Getting water to your birds when the hose is frozen

[WhiteAfrican923]

I live in Michigan and I used to have the luxury of taking a hose and filling the water containers for the birds but in the last couple of weeks the weather has been awful cold. Instead of filling bucket after bucket in the house and taking them to the birds, I have decided to do something that will shorten my chore time by a few minutes. I went to Wal-Mart and got a 30 gallon rubber made tub with a lid. I put the tub filled with water in a wheel barrow along with the feed and in 30 minutes time I am done with chores. I have a hose in my basement that I can get a few feet outside and fill the bucket and then drag the hose back inside. I would like to know how people get water to their birds in a lovely cold, frozen climate like Michigan. I know its a warmer cold compared to some other places.

 

[fuzzybutt love]

There is a heated hose? Idk. I live in mi too and i have to lug water also.

When i was able to have electric to the coop i used a cattle trough water de-icer and a car tire style 3 ga rubber dish. I still use the dish since the material keeps the water from freezing so easy and the ice comes out when you give it a thump. I only need 3-4gallons of water though! A rinsed out kitty litter container seems to be almost 2 and is kinder to the hands than milk jugs and pours faster. I don't like traditional chicken water-ers cause they freeze too quick and you have to get wet to dump them. Leather gloves that fit snug will help tremendously.

I fill the container inside and my hands are dry and gloved by the time i go out there!

 

[WhiteAfrican923]

I don't have a heated hose. We have a faucet in the basement that is hooked up to a garden hose that I run outside and after I get done using the hose I pull it back indoors. I have seen devices that hook on the hose and for 160 dollars i can heat a 50 ft section. It doesn't help when you have 300 ft to the barn. All of my tubs are plastic or rubber. I take water twice a day to my birds because most of them are geese and make a mess and I water when I feed. I always change the water when i feed because they deserve fresh water. I think if I wouldn't drink it why should they.

 

[purpletree23]

How many chickens do you have? Sounds like a lot if you need that much water. If you have a lot of chickens consider running a water pipe to the barn and wrap a heating cable around it as you lay the pipe in the ground. A plumber only has to do the hook up at the house and the faucet in the barn. The rest of it you can do. Dig the trench etc.

You can also take the hose off the faucet and replace the faucet with one that will not freeze and back up and use it through most of the winter. Only during the coldest days do I get water from the kitchen sink but then again I only have a dozen hens.

 

[WhiteAfrican923]

I only have 9 Large Fowl and 11 bantams along with 3 guineas, 3 ducks, 6 peacocks, and 27 geese.

 

[SunnySkies]

Usually I drain the hose (300 feet, to reach to the hogs and horses) every day and roll it back up onto reels and store them in the basement or garage, near the faucets. But someone forgot to drain them Saturday while I was at work, and they have been frozen solid since. So I am hauling water in 5 gallon increments uphill that 300 feet to make sure the hogs and horses have water. I bring in the chicken waterers and dog buckets and fill them in the house or at the outdoor faucet.

The duck pools are frozen solid, and as soon as the hose unthaws, I'm dumping and rinsing them out.

 

[fuzzybutt love]

See that is way more than me! I have only a doz chickens so dumping and filling only one dish; i agree with yhe other poster about trenching out a permanent water line.

 

[WhiteAfrican923]

I don't mind doing that much dumping and filling. Its good exercise and get me off the couch away from the computer. If you think filling and dumping are hard try keeping an indoor pen for geese clean and dry.

 

[fuzzybutt love]

Lol. It is why i have stayed to chickens. I like geese but have heard they are messy! But they have such happy eyes. I don't mind dumping, it is figuring out where to put all the little ice blocks that drives me nuts! Lol.

I was hoping there were more ideas must be a lot of us lugging...

 

[SunnySkies]

I pile the ice chunks in an area with drainage so when it all melts, it isn't a big deal.

The worst is the horse trough...I use a old manure fork to scoop those out and dump them on the other side of the fence, and they can take all winter to melt depending on how warm it gets, plus they build up rapidly. Those are heavy and they fall off the fork and right back in the water and splashing as they go if I'm not careful. But scooping them out helps the water not freeze right back up.

Plumbers cost big bucks around here, so we are not ready to lay a second line from our well to the critter area.

My hose finally thawed, and I made sure to drain it tonight