2 gallon or 5 gallon waterer for winter?

[Mouthwash]

I'm getting a heated base for my chickens this winter and I'm curious if I should go with a 2 gallon metal waterer or 5 gallon. My idea is 5 gallon will take longer to freeze, but 2 gallons would be heated by the heater more easily. Not sure what's best.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

As you assumed, the 5 gallon would take longer to freeze, but that is only if you had a power outage. I don't think it would matter much because the ring of water in the moat, exposed to ambient air would freeze just about as fast regardless of the size of the primary reservoir.
I would base the decision on how many chickens you have and how much water you need when it isn't freezing out.
The thermal dynamics and effectiveness of the heater will be influenced by the tank size.
I had a 5 gallon plastic heated waterer. As long as I didn't lose power, it worked just fine all winter the first year. In subsequent years, with power outages, even when the power was restored, the water in the drinking circle stayed frozen. No matter how long it was plugged in, the water in the reservoir was thawed and warm but it wasn't sufficient to overcome the ice exposed to -0F.
Just something to ponder as you move forward.

 

[Auntiejessi3]

I use a 5 gallon plastic bucket with nipples and haven't had any issues, even in negative temps.

 

[Mouthwash]

I use a 5 gallon plastic bucket with nipples and haven't had any issues, even in negative temps.

I had a 5 gallon bucket with nipples that was working well but my wife decided they needed an open bin to drink from and now they won't touch the nipple one even if they go without water for days.

 

[Finnie]

You can get a heated dog water dish. But they’re only 1.5 gallons, so it depends on the size of your flock.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I used to use a bird bath heater in black rubber feed dishes. That was fine for hens. It was a real problem for Mediterranean roosters though. In order to drink, they had to dip their long wattles in the water which subsequently froze afterward.
I've had all types of automatic water systems. The thing is, the water needs to circulate. It doesn't matter if it is heated, if it isn't circulating, it doesn't help. This is true of cup drinkers and nipples unless it is a vertical nipple inserted in the heated reservoir. Even horizontal nipples don't work because the seal is external to the warm water. Whereas, a vertical nipple's seal is inside the warm water. Without circulation, chickens don't drink fast enough to bring warm water into the freezing environment. They always freeze and burst at night.

 

[L and L]

Hello all, first time chicken person here. We are preparing for winter (central Kansas) and bought a Little Giant 3 gallon metal fount and a heated base for it. Today I realized that the heated base is 15" in diameter and the waterer 11-12" diameter. The heated base says "caution it gets very hot" - do I need to worry about injuring the chickens? Do they make a smaller heated base? I looked on Amazon and didn't see any. Maybe I need a bigger / wider waterer? Or is it no big deal? Just checking with all the experts out there! Thanks in advance for the help!

 

[speedy2020]

I would go with 5gal bucket. You can buy the aquarium submersible heater and use when need. Just make sure don't plug in the power until the heater is in the water. Otherwise, the heater glass will crack.

 

[Finnie]

Hello all, first time chicken person here. We are preparing for winter (central Kansas) and bought a Little Giant 3 gallon metal fount and a heated base for it. Today I realized that the heated base is 15" in diameter and the waterer 11-12" diameter. The heated base says "caution it gets very hot" - do I need to worry about injuring the chickens? Do they make a smaller heated base? I looked on Amazon and didn't see any. Maybe I need a bigger / wider waterer? Or is it no big deal? Just checking with all the experts out there! Thanks in advance for the help!

Yes, you do need to worry about that exposed hot part. If you haven’t already, I would return that base. Or get a larger waterer that will cover the whole thing.

 

[Folly's place]

For our 30 to 35 chickens, we use two heat bases with our metal waterers, one is 2 gal., the other a 3 gal. size. It's been difficult to find the 3 gal. metal waterers, my preferred size, so had to buy a smaller one recently.
The 5 gal metal waterers are HEAVY, and can only be lifter by the larger handle 'inside' the outer metal sleeve. the little handle on the top of the sleeve will fail with 5 gallons of water inside. Our other choice is to get the bigger unit, and fill it with 3 gallons max.
Haven't liked the plastic heater waterers, they are a pain to fill upside down. Ours is an emergency backup, stored.
About the heater bases, they are warmest in the center, not around the edges. Not a problem!
Mary