Chicken nipples and aquarium heaters

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jmagill

jmagill

Songster
Mar 9, 2009
473
28
186
Western Wyoming
This was my second winter with chicken nipples and aquarium heaters to keep the water from being frozen.

Same heaters used for two winters now. Results great! They have been coated with crust from hard water, tossed around when cleaning the buckets, frozen into the water when they were unplugged by mistake and stored in a big bucket of chicken supplies all summer. Not one has stopped working or shocked me.( I put my hand in the bucket of water all the time)

I use a 25 watt ones so the electric bill is small. The only problem is that they can't keep the water warm when it gets to -10 and below. I either have to step up the wattage or do what I did the few day it happened this winter. I put in a dog bowl and dropped the heater into it. I hated the dirty water and extra moisture in the air but it still worked.
 
I have the same set up in a 5-gallon bucket. I am always sure to place the aquarium heater in the very bottom of the bucket so it is always covered by water, otherwise they can fail with really bad results. Mine has been around for a few years now without any problems. I tap the metal nipples each time I fill the bucket and put my hands in the water in the bucket as well.

To keep water from freezing in the really cold nights I find a thermo cube very helpful. But I guess we don't get sustained temps that stay that low for long.
 
I use a 50 watt here in Maine and it works awesome. I also tap the nipples just to keep them flowing and I have it plugged into a thermo cube. As for the heater, they make special shatter resistant heaters, they cost a little more but worth it of your worried. They are coated in some special kind of plastic.
 
Mine has been out of the water and running and has not shattered. I have banged it up against things and no problem. I don't bother with the thermo cube. We are rarely above freezing for most of 5 months.
 
Very simple

I have small buckets ( about 2 gallon, you could go bigger) nipples in the bottom.
This hangs at a height right for your size of chickens.
I then drop the aquarium heater in the bucker and plug it in.
 

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