I have tried lots of things...
But, I keep being stuck with using one of those thick flexible black rubber horse feeding pans (about 1.5 feet in diameter and not too deep, maybe 6 inches at the most).
I loose electricity a LOT, and I have lots of wind, so stuff is perpetually freezing into a solid block.
Those black plastic pans can be kicked free of the ground that they are frozen to with as much force as you are capable of exerting, and they still don't break. YEAH!
Seriously. I have broken all other choices (metal waterer, plastic waterer, heated dog water bowl).
Nope, I have to keep going back to that black plastic pan.
I heat it with a stock tank deicer (get one that won't bust if the pan is empty of water, as well as one that won't burn the chickens and can sit right on the rubber and not melt it.) Those stock tank deicers can become frozen in the middle of a giant ice cube (if the power is out for a few hours) and still manage to thaw out the entire block when the power if back on. NONE of the many other heaters I have tried have the power to do that.
Yes, it is messier....get a part of your run covered so that you can keep the water outside, and set it up so that you can gently pick up the pan without splashing out any water, dump it in a place where a mountain of ice is OK, then replace in run.
With all of that said.....look through the Alaska thread, one lady put an engine block heater between some cinder blocks, and then her metal waterer on top of that. It looked like a great idea. But again, since I loose power so often....I don't think It would work for me, since I don't think it would be powerful enough to thaw out an ice block.
I have my water set up in a snow free not-in-the-coop spot.
The last few winters I have had it in a shed. This year I want to try it in my new predator proof run under a little roof overhang. In the run area I will have more space to chuck all of the icebergs that I make all winter long.
