Watering in the Winter

[Bear Foot Farm]

BTW, don't use plastic waterers on these heaters, they will melt/warp.

I bet if you put a couple of bricks, or a concrete "patio block" on the heater, you could set a plastic waterer on them and it should do fine.

A lightbulb in a box is still the cheapest way to heat one though​

 

[eagleriver24]

I ordered a water bowl off Amazon for $25- with Free shipping. It holds 1.5 gallons and services up to 15 birds.

 

[woodmort]

Quote:
Maybe in NC but not here, gets too cold for too long a period.

 

[SassyKat6181]

I just bought: Item#5F-H4 Heated Plastic Poultry Fountain from jefferslivestock.com. Haven't had to turn it on yet though as I am in Mass.

 

[hydestone]

I like that waterer with integral heater...wish I bought one of those when I bought my metal waterer.

 

[droopy]

i just bought a couple heated flat back buckets from american livestock supply. the prices and shipping were both very reasonable. i figured the five gallon would be good for the pyrennees and a two gallon in the coop for the girls

 

[Eastins Eggs]

Quote:
I bought two of these waters last winter to try out and hated them. It was a pain to put the bottoms on without making a big wet mess. I tossed them in the trash.

 

[SassyKat6181]

I've only filled it once and spilled a little. I actually bought mine from the local feed store. Not sure if it's a little bit different from the one online, but the base was really easy to put on, it twisted to lock in place. I spilled it as I was flipping it over.

 

[The Chicken Lady]

Great thread so far... I was looking for info on this and it looks like a lot of us in cold climates are thinking ahead to the upcoming winter. My past experience has been with lugging gallons of water out to the coop twice a day all winter long. I'd rather not do that this year now that we have a barn with electricity for our birds.

I think I'd like to go with the galvanized waterer with the separate, heated base. I'll have to figure out what is meant by mice getting up in them and breaking them, though...could anyone explain a bit more, or is it pretty obvious when looking at the waterer (I don't have one of those yet). That could be a risk since the heated base is only supposed to be used outdoors (according to the box for one I saw at our local Family Farm and Home), so of course the mice will have access.

 

[woodmort]

Quote:
The heater is a cylinder about 3 or 4 inches high, with a galvanized top but open on the bottom and the electronics (waffle thermostat, heating element and wiring) are inside. If the bottom is not flush to the floor--say elevated on, but not completely covered by, bricks like mine was--the mice will crawl up under it and build a nest next to the heating element. In the process they chew the wiring. You just have to make sure that the brick/paver base is long and wide enough so there aren't any openings for the mice to sneak in.