Heated water bowls and extension cords

[annmarie]

I need to come up with a solution for going away a night or two over the holidays and keeping my chickens water from freezing while we're gone. The obvious choice would be one of those heated water bowls but I'm concerned because the bowls that are sold at my local feed store have a warning on them that says "do not use with extension cords". The set-up I'm dealing with is basically this; my 3 chickens are in a small tractor-like set up, that I mount up on haybales during the winter, and it's located just outside our back door, so if I were to use a heated water bowl, the cord would have to be plugged into an extension cord which would then run either through the back door or a window next to the back door, and plugged in in the entryway outlet in the house. Does this sound like a fairly safe option, or would I be asking for trouble? Does anyone else use one of these bowls with an extension cord, or is there a type of bowl out there that is okay for use with extension cords? Any advice would be appreciated since I made the whole family mad last year when we got up at 3:30 am last Christmas morning and sped home to give the chickens water!

 

[KrisRose]

I use extension cords and only had one problem due to my stupidity

. I would run the cord before your vacation and see if you have any problems.

 

[Chickenaddict]

I use a heated dog bowl in the winter and have no choice but to use an extention cord, this is the second winter with the same bowl and have had no problems using it. I do use an outdoor HD cord.

 

[AnnInIdaho]

We use a heated dog dish that only comes on if below 40 degrees - and its been down to -5 here already. We use heavy, outdoor rated extension cord with a "cover" that covers the point where the extension cord and dog bowl cord join. It has little gaskets that prevent water from getting into the connection and keeps the cords from separating.

 

[Blueline]

This is my set up for winter. Dog dish in a house, keeps most dirt out and keeps birds from standing on side of dish and fouling the water

. The cement blocks set the height at roughly 6 - 7" or about bird beak height as the roof is only allowing 3 - 4" of access space. Sloping roof is steep enough to keep birds off of the roof, again no fouling of the water. We use a 4' plastic removable pipe and pour water thru the pipe into the bowl. If the bowl does get dirt or 'leaves' dumped into it, we open the gate and clean out as needed. I got a little carried away while dumping leaves into pen, the leaves give the girls purpose as they will scratch them around looking for those little tiny insect types wintering in leaves. Fun for them and fun for us watching them have fun

.

The plug connection is outside the pen and high away from water. Works well and the extension cord is plugged into a gfi receptacle.

Hope this is useful for your chicken setup.
Charlie

 

[bubbazmommy]

we are using extension cords right now. it is not the best situation but we haven't run power to the coop yet. haven't had any problems so far.

 

[annmarie]

Quote:
Thank you, that's reassuring! Do you know if your bowls specificially state that you're not supposed to use extension cords?

 

[annmarie]

Thank you all! KrisRose, I'd love to ask you what your "stupidity" was as I'm prone to stupidity myself, but you don't need share if you're too embarrased, and I'll just hope I don't repeat your mistake, whatever it was! All right, I'll buy the bowl and give it a test run this weekend when I'm home. Thanks again!

 

[crazyhen]

There are extension cords for exterior or landscape use that are safer than reg. cords for the outdoors. I got mine from lowes.
Maybe they were just talking about the reg. ext. cords. Good luck Jean

 

[patandchickens]

The main three issues here are:

1) use a single extension cord of the right length, not two plugged together.

2) use a HEAVY DUTY OUTDOOR cord. Cannot stress that enough... not just the outdoorness of it but the heavy duty-ness. Carries more current safely i.e. without excessively attenuating the current and without having the extension cord itself heat up.

3) make sure the union, where the heated water thing's cord plugs into the extension cord, is somewhere high and dry. Ideally you'd want it inside a building, but if need be you can wrap duct tape around where the two parts join (to keep dust and, to some extent, dampness out) and put 'em up on top of a cinderblock underneath an overturned bucket that you put a brick or sumpin' on so it doesn't blow away.

Oh, and it MUST be on a circuit that has GFCI protection, to minimize the chance of electrocution in the event that a mouse chews thru your cord and then you pick it up at that spot, or something.

Good luck, be safe,

Pat