Chicken waterer nipple ?

[clearwaterchick]

I need to figure out what I am going to do for this winter right now I have a hanging fount in the run and a 5 gallon bucket with 4 nipples in the bottom I have 2 cockerels and 16 pullets 20 weeks and 1 hen 18 months old. I live in SW Washington State it can get in the teens or rarely single digits but most winter days it gets bellow freezing in the winter. I need to do something for a non freezing water system. One thing I will mention the chickens use the nipples but drink more from the fount. The bucket with the nipples gets green algae after a couple days in the summer I clean it regularly. I would like to use a 55 gallon drum but I am not sure how to keep it from freezing. I can get electricity to the coop and run although I have yet to do that project. One question I have is how high should the bucket be off the ground my birds are all large heritage breed no bantams? I think I may have it too close to the ground.

Thanks Mike

Hi Mike,
I was pondering the same question a while ago, as i had the same water system as you.. the 5 gallon bucket with nipples on the bottom. Well, up here in Alberta, those nipples froze up the first cold night we had about a week ago. I've since ordered the horizontal chicken nipples from Amazon, and am waiting for them to arrive this week. I'm going to then put them on a clear tote, in the coop, raised up about a foot off the floor, and i've bought a 500 watt de-icer that is safe to use in plastic containers to keep it thawed. Hoping that the actual nipples will stay thawed this way! In the meantime, while i'm waiting for the shipment to arrive, i've used my dogs outdoor heated water bowl plugged in.
The 5 gallon bucket i had great success with this summer, i had hanging about 2 feet off the ground . just about head height.