fish tank air pump to stop water from freezing

[Chad the Chicken Man]

Im getting back in to chicken but this time with a smaller coop. its going to be a 3x5 hen house. but since its going to be so small im really think about saving as much room as possiable. i use to just set my 3 gallon waterer on a "cookie tin container" that you would get a chrismas time. but now with the smaller coop i think im going to use a 3" pvc pipe with a nipple on the end. now comes the hard part of keeping it from freezing. I was thinking about maybe using a fish tank air pump to keep the water moving, but i wonder if the nipple would freeze up. also i was wondering if you could use a fish tank water heater but put it on a thermal cube outlet so it only runs when its freezing temp outside. I wish they just make a small tank heater that turns on at 34 degrees and off at 40 degrees. Any help would be great. pictures too please.
Thanks
Chad the Chicken Man

 

[animalsRawesome]

I tried taking one of those fish tank bubblers and running a line with one of those little green things on the end that makes all those little bubbles in your fish tank to just an open crock of water that I had in a rabbit cage... It still froze solid

I did only trie it one year, so maybe I just had bad luck

 

[Chad the Chicken Man]

Yeah if i did the air hose i was just going to get a really large fish tank bubbler and not put a green thingy on it. i think the one big bubble coming out of the hose would be more aggresive to keep the water moving. I dont know though. thanks for your imput hopefully there somone else out there who has tried this as well.

 

[animalsRawesome]

You're welcome. I hope so too. If you do try it, please post back at this thread (because I subscribed) or PM me to let me know because I am very interested in knowing how it goes but I don't always keep up on all the new posts here on BYC.

 

[chfite]

I use a bird bath heater. It comes on at 43 degrees, turns off at 58 degrees. Durably built.
Allied Precision Deluxe Bird Bath Heater and De-icer

. It seems to be available many places.

Chris

 

[Chad the Chicken Man]

my waterer is only going to be a 3inch wide pvc pipe. will a bird bath heater fit in it?

 

[DanEP]

I used to winter over koi in a pond in a pond and can tell you for a fact the bubbler will only keep a small area around the bubbles open but will freeze solid 2 inches away and thats with a bubbler made for ponds that is much bigger than for a fish tank. I'm in western Ky and it freezes , I really doubt it would work past thanksgiving in wisconsin

 

[Chad the Chicken Man]

Thanks DanEP, You will never know if you dont ask. Thanks for your help.

 

[smokinyoda]

Hey Chad did you ever try the aquarium air pump? I also used 3" pvc with nipple on end. I used an aquarium heater but still froze solid in zero degree weather. Wonder if the air bubbles in conjunction with the heater would do the trick.