalks blown into them so I have to dump them anyway... Might be cost prohibitive for me.

Try dumping them at night before bed, egghead, that keeps the pan easy to fill in the morning

 

[UtePassChickens]

cant get hose to a compost pile...become the hose! drink a few beers and a glass a water, then stumble on over to the compost pile and let it flow! the ONLY reason urine is not used as our primary farming fertilizer.... is that it would literally piss millions of dollars of profit away from the petroleum industry! mix about 4 cups wood ash with a morning pee and you got true Miracle grow - if used in house plants - after fertilizing sprinkle a little dolomite lime on soil surface and it will be odor free!

 

[UtePassChickens]

okay dropped down to 10F and it was a bit more then the water nipples could handle, switched to a pan a water with birdbath warmer. water with out heat i dont think possible. I am looking for a solar-powered option, but hadn't found anything yet

 

[IdyllwildAcres]

Maybe this under the bowl...? https://smile.amazon.com/Snuggle-Sa...&sr=8-2&keywords=microwavable+pet+heating+pad