gravity feed heated water bowl

[OrchidDragon]

I was thinking of rigging a 5 gallon water jug to sit inverted in a heated dog water bowl for the chickens. This would be their outside waterer. Does anyone have experience with something like this? Would just having heat at the bottom keep the water in the jug from freezing? I live in southern Indiana.

 

[Fred's Hens]

We use heated dog dishes, the larger diameter versions. In those, we place 1 gallon buckets. This allows us to just swap out the buckets without having to mess with the dog dish at all. The dog dish merely acts as a heating element.

I can tell you that the 1 gallon pails do not freeze quickly, but once the temps get down to 5F and below, the ice forms on the top of the 1 gallon pails. These are re-cycled ice cream buckets, only 6-8" tall, 10" in diameter. Not very big, yet the dog dish cannot keep up at sub zero temperatures. So, for a few weeks, you have to fight this issue. Thank goodness it is usually only for a few weeks.

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

I was thinking of rigging a 5 gallon water jug to sit inverted in a heated dog water bowl for the chickens. This would be their outside waterer. Does anyone have experience with something like this? Would just having heat at the bottom keep the water in the jug from freezing? I live in southern Indiana.

It depends on the wattage of the heater.
I'd not use it "outside", and I'm not sure I'd want to design a waterer that has to be inverted each time I fill it and that will weigh over 40 lbs

 

[chfite]

I use this heater. Allied Precision Aluminum Bird Bath Deicer, 250 Watts

It goes inside the water supply. I drop it into the supply bucket once the weather turns cold. No shock hazard. It is bullet-proof construction. It cycles on and off thermostatically. Chickens cannot damage its metal construction. It is available many places.

Chris