Don't buy this waterer.

What kind of chickens do you have that eat snow?
Just regular chickens.

Most chickens will eat snow.
Yes indeedy!

I wish I could capture a pic of the line of beak marks along the snow banks in the run.
....and the resultant lightly frostbitten wattles.
They still drink the heated water, but much less when they have access to snow.

My girls don't want to get their feet on snow, let alone eat any.
I think you'd see it if you cleared some ground for them and spent enough time observing.
 
I usually keep a couple bales of straw on hand when winter arrives and spread some outside each coop and they seem to be much more comfortable coming out. Until I spread straw, most won't come out.

I spread some more bagged leaves in the run this morning. Also, I had 3 small grocery bags full of shredded paper, newspaper, and cardboard from the house which I dumped into the run. A couple hours later, still no chickens outside (it's 0F outside and +7F in the coop). Maybe some will come out later, I hope.
 
I think you'd see it if you cleared some ground for them and spent enough time observing.

We have about one foot of snow on the ground. My chicken run is not covered, and there is also one foot of snow in the run. I have been throwing some bagged leaves on the snow, but like I posted in a different thread, next year I hope to have a covered run which I think will work much better for my chickens.

Although I'm not outside sitting and observing my chickens, the coop and the run are in my backyard and I can see them clearly from my kitchen, dining room, and my home office. If they come outside, I watch them. Usually, if they come outside, they look around a bit and then run back into the coop.

If I show up with some bread, they will come outside to eat the bread pieces, but when that's all gone, they run back inside. I have tried throwing some whole corn in the run, on top of the leaves, but that was not too successful as the corn will fall into the snow and not get eaten. At that point, it becomes squirrel food because they will dig it out.

If my chickens would eat snow, and if that was enough for them, I would not have to carry any water until May.
 
gtaus said: What kind of chickens do you have that eat snow?
@aart said: Just regular chickens.

I guess I should have stated more clearly, what kind of chickens do you have that can survive off eating snow and not having to provide water in the winter? There was another thread where some gentleman stated he never gives any water to his birds in the winter. But turns out that he had Icelandic chickens - which are a landrace fowl that had evolved over 1000 years to survive on their own. I don't think most of our newer breeds could survive the winter without fresh water.
 
We have about one foot of snow on the ground. My chicken run is not covered, and there is also one foot of snow in the run.
Mines just mesh covered too, but I find shoveling part is good for them and me(when the snow sticks to mesh roof). Good for them to have some ground to touch in winter..

I guess I should have stated more clearly, what kind of chickens do you have that can survive off eating snow and not having to provide water in the winter? There was another thread where some gentleman stated he never gives any water to his birds in the winter. But turns out that he had Icelandic chickens
Yeah, I think he's the only one who wouldn't give water at all. Mine are not icelandic's but eat enough snow that it cuts their liquid consumption in half.
 
Yeah, I think he's the only one who wouldn't give water at all. Mine are not icelandic's but eat enough snow that it cuts their liquid consumption in half.

I just refilled my 3 gallon waterer today. Lasted me 9 days this time for my 10 chickens. Not too bad. At that rate, I'm not complaining. Next year I'll probably have a backup waterer in the coop and extend that time even further. But even I can survive toting water 3x per month in the winter.

Even though I threw down some nice bagged leaves and shredded paper into the chicken run, none of the girls bothered to go outside. But it was not a nice sunny day and the temp never got above +1F today. The coop is about +7F, so a bit warmer than outside.
 
Just a fair warning so that hopefully none of you make the same mistake I did. Don't buy this waterer. They sell it at Tractor Supply. It is made by Farm Innovators and is model HPF-100.

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/farm-innovators-heated-poultry-fount

I don't usually write bad product reviews but I absolutely despise this turd.

1. It leaks. All the time. The water slowly goes down and because the reservoir doesn't seal tight to the base.

2. It has a plug to pull from the bottom so you can fill it without removing the reservoir. Nice idea, but it's really difficult to fill it from the bottom because the whole thing is attached to a power cord with limited reach. And when you do flip it over, the reservoir usually pops off and spills any water that was left in it. And even if the reservoir doesn't pop off, you are guaranteed too spill all of the water that is in the base. Even if you do use the plug in the bottom, the hole is so small you would definitely need a funnel to fill it.

3. If you are like me and power your heated waterer by running an extension cord to it, you will likely want to use electrical tape on the connection between the extension cord and the waterer. Which means you can't easily disconnect the red base to take it inside and wash it because the cord doesn't disconnect from the base. So any cleaning you do to the base has to be done outside in the coop unless you want to untape the extension cord, unplug it, take it inside and wash it, then bring it back out, plug it in and refill it every time.

4. When you finally get it filled, it's a pain to reinstall the base with the reservoir upside down because the reservoir is thin plastic and it flexes a ton so it doesn't line up easily.

5. When you finally get the base on, and you go to flip it over, the base usually pops off because it fits so loosely. Then you have a mucky muddy mess in the run, your shoes and pants are soaked and your birds still don't have any water.

All in all this is just a terrible design. Please learn from me and don't frustrate yourself by purchasing it.

I bought 2 on clearance a few months ago. We will probably never use the heated feature shop we disassembled it and tucked it inside the base. I've never had an issue "yet" with it leaking. Other than it sitting on a slope. I use my garden hose with a spray nozzle and the bottom plug.
 

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