We copied our neighbor, we have a square cinder block with a flood light upside down layed in, and a conventional galvanized chicken waterer placed on top, seems to work great for them, and hopefully us as well... ;-)
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Make a cover for it, with just a small opening for them to drinkWe have been using the electric dog dishes (both metal & plastic) for years & they work great until the baby chicks come. They will drown so need to get them put away come spring!
Love the dog dishes. The HUGE kind. (think Rotwieller of St Bernard) Into that dog bowl, I do not pour the water directly. That'd be OK, but much prefer to just set a small pail, like a re-cycled ice cream pail into the bowl. This makes swapping out fresh clean water a snap. If the bucket needs cleaning, which isn't very often, you can take a fresh one out, and bring the old pail inside to be cleaned. When it is 20 below, I can think of no easier, simpler and quicker way to deal with watering the hens.
If any straw or litter gets into the dog bowl, just take your gloved hand and swipe it out. Done. Easy as pie.