Frozen Water!

[ColbyNTX]

Those tank heaters would be nice but I would need a bunch of extension cords and 10 of the heaters! Would also be pretty expensive for a few days or a week of freezing weather. We usually don't get weather like this maybe every ten years or so. I guess I am stuck hauling water from the house by the bucket load. Years ago I did use a heat lamp near the water and it worked great but that is the only coop I had then. Now I have 10 seperate breeding pens and that would be hard to do. I use an auto water system I made out of 1/2" PVC, chicken nipples and a pressure reducer. Works great 360 days a year here. We should go above freezing tomorrow for the first time since Tuesday! It snowed last night and has been all day and won't quit untill 6:00 tonight. Very rare for our area. The kids are happy because there is no school.

 

[Renee']

Since the kids aren't in school, could they provide water mid-day?

 

[ColbyNTX]

We are all snowed in today so watering won't be a problem just a pain in the butt!

 

[marquisella]

My water freezes mid Novbember til Mid March. I give water in the morning and that is it. They do ok. They quickly learn to get over to the bucket & drink their fill right away. I end up having to bang ice out of the buckets about every 3 days, each day, I fill 1/3 more and it takes 3 days for the bucket to get to solid ice. They are plastic. Hit them on the sides with the side of a hammer. The ice pops out. Aim the bucket away from your head, flying ice chunks hurt!

 

[enggass]

I have been using a heated water bowl I got off of ebay for $10. I did have to run an extension cord. The bowl is outside of the coop and I have to say has really impressed me. We got down to -12º one early AM and when I went out it was half frozen on one side. Other than that it has not frozen at all with consistent temps in the single digits. Amazing. Has performed much better than I expected!

 

[vtgirls]

In VT it gets pretty cold for stretches at a time. Although I have had our turkeys only a few months, my advice is that which was passed to me from quite a few local farm folk - give them fresh water first thing in the morning and they will drink their fill. My turkeys are too far away to string a zillion cords out there and they would get smashed by plowing anyway. The turkeys are all happy, active and alert - they just drink up in the morning!

 

[tinyglutton]

I shovel in lots of snow too. They eat that. They need alot more snow than actual water but it works.

 

[ColbyNTX]

It has been below freezing since Tuesday but will be 48 tomorrow. I'm ready for this place to thaw out! I live in this part of Texas for many reasons and only having a few days below freezing is one of them. I have been taking feed buckets full of water everyday and I bought 10 large dog bowls at Wal-mart for $1.18 each. Running about 20 extention cords and buying 10 heated bowls is just not worth it for as few days below freezing we get. It is very rare that we get a day that stays below freezing much less the past 4 that have never got above freezing.

 

[jasonm11]

Quote:
I just checked my girls water about an hour ago and it still was NOT frozen. Use a 5 gallon bucket flipped upside down into drain pan. It is easy to carry out and if filled with warm water to start stays in liquid state all day when the temp is below freezing.

 

[Davaroo]

I used to use one of those coffee cup warmers you get for a $1 at the thrift store.

Run an extension cord to the water bucket and place it on top of the warmer.

It wont make the water hot, but will keep it free of ice.