Frozen Water

[deegee68]

Good morning. We got our first big freeze night and the girls water was frozen solid. I am using a double wall 5 gallon but it looks like I need to go heated. The problem is, I do not have electricity out there. Can someone please give me suggestions on how to go solar and run a heated waterer. Thanks.

 

[Echelontheory101]

Good morning. We got our first big freeze night and the girls water was frozen solid. I am using a double wall 5 gallon but it looks like I need to go heated. The problem is, I do not have electricity out there. Can someone please give me suggestions on how to go solar and run a heated waterer. Thanks.

I use the rent a coop heater belt, I like it because it doesn't go IN the bucket and doesn't get hot just keeps the water above freezing so if you have plastic waterers you can use it with those and not worry about getting metal ones.

For the power problem I have an expensive solution or somewhat expensive solution depending on om your budget that I use successfully, I bought a jackery battery bank and their solar panel. I mounted the solar panel to the top of the roof of the coop and the jackery just works like a regular outlet it's got a bunch of different plug options and I can run my box fan and the water heater off of it and it works for a full 24 hours and depending on where you have the solar panel even in snowy New England weather like mine it's still recharges every day. That is going to cost a couple hundred dollars I think the battery and panel was 340, but then you have reliable solar electricity out there. The other option is either running extension cords or look at cheaper solar batteries but I really do recommend jackery I use one inside the house for power outages as well I have a separate one.

 

[EmmaDonovan]

Would some kind of solar heated bird bath work?

Or a solar powered pool heater?

Do you think a solar aerator would keep the water from freezing?

 

[perkolator]

Saw that RunChicken now makes this candle-powered water heater: https://run-chicken.com/heater/?srsltid=AfmBOooMYDg44SjjXRzcyuAYACqC7uvlsc_Eud3vPex4QRj1P5b46Osl

 

[Mother of Chaos]

Saw that RunChicken now makes this candle-powered water heater: https://run-chicken.com/heater/?srsltid=AfmBOooMYDg44SjjXRzcyuAYACqC7uvlsc_Eud3vPex4QRj1P5b46Osl

Open flame in a coop? Even though it sits in a container, yikes!!!

 

[Not-so Slick Chicken]

I also don't have electricity available to some of my animals.
What type of temps do you experience? My suggestions below won't help if your water freezes during the day.

On cold nights, we bring the dogs' outdoor water into the house so it doesn't freeze.

For my birds, I like to use rubber feed pans.
I recommend the 2 gallon, and/or 3 gallon (3gal has an option with handles)
If they freeze, I can just flip it, toss it, stomp on it to get the ice out. It's great.
I can also just break the ice, or add water to the top. It isn't gravity fed like our plastic and metal waterers, so it isn't a big deal if it freezes as they drink from the top.
I like having multiple. They're useful for several things (grit, calcium, feed, water) and easy to store, as they stack.
My birds like perching on the sides
One of the hens soaks her feet in them
And the ducks (muscovies) bathe in them, even though they have a pool.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

You don't need water in the coop at night, chickens don't drink in the dark. Sorry, though, I have no info on solar heat.