Cookie Tin water heater

[Sissy]

Is it safe to use a plastic waterer?
on top of the tin heater.with a 40 watt blub?

 

[Scrambled Egg]

Very clever and yes Walmart has tins that size on sale for a dollar, bought two with santa on them just yesterday. Great recycle, love it!

 

[COUNTRYMAN]

and here i thought i knew it all

....excellent idea and proof we are never too old to learn every day. Thank you for the idea and sharing it with us all

 

[Sylvie]

I made the cookie tin heater with the Christmas candle type of light with a 40 watt chandelier bulb the other evening. It cost me $1.25 total and now finally there is no frozen water in the morning. To think I was going to shell out $40 for a manufactured heater!!! I know the candle light fixture only has a 90 day usage recommendation and eventually I will fit it with a good socket and plug. It is just wonderful not having to bring in the waterer to thaw.
Now, so what else can I make?!!

 

[JasonR]

Well my Water Heater broke It would not keep the water from freezing

So I modded it

Here it is before

This is the light bulb socket I used from HD

I found a Aluminum plate that I cut the same radius as the base of the heater with my jigsaw

This is the finished product before I riveted the the sign panel on
I did not use the existing hole from the old wire because it was two low and then it would be to close to the floor. I drilled a new one in the center. I used a 25 Watt Bulb
(the dark spot is from the old electric mat)

Here it is all done ready to go back in the coop

Thanks to the person that started this thread for the great Ideas

Jason

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

Thanks from me too! I'm new to this and found that post just before I got my chickens (and snow). It works great.
I set an old small tire around the cookie tin and then set their water bucket on it. The tire insulates the tin and the lower part of the bucket and gives them a nice sturdy perch to drink from. Happy chickens, no frozen water and a poop free bucket!

 

[98 gt]

buy a used aquarium heater!!

 

[hinkjc]

Hi everyone. I'm glad this was so helpful to so many. It has been a life saver for us with 13 chicken waterers to monitor daily.

The chickens don't bother the cords at all. I've been using these for years and never had a problem.

As for how many to plug in, that would depend on the wattage your outlet can handle. We plug 4 inside one coop and it works fine, along with lights for dreary days.

We tried an aquarium heater once, but it doesn't work on these types of waterers. It has to be submerged in the water which means making a hole in the fount to put it inside and causes the fount to run nonstop. If you use bucket type waterers that may work.

 

[erthymom2]

i took one of the big popcorn size tins, installed a socket for a 60 watt bulb in it, mounted it up on a plant stand and it acts just like a mini-heater in the coop on the coldest days. It's stable and doesn't touch the straw.
I put it on a 2 cycle light timer so it comes on at midnight and goes off at 3am then again at 1pm -4pm - keeps everyone warm and i sleep better when its -7 below with wind.

 

[qhluvr34]

I got my tins last fall for free during flea markets. People were cleaning out at the last few meets and I went scavenging and came home with 8 christmas tins. I was prepared to pay for them but they were in the free boxes tossed aside so I took them. Now if I could only find some of the candles. Guess I will have to buy the light sockets to make mine. Right now I am using the rubber bowls and dumping ice daily and using heat lamps over bowls but it doesn't always keep them from freezing when it gets - 6 outside.