There are hydrophobic sprays that completely repel water. If I can stop the water from collecting on the tip of the metal nipple so that it just drops off once it gets to the end, maybe it won't freeze. There's this stuff called NeverWet (http://www.neverwet.com/anti-wetting.php) that worked to...
You may be right. I checked on it and they were frozen. I don't suppose the chickens would peck the frozen water off, because the inside is not frozen.
This is the "Hen Hydrator" I picked up from Big R. Works great.
This is what I did to winterize it. Sorry for the bad picture. I didn't want to take my glove off in the blizzard, so this is a shot take using my nose on my iPhone.
I bought 12' of electrical heat tape from Home Depot and...