fuel-based heated waterer

[EasterEggDrew]

I've been dealing with no electric, and thus no heated water, the last few winters in my coop. It's a small flock of 4, and I get thru most of the winter just fine with tucking my 2 gallon plastic waterer behind a clear plastic basement window dome on the sunny side of my run. It keeps the water from freezing on all but the coldest few days of winter, and the flock has been doing fine.

But on those few evenings I arrive home to find it frozen, I wonder how much of the day they were without liquid water, and feel like I should find some solution. Making a permanent connection to the nearest building isn't feasible, although it is close enough to run an extension cord, and that may be the solution for those parts of winter too cold to keep the water liquid.

However, I had assumed there must be some non-electric options out there for purchase. I remembered the pocket warmers (sometimes called hand warmers) we used to use when camping and hunting. We'd keep them in our pockets, and put them in the feet of our sleeping bags at night:

I thought for sure I'd find a galvanized hanging waterer, with such a thing integrated into the base, but no dice. Anyone ever look at fashioning one of these onto a galvanized hanging waterer? They run 12 - 36 hours on a single fill of fuel, depending on the size.

 

[pennyJo1960]

We have a outlet my BF put in the end of the house by the coop I use aquarium heaters
in mine have not froze at all the year or last to try it but they are in 5 gallon nipple waters

 

[OhZark Biddies]

I have on of those “zippo” hand warmers, but never have even used it... so don’t have much to offer.

I would think that if you took a flat concrete paver and put a square concrete block on it, and placed the hand warmer on the paver in the block, and the waterer over it... it might work. But they do need to consume oxygen to work so you might need to make sure it’s not too air tight. Maybe drill a small hole in the concrete block towards the bottom.

Of course those things usually have a cloth baggy to keep you from burning your hands, so they can get hot.... so I would test it in a safe way before just putting out in the coop unattended all night.

Interesting idea though.

 

[MadAngler]

You can also look at using a cooler as your waterer...

http://muddyhillfarm.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=13

I did something similar. I still use a bird bath deicer for really cold temps but the cooler definitely helps...

 

[Acre4Me]

Old fashioned non-electric uses decomposing manure for heat.

Dig a hole, add manure, some dirt on top, nestle the bucket into the hole a certain amount. Will work all winter while manure decomposes. There have been postson this before, but could likely find a variety of online instructions (like amount/depth of manure).

This is also how “hot-frames” were heated for starting seeds. Dig down, add thick layer manure, cover with several inches soil, plant seeds, use cover on top of wood frame for heat retention/protection. The following year...manure is done composting, and is then a “cold-frame”.

 

[EasterEggDrew]

Wow, thanks everyone! These are fantastic ideas!

I think I'm going to give that cooler idea a whirl. Seems like an ideal passive solution, for our climate, with several other benefits. Then I'm going to need advice on how warm (or hot?) to make the water I put in the cooler, to make it thru a long winter day.

Just to close the loop on the hand warmers, the baggie does protect your hands from the hot metal, but it actually serves an even more important purpose: limiting fresh oxygen. If you keep the hand warmer in the baggie, it just gets warm, never that hot. You regulate the temperature of the hand warmer by how tightly you close the baggie, some will run with the top of the bag open for maximum heat. By the same token, your idea of stacking blocks and setting a waterer on top would probably be close to perfect, with just a minimal amount of fresh air leaking in to keep the converter glowing.

I also like the manure idea, a great way for someone with access to it, but probably more involved than I'd like to get if I can get something simpler working first.

I'm off to shop for a cooler! If anyone has a very small one that has been proven to work with these adaptors, please let me know. I have a small setup for a small flock:

4 birds
48 sq.ft. run
16 sq.ft. coop

Both the run and coop are tall, full standing height, and I take advantage of that to give the birds a lot of perching space. I typically keep the water in the run, but have resorted to putting it in the coop in very cold weather, a few times. The coop is painted dark to maximize solar heating in winter, and it's in the shade of several walnut trees all summer.

 

[Northern Flights]

There are other chemical reaction heaters out there... I wish I had a long term memory and could steer you right here, but they have been around for yonks. Some can off-gas some really nasty substances, but even though the chemical heaters we were given during Air Cadet survival training in 1972 sent a couple guys to hospital, it didn't affect me one bit!

Seriously though, the following came immediately to whats left of my mind: See here.
I doubt they would "burn" long enough however, unless it was more reactive which usually means off-gassing...

 

[paneubert]

The reusable hand warmers someone mentioned that they were going to try to use in a recent thread were these ones......seems like they work via magic.

"HotSnapZ Hand Warmers"
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004CV2YXE/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_0M2pCbZ3Z6GFG

 

[HenOnAJuneBug]

You can also look at using a cooler as your waterer...

http://muddyhillfarm.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=13

I did something similar. I still use a bird bath deicer for really cold temps but the cooler definitely helps...

Those long-reach nipples are cool. If someone had the regular horizontal kind they could be modified to do the same thing by screwing them into a plastic tube of suitable dimension, which then could be caulked into place in a hole drilled in the cooler. Drill the hole tight enough and they would fit pretty snug.

 

[MadAngler]

You can also look at using a cooler as your waterer...

http://muddyhillfarm.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=13

I did something similar. I still use a bird bath deicer for really cold temps but the cooler definitely helps...

Also, you can just use the normal horizontal nipples. That is what I did. I just cut a 3" x 10" piece out of the outer shell of an old cooler. That exposed the inner wall of the cooler. Then, I just drilled and mounted the nipples as usual.