Breed suggestions?

[TheAmundsons]

@Meg-in-MT yikes! We have a few friends that are cattle farmers and they have been dealing with frostbite issues as well.

We do have power to the barn, and this being our first winter, we just got a heated waterer that has the little trough-like ring around the bottom. They seemed to spill a lot of that water which created ice build up, and there were points we needed to refill the 5 gallon water 2-3 times each day! I know we are going to switch to using the nipples on whatever waterer we create, we just aren't sure where to even begin making one! We aren't supposed to freeze anymore (at least in the near future) so at least we have several months to figure it out. But that's going to be our biggest hurdle to overcome!

I didn't know there was a contest going on! I may need to do a coop page. Where do I get started with that?

 

[Meg-in-MT]

Here is the link to the coop contest!
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/official-byc-coop-page-contest-10.1293484/

 

[Meg-in-MT]

@Meg-in-MT yikes! We have a few friends that are cattle farmers and they have been dealing with frostbite issues as well.

We do have power to the barn, and this being our first winter, we just got a heated waterer that has the little trough-like ring around the bottom. They seemed to spill a lot of that water which created ice build up, and there were points we needed to refill the 5 gallon water 2-3 times each day! I know we are going to switch to using the nipples on whatever waterer we create, we just aren't sure where to even begin making one! We aren't supposed to freeze anymore (at least in the near future) so at least we have several months to figure it out. But that's going to be our biggest hurdle to overcome!

I didn't know there was a contest going on! I may need to do a coop page. Where do I get started with that?

Do you have your waterer elevated? I've got one both of mine on concrete blocks to keep them up out of the snow/mud/straw etc depending on time of year. I wonder if that may help. That's funny the chickens were spilling the water, I've never had that happen. I have had it off-level and that'll make quite a mess of things. But that's my fault for not paying attention.

I haven't tried the nipple waterers before...how do you keep them from freezing in the winter? It'd be great to have clean water all of the time! I wonder if there's ever a problem with slime from water sitting in the pipes? I guess not if you're using a bucket with nipples, that could be cleaned easy enough.

I'm glad you guys aren't freezing anymore! We dropped to 12 last night...sure be glad when it's May

 

[TheAmundsons]

@Meg-in-MT we also have 3 ducks in with the chickens that also help to make a mess! Though they tend to use the heated dog bowl in the run more than the other waterer. We have it hanging at their head height, so it's definitely level!

I've heard of a lot of people using the nipples in their heated waterers so I thought we'd give it a shot! We've never used them before, so it'll be something new!

 

[Meg-in-MT]

@Meg-in-MT we also have 3 ducks in with the chickens that also help to make a mess! Though they tend to use the heated dog bowl in the run more than the other waterer. We have it hanging at their head height, so it's definitely level!

I've heard of a lot of people using the nipples in their heated waterers so I thought we'd give it a shot! We've never used them before, so it'll be something new!

Ah, ducks. That makes sense! Messy little creatures, but love ducks!