Freezing Temps!

[fridao]

Ok so basically, i live in NE texas and friday is our first day with freezing temps. And then on Monday/tuesday it will get down to 10 °f. Is there anything you guys recommend for me to do to keep the chickens water not frozen? There’s no outlets near my coop so i’m trying to find other solutions. (I have 5 chickens in total) Also if anyone recommends anything to help the chickens with the cold temps please let me know! I have blocked off some of the run so there isn’t as much air flow but left airflow at the top parts so there is no humidity.Thankyou!

 

[BobStuart]

Boy am I glad I’m in the southern hemisphere. Nice and warm down here, 30C today. But maybe put a big blanket or something around them. I hope they don’t freeze

 

[cavemanrich]

Your chickens should be fine. If you have no electric power available,, the only option,, is to keep changing water often. A lager bowl of water would take longer to start freezing, than a small one.
If you could run a long extension cord to coop,, that is other alternative. Heated dog bowls are the choice in heated water sources. I run 2 all winter. One for chicken area, and another for songbirds, and my feral rescue cats. (not near the chicken run area)

WISHING YOU BEST,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,and

 

[klb25]

I'm off grid and it freezes regularly. I keep a couple 1 gallon waterers and rotate them out each morning, so one is in the house at all times.

I don't use a heat source or anything, and the birds are fine. Their core temperature is around 103F!

 

[GreenJay]

We're down in south Texas here and we're also looking at at least 2 days below freezing, hopefully not more! I'm picking up a second waterer and will just keep swapping them around. We don't have enough long-term freezing weather to buy a heated watering bowl nor power to the coop for it anyway. The girls can learn to ice skate in their wading pool

And here's hoping we don't have another epic grid failure!

 

[saysfaa]

... Is there anything you guys recommend for me to do to keep the chickens water not frozen? ...

There are three and a half choices:
Add heat, insulate, change out the icy water with warmer water. The half choice is adding movement to the surface of the water.

The common ways of adding heat when you don't have electricity to the coop are too expense or too risky in my opinion. The expensive way is solar or battery.

An uncommon way of adding heat is to put a hot water bottle in or near the waterer. I've experimented just a little with this but haven't gotten it to work yet. I tried putting a bottle of very hot water in the open water bucket they drink from. It hasn't worked yet because my bucket is too small so the hot water bottle blocks too much of the surface (it can be weighted, theoretically) and I don't want to use plastic but also don't want to risk glass breaking if/when it freezes.

Insulating the water source works very well. Vacuum sealed bucket is the most effective. Even moving the waterer from on top of metal or concrete to on top of wood will help a little.

The most effective ways to help chickens deal with cold temps are:

• Abundant ventilation
• Spaces out of drafts
• Good hydration - this allows them to have good blood flow through the most vulnerable parts - combs and wattles.
• Full crops - feed available at least often through the day, preferably all the time.
• Look around for hazards such as puddles they might step in, metal they might try to roost on (stepping on and off metal shouldn't be a hazard but staying on it like roosting on it would be), loose strings or wire that might immobilize them.

 

[Penpal]

Your chickens will be fine. One way to get them to take in water is to soak their food. Assuming that you are using commercial crumble or pellets, you can just add water (1 cup water to 2 cups feed) and wait for the water to be absorbed, then give it to them. Adding the water heightens the flavor, they seem to really like it.

 

[texsuze]

I use a 'heated cookie tin' inside my elevated coop in winter. Pavestone block sits on the coop floor. Round cookie tin with hole cut into the side to insert and secure a ceramic-base 40W incandescent light bulb (positioned horizontally, "floating" within the tin); mine is hard-wired; put cookie tin lid back on. The tin sits on the Pavestone. Metal water fount sits on top of the tin. Extension cord (I know, I know...) runs from tin to outside electrical outlet through a small hole in coop wall. Plug in the cord and light bulb keeps water from freezing. Don't use a plastic water fount on top of the heated cookie tin. I've used this setup for over 10 years, knock wood. You might find more details by searching here on BYC.