INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Granny Hatchet]

it really does pay to invest in a good garden hose. last winter i put a quick disconnect on mine and after i fill the water i disconnect from the house and "walk " the water out of the hose. spray end i throw over a low branch.

 

[bradselig]

it really does pay to invest in a good garden hose. last winter i put a quick disconnect  on mine and after i fill the water i disconnect from the house and "walk " the water out of the hose. spray end i throw over a low branch.

I'm just afrid I would "forget" to turn water off and end up with a huge problem. I don't wants I use exterior spigots if at all possible. Plus I need about 100ft to get close to the pens and another 100ft to reach all the pens. Don't really have the time to drain and drag the much hose everytime to water as I KNOW it will be come a huge tangled mess lol.

 

[Granny Hatchet]

mine is 100ft. as well and i am a disabled granny. lol heres the trick. if you pay that much for a really good hose, ( mine was 87 dollars) you aint gonna forget ! lol I have been wanting an underground spicket installed here for 5 yrs. just get it close to the coop . one day.....

 

[minmin1258]

it really does pay to invest in a good garden hose. last winter i put a quick disconnect  on mine and after i fill the water i disconnect from the house and "walk " the water out of the hose. spray end i throw over a low branch.

I'm just afrid I would "forget" to turn water off and end up with a huge problem. I don't wants I use exterior spigots if at all possible. Plus I need about 100ft to get close to the pens and another 100ft to reach all the pens. Don't really have the time to drain and drag the much hose everytime to water as I KNOW it will be come a huge tangled mess lol.

I got really tired of hauling/carrying water last winter too! About a month ago I installed a "frost free " outdoor faucet. It looks like a hand pump faucet...kind of. Is not supposed to freeze because all water back washes out of the above ground section of it. The water line had to be buried 3ft underground and it had to have gravel added to the hole at the end of the line at the junction where the pipe connects as a drainage bed, but that part/connection is 3ft deep. And you could put a quick disconnect on a hose to accommodate any additionally needed distance. The most expensive part of the whole project was the faucet itself ($58.00 at TSC, $74.00 at Lowes, $76 at Home Depot). My water line distance was 73 ft from my house to the new faucet location. Hardest part involved was digging the hole to lay the water line, I seriously hooked everything up myself. If you were to rent a trencher it could be a project for a single afternoon. Was a full day project for me because of the manual labor involved in the digging, which btw my nephew and a friend of his did for me for $20 bucks!

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

So has anyone figured out an easy way to take water out to the chickens during winter? I'm really missing my hoses and auto waterer already lol. It takes right at 10 gals of water to fill all th waterers. I'm thinking of just getting the lids for the 5 gal buckets that have a pouring "hole" on the top that can be capped. This way I can completely seal them after filling and then put them on either a wagon or sled depending if there is snow. Then take something like a kerosine siphon to fill the waterers.

Any other suggestions? I really need a plumbed pole barn to keep the chickens in lol.

I feel your pain, ya its a challenge. Hoping once the barn is cleared out I can improve on what we have. Its been a real hard week keeping everyone with clean water thats not froze.

it really does pay to invest in a good garden hose. last winter i put a quick disconnect on mine and after i fill the water i disconnect from the house and "walk " the water out of the hose. spray end i throw over a low branch.

We have a frost free hydrant but it snapped off the pipe that shuts it off. DH is going to replace it....someday

Quote: lol yea it can be. I roll it all up and drain the water out. Hoping hubby fixes the hydrant soon, its a real pain to carry all the water out to the coops and runs.

mine is 100ft. as well and i am a disabled granny. lol heres the trick. if you pay that much for a really good hose, ( mine was 87 dollars) you aint gonna forget ! lol I have been wanting an underground spicket installed here for 5 yrs. just get it close to the coop . one day.....

yes, its a huge help to have a frost free hydrant.

Quote:
I got really tired of hauling/carrying water last winter too! About a month ago I installed a "frost free " outdoor faucet. It looks like a hand pump faucet...kind of. Is not supposed to freeze because all water back washes out of the above ground section of it. The water line had to be buried 3ft underground and it had to have gravel added to the hole at the end of the line at the junction where the pipe connects as a drainage bed, but that part/connection is 3ft deep. And you could put a quick disconnect on a hose to accommodate any additionally needed distance. The most expensive part of the whole project was the faucet itself ($58.00 at TSC, $74.00 at Lowes, $76 at Home Depot). My water line distance was 73 ft from my house to the new faucet location. Hardest part involved was digging the hole to lay the water line, I seriously hooked everything up myself. If you were to rent a trencher it could be a project for a single afternoon. Was a full day project for me because of the manual labor involved in the digging, which btw my nephew and a friend of his did for me for $20 bucks!
We put one in too. It is a huge help, but it broke and I am hoping DH can fix it.

 

[Indiana feather]

Winter woes... I bought a Harris farms heated base made for a double walled fount. Personally I don't like it. It does keep the water fluid but warm enough that condensation is rolling off the base and soaking the bedding in the coop... grrr so I read some other threads on here mentioned using a large heated dog bowl and placing an ice cream pail inside of it and just swap out the pail... this sounded reasonable to me. I already spent $30 on that heated base but know that it isn't gonna work out. I know some folks don't even have a waterer in the coop so i guess they keep water outside I guess?? Hope to figure it out before spending a small fortune..he he.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Winter woes... I bought a Harris farms heated base made for a double walled fount. Personally I don't like it. It does keep the water fluid but warm enough that condensation is rolling off the base and soaking the bedding in the coop... grrr so I read some other threads on here mentioned using a large heated dog bowl and placing an ice cream pail inside of it and just swap out the pail... this sounded reasonable to me. I already spent $30 on that heated base but know that it isn't gonna work out. I know some folks don't even have a waterer in the coop so i guess they keep water outside I guess?? Hope to figure it out before spending a small fortune..he he.

I don't keep water in my coops either, it just creates problems. I do like the heated bowls, need several more of them!

 

[Leahs Mom]

Well...

I opened the door to the barn pen today to see if anyone would go out. A couple did go just outside, then retreated back in. Snow. I'll leave it open all day to see if anyone goes out.

Have started giving kale and cilantro in the large suet feeders again. They really do love that stuff in the winter but don't really care about it during summer when they have a bounty.

Both waterers staying thawed beautifully so far. It was 22 F. in the barn this morning when I went out. Low temp last night was supposed to have been 11F.

 

[kabhyper1]

Well...

I opened the door to the barn pen today to see if anyone would go out. A couple did go just outside, then retreated back in. Snow. I'll leave it open all day to see if anyone goes out.

Have started giving kale and cilantro in the large suet feeders again. They really do love that stuff in the winter but don't really care about it during summer when they have a bounty.

Both waterers staying thawed beautifully so far. It was 22 F. in the barn this morning when I went out. Low temp last night was supposed to have been 11F.

How much snow did you get? We that far from each other if I remember correctly. We don't have any here. Gotta love the lake effect ha!

 

[Granny Hatchet]

Leahs Mom, where did you get the kale? is it fresh or canned? boy that sounds good ! some fried potatoes , corn bread, little bacon. MMMMM.......