freezing water in winter?

[lilchick]

I 'm from Indiana also! Have several barns to care for and when the snow is deep I actually dread even going outside. I would carry the 3 gallon waterers out each a.m. to barns and then each evening dump water and bring them back into basement to refill next day.

This year I decided to go with the metal heated bases from Jeffers. They say they are just for metal waters but they can be used for the plastic types also. I run extension cords out to my barns for fans in summer so will be able to plug them in.

 

[epeloquin]

I think that many who own chickens etc. are very ingenious people. You DEFINITELY don't need to buy a commercial heater from a feed store. What a rip off! I know electricity is an issue for you but for those for whom it isn't I'll post my solution. If you do a search for 'heated chicken waterer" on YouTube you'll find many more besides mine.

 

[ALRwild]

You could buy some heated waterers and a ton of extension cords (that's what I did). I would start putting my water outside their coop so that A) The heater doesn't burn down the coop and B) If the heater doesn't work, you could take the water in every night. Keep in mind that the chickens probably won't drink water during the night anyway. Instead, they will be sleeping.

 

[BellevueOmlet]

If you go with extension cord, use as thick and long of cord as you can afford. It will be worth it since the more cords you hook up to each other, the more dangerous it is. They recommend not using more than one so minimizing the connections will help protect your heating source and lessen the chance of problems.

 

[blackbelt]

They do have electric water heaters for your flock. They do work fine however you need a power source.