Frozen waters

[aart]

But won't the salt water bottles help keep the water in the buckets from freezing as the bottles move around in the buckets? Hmmm. I feel an experiment coming on. I'm not wording this very well.

Why would the bottles move around?
Even if they did, it wouldn't help with the trough.

This experiment has been done a few times that I recall, I can't site or link, but just know.

 

[McChooky]

Yes it does, but will only apply to the water in the bottle, not the water in the waterer.

I'm pretty sure I specifically said add the salt to the water bottle and to add the lid tight so it didn't leak out in the waterer but I'm glad you said this in case someone misunderstood. Thanks!

 

[McChooky]

Yes it does, but will only apply to the water in the bottle, not the water in the waterer.

I'm not scientist but it works to prevent the water from freezing in the waterer.I have used this method all winter long in zone 6 and the only time the water froze was when it got around zero F.I've found that changing the water midday prevent s this on coldest days

 

[aart]

I'm not scientist but it works to prevent the water from freezing in the waterer.I have used this method all winter long in zone 6 and the only time the water froze was when it got around zero F.I've found that changing the water midday prevent s this on coldest days

How often, and for how long, did the temps go down to near 0F?
Where is the waterer located?
Changing out the waterer mid day is a good thing to do.

 

[Krugerrand]

I have to side with aart on this one until I see a controlled experiment showing otherwise. Ice freezes as 0-C. Let's say (guessing without looking it up) that the water with salt in it freezes at -10-C. Well, even if the salt water in bottle is not frozen, it's still going to be 0-c there's nothing that is stopping it from getting to 0-C. As the water around it reaches 0-C there's nothing that will stop if from freezing. Same thing with the ping-pong balls referenced either earlier in this thread or a linked thread - okay the air inside them will have a tiny bit of insulating value, but not really much to do anything. And, they'll be 0-C just as quickly as anything else. If you want water to not freeze and it's below freezing outside, you need a source of heat. There's no other way around that. Well, you can go with a REALLY big source of water, which will take longer to freeze ... but eventually that too will freeze if there is no source of heat.

 

[aart]

Same thing with the ping-pong balls referenced either earlier in this thread or a linked thread - okay the air inside them will have a tiny bit of insulating value, but not really much to do anything.

Balls on a water surface is supposed to keep it from skimming over by the balls moving...so needs air movement/wind.

 

[McChooky]

How often, and for how long, did the temps go down to near 0F?
Where is the waterer located?
Changing out the waterer mid day is a good thing to do.

I don't have two identical waterers or I'd perform an experiment and post the results here. The pressure from freezing water expanding increases the pressure on the bottle inside causing movement of the water in the bottle .This prevents the water from freezing up to a point.I know it still freezes near zero because it did.The temperature dropped twice to around 5 degrees F in a period of 10 days.As far as how long it stayed that cold I cannot say.No longer than 12 hrs maybe..

 

[Momcat]

I live in N

Today in nj it was now cold enough to turn the chickens waterers into ice cubes. Even the horizontal nipples froze. I have two waterers. Ine that sits on the ground (3 gallons) and one that hangs with horizontal nipples. How can I keep them from freezing without any electrical source.
Every morning before I leave I have hot water for them. By the time they get out of the coop itll be warm. (I give water at 5:30 am before I leave)

M and use a heated wagerer. It saves time and aggravation..
Lol

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Why would the bottles move around?
Even if they did, it wouldn't help with the trough.

This experiment has been done a few times that I recall, I can't site or link, but just know.

Well if you say it, I believe it! That's good enough for me! I guess I was thinking wind would move them a bit, like ping-pong balls, or the chickens dipping their beaks might jiggle them enough to keep ice from forming.

(What? You can't see the pictures in my head to know what I'm thinking?? )

 

[McChooky]

Well if you say it, I believe it! That's good enough for me! I guess I was thinking wind would move them a bit, like ping-pong balls, or the chickens dipping their beaks might jiggle them enough to keep ice from forming.

(What? You can't see the pictures in my head to know what I'm thinking?? )

I put my waterer out this morning with fresh clean tap water around 8am and left it out all day in the run .At 6pm I removed it from the run after the chickens went inside the coop to roost.The drinking trough that circles around the bottom of the waterer was frozen solid so the chickens couldn't get anything to drink.I knocked the frozen ice out of the drinking trough that encircles the waterer and unscrewed it and the water inside was not frozen solid inside.It was 6 degrees F this morning when I put it out at 8am for the chickens and 20 degrees F when I picked it up to take it inside at 6pm.Temps never got above freezing today. Bitter cold. Even though the trough was frozen solid the water in the tank itself was not frozen solid only had a web of ice partially frozen.Wish I'd remembered to take my phone out to take pics!Again,as I stated before even if temps get around zero it won't freeze solid and will only be slush in the drinking trough if you change the water out once during the day(which I did not do today)Edithoto attached of actual waterer used.(1/2 gallon size) Will upload photos next time test is done sorry!!