It gets COLD here in Idaho where I live, and as a teenager used to HATE taking boiling water outside to try and unstick the waterers and dump out the ice for the poor chickens I had at the time. I used crocks and would go out a few times a day to dump them and add new water, it drove me crazy!! So this year when I acquired chickens again (after a 20 year break!) I told DH we HAD to do something about watering them... We looked at the cookie tin water heater thread and this is what we came up with...
Here are the supplies we used:
This is one of those aluminum feeders you can get at the feed stores, we paid $5 for these (we made 3) we decided to get these bigger ones so that the waterers would sit all the way on the heater, and not have to worry about it getting tipped over by crazy chickens...
In this pic you can also see the hole that has already been drilled in the side where the wiring will go...
Here are the extra tools we gathered:
And the drill bit we used:
And the parts we bought:
We spent about $25 for everything...
Okay, now putting it together...
We threaded the cord through the steel nipple which we placed in the hole, with the hex nuts on both sides to stabilize it:
We did have to cut the steel nipples shorter, also, DH did that with a dremel, or we could have bought shorter ones...
Then, we wired up the part that the light bulb screws into (I guess that's the socket) we did have to split the wire on the cord a little to have enough to loop around, then we pulled the wire back through that hole in the middle to make it snug...
Then we pulled the cord tight on the inside and tightened up the hex nut, being careful not to compress the socket too much and pinch the wires:
Then we wrapped it with electrical wire to keep it safe:
Then I filled the outside with hot glue to help decrease the possibility of water getting in, even though we looped the cord, I was also worried about water possibly spilling over the edge occasionally
And then the lightbulb!! I think we used a 40 watt bulb, and it warmed right up.. in fact, the day we put these together, at my mom's place where I keep my breeders the water was frozen, and within 20 minutes had melted once the waterers were on these heaters, YAY!!! We did have to change to a 75 watt bulb as it has been VERY cold this winter, to keep the water from freezing, even then there have been a couple of days that we've had to use the boiling water method, but it beats having to do that everyday, for sure!
We cleaned away all the straw down to the dirt and made a ring of bricks which we set the waterers on.. they are working great!!
Oh yes, and a pic of the final product=)
Yay for no frozen water!!
Here are the supplies we used:
This is one of those aluminum feeders you can get at the feed stores, we paid $5 for these (we made 3) we decided to get these bigger ones so that the waterers would sit all the way on the heater, and not have to worry about it getting tipped over by crazy chickens...
In this pic you can also see the hole that has already been drilled in the side where the wiring will go...
Here are the extra tools we gathered:
And the drill bit we used:
And the parts we bought:
We spent about $25 for everything...
Okay, now putting it together...
We threaded the cord through the steel nipple which we placed in the hole, with the hex nuts on both sides to stabilize it:
We did have to cut the steel nipples shorter, also, DH did that with a dremel, or we could have bought shorter ones...
Then, we wired up the part that the light bulb screws into (I guess that's the socket) we did have to split the wire on the cord a little to have enough to loop around, then we pulled the wire back through that hole in the middle to make it snug...
Then we pulled the cord tight on the inside and tightened up the hex nut, being careful not to compress the socket too much and pinch the wires:
Then we wrapped it with electrical wire to keep it safe:
Then I filled the outside with hot glue to help decrease the possibility of water getting in, even though we looped the cord, I was also worried about water possibly spilling over the edge occasionally
And then the lightbulb!! I think we used a 40 watt bulb, and it warmed right up.. in fact, the day we put these together, at my mom's place where I keep my breeders the water was frozen, and within 20 minutes had melted once the waterers were on these heaters, YAY!!! We did have to change to a 75 watt bulb as it has been VERY cold this winter, to keep the water from freezing, even then there have been a couple of days that we've had to use the boiling water method, but it beats having to do that everyday, for sure!
We cleaned away all the straw down to the dirt and made a ring of bricks which we set the waterers on.. they are working great!!
Oh yes, and a pic of the final product=)
Yay for no frozen water!!
