heated base for waterer

[L and L]

Hello all, first time chicken person here. We are preparing for winter (central Kansas) and bought a Little Giant 3 gallon metal fount and a heated base for it. Today I realized that the heated base is 15" in diameter and the waterer 11-12" diameter. The heated base says "caution it gets very hot" - do I need to worry about injuring the chickens? Do they make a smaller heated base? I looked on Amazon and didn't see any. Maybe I need a bigger / wider waterer? Or is it no big deal? Just checking with all the experts out there! Thanks in advance for the help!

 

[Debbie292d]

Hello all, first time chicken person here. We are preparing for winter (central Kansas) and bought a Little Giant 3 gallon metal fount and a heated base for it. Today I realized that the heated base is 15" in diameter and the waterer 11-12" diameter. The heated base says "caution it gets very hot" - do I need to worry about injuring the chickens? Do they make a smaller heated base? I looked on Amazon and didn't see any. Maybe I need a bigger / wider waterer? Or is it no big deal? Just checking with all the experts out there! Thanks in advance for the help!

I looked up wattage for a base and it's 125 watts. A cozy coop flat panel heater is 200 watts and chickens can't get burned on those, so they shouldn't be able to get burned on a lower-wattage heater.

To be sure, I would turn it on and test it but it's thermostatically controlled so you'd have to set like a bucket of ice on it. Then when it's on, you can see if you can leave your hand on it.

 

[LizzzyJo]

I wouldn’t worry about that. They don’t burn me to the touch. Plus they would learn quickly and I doubt with any injuries.