Goats deicer suggestions

[Mrichard0930]

Hello I already have turkeys and ducks and have the motor looking de icer and a flat small one looks like plastic. Never had issues. Now I have goats our first winter and thought I bought a good de icer but it’s way too big - has a heavy duty cord protector to deter chewing it’s ice n easy submergible tank de icer h-429 clearly this is for a huge tank but I only have two small goats - any suggestions of a deicer ? Thanks

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

We finally broke down and bought a heated 6 gallon bucket for our goats. We hung it on the fence so they can't nibble on the chew proof cord. It's been working perfectly. We hung it a bit off the ground to keep the waterfowl out of it.

 

[WaveyCreekChickens]

My goats don’t like cold water in the winter. I bring hot water out twice a day. We made insulated boxes for the buckets. Then we cut out wood lids with a hole in the middle, so nubian ears don’t get wet. The lids help keep it warm longer too.

 

[Mrichard0930]

We finally broke down and bought a heated 6 gallon bucket for our goats. We hung it on the fence so they can't nibble on the chew proof cord. It's been working perfectly. We hung it a bit off the ground to keep the waterfowl out of it.

Yeah

We finally broke down and bought a heated 6 gallon bucket for our goats. We hung it on the fence so they can't nibble on the chew proof cord. It's been working perfectly. We hung it a bit off the ground to keep the waterfowl out of it.

my goats free range majority of day though. Do goats normally chew cords? I work from home and we are secluded so I just keep an eye all day

 

[Mrichard0930]

My goats don’t like cold water in the winter. I bring hot water out twice a day. We made insulated boxes for the buckets. Then we cut out wood lids with a hole in the middle, so nubian ears don’t get wet. The lids help keep it warm longer too.

Yeah I’ve been doing that But only at night- i did read they don’t like cold water so that’s why I’m trying to figure something out we’ve already got yesrs have been using de icers for our turkeys and ducks so I assumed we can too for goats. Can you post a picture of this insulated box? Thanks

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Goats like to chew on lots of stuff. The cord on the heated water buckets is wrapped in a metal coil to prevent them from biting through it.

 

[Mrichard0930]

Goats like to chew on lots of stuff. The cord on the heated water buckets is wrapped in a metal coil to prevent them from biting through it.

Yeah I know I was working outside over summer and Larry ripped and chewed the letter N right off my lap top I was able to dig it out of his mouth. Our house is mountain side no barn we converted shed into two duck and two goat house adding platforms etc. so with no big run I feel bad and let them free range there’s decks to go on other pets 3 acres to wander so they kind of stay out of trouble. Is there something I can wrap the extension cord in so they don’t chew it or do they sell coiled extension cords maybe

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Yeah I know I was working outside over summer and Larry ripped and chewed the letter N right off my lap top I was able to dig it out of his mouth. Our house is mountain side no barn we converted shed into two duck and two goat house adding platforms etc. so with no big run I feel bad and let them free range there’s decks to go on other pets 3 acres to wander so they kind of stay out of trouble. Is there something I can wrap the extension cord in so they don’t chew it or do they sell coiled extension cords maybe

I'd either try to hide it under something, tie it up high, or perhaps bury it a bit. Out of sight, out of mind with goats. They are too curious.

 

[Mrichard0930]

Ok good call I can hide a majority of it behind under the house then the other like 25% of it exposed to get the the shed I can try to bury out of site out of mind is a very good point Thanks !

 

[WaveyCreekChickens]

So, we started with a plastic tub (we also have one that was a wooden wine box). We used spray foam insulation with the bucket wrapped in a plastic bag to mould it to the right shape. On another one we used styrofoam.

The duct tape hides most of the foam, because as you know, the goats love to chew on everything.

The water buckets fit into them perfectly. The hole in the wooden lid is big enough to let them drink lots of it. I check the level and take the lid off if they have drank quite a bit down.

This is the third winter for these boxes. They are holding up well, some need new duct tape once in a while.