Recent content by JesseM

  1. JesseM

    Snow in the coop

    This case is seriously different than what the OP is talking about. The hen had no food, water or appropriate shelter and was found frozen in a snowbank. It was not the temps but the neglect that caused the hen such pain. Hardy birds with the appropriate resources and environment will do just...
  2. JesseM

    Frozen Side Mounted Horizontal Nipples - How to keep them from Freezing?

    -5*F when the girls and I got up this morning. 1 nipple still unfrozen, the other had a minimal amount of ice in it that I suspect would not have stopped the hens from getting water. Thanks again for all the help here!
  3. JesseM

    Frozen Side Mounted Horizontal Nipples - How to keep them from Freezing?

    With big thanks to @JMotuzick, our frozen water buckets are solved: We moved the nipples to a point above the heater in a new bucket and had no problem last night. It only got down to about 18 degrees outside last night, but we've got a couple below-zero nights coming up that will really test it...
  4. JesseM

    Frozen Side Mounted Horizontal Nipples - How to keep them from Freezing?

    Here's the deicer I've been using: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B002QXN1EQ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 It keeps the water a bit too warm, as I mentioned previously. Hoping to get the new bucket set up tonight since we have 6-10" snow rolling in tomorrow followed by -12...
  5. JesseM

    Frozen Side Mounted Horizontal Nipples - How to keep them from Freezing?

    The little red cup AND the metal nipple have enough ice on them to stop working. The water in the cup effectively makes an ice dam that blocks the metal piece from moving. Unfortunately, the oil had no impact that we could see. However, I went out last night after the girls were in the coop and...
  6. JesseM

    Frozen Side Mounted Horizontal Nipples - How to keep them from Freezing?

    Thanks, Can't believe I haven't seen that before now for all the time we spent looking at options. Might try that once we get the freezing issue solved. It just kills me since the heater is only supposed to "warm" the water to keep it from freezing.
  7. JesseM

    Frozen Side Mounted Horizontal Nipples - How to keep them from Freezing?

    Thanks for the update! We'll try moving the nipples up in the next few days (need to buy more & a new bucket) and see what works. We're trying the oil in the meantime and will post results. Thanks @aart. We basically built our coop based on this site. Love it! I have a zigbee temp sensor that...
  8. JesseM

    Frozen Side Mounted Horizontal Nipples - How to keep them from Freezing?

    Looking forward to hearing how folks solve this. We are in MA where it hasn’t been above freezing for a week. This is our first winter with chickens and our 2 gal bucket with a 250 watt heater and horizontal nipples freezes a couple times a day. The water temps never get below 60 (and often up...
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