Heated Waterer Dilemma

[BigBlueHen53]

Aw are you serious? There's no way I'll be able to wire electricity to my coop this winter and it's supposed to get to 19 degrees F tomorrow

Can you get a really long heavy-duty extension cord? That's what I'm using.

 

[sean_wonder]

I can't check it a couple times a day since I have school, but I think I'm just going to dump it at night and fill it with hot (not boiling ) water in the morning and check it when I get home up until they're up for the night. I have multiple waterers in the run so they should be okay... sorry to hijack the thread!!

 

[Matilda Belle]

I use a really long extension cord as well.

 

[MiaS]

We’re expecting single digits / teens in the next few overnights. I bought the premier1 heated poultry nipple waterer. It got great reviews. Hoping that the one the OP mentioned isn’t the same one.

I've got this one too, here in Canada. We've been as low so far as 5°F/-15°C and it hasn't frozen. This is on an extension cord and outdoors - though protected from the wind. Now if I could just get all of my chickens to use the damned thing....

 

[MandaH]

https://www.meyerhatchery.com/productinfo.a5w?prodID=HPFNT These heated poultry waterers work really well too

 

[Peepsi]

I can't check it a couple times a day since I have school, but I think I'm just going to dump it at night and fill it with hot (not boiling ) water in the morning and check it when I get home up until they're up for the night. I have multiple waterers in the run so they should be okay... sorry to hijack the thread!!

I think that should work. I think your plan of putting hot water in the waterer before school, and then checking on the chickens after school is a good one. Before I got electric in my coop, that is precisely what I did in the morning before work, and then check after work. For the short time I was doing that, it worked just fine.

 

[RAnst4038]

Fish in a plastic chicken.

 

[Mybackyardpeepers]

I just bought two 1.5 gallon heated dog water bowls for cheap at FFH after watching reviews on it. Installing tomorrow in my coop.

 

[Chad Oftedal]

I have a 20 quart square Cambro container that I drilled holes on three sides and installed nipple waters. I then bought two lids for it. My summer lid is just a regular lid that I use to keep the water protected and clean. My winter lid is another regular plastic lid for it that I very carefully cut a small "x" in the center. This allows me to just barely fit the end of a plug through the "x". For the winter months, I use a 5 gallon fish aquarium heater that I attach on the bottom inside the 20 qt. container with the suction cups that came with the heater. I thread the plug end of the cord through the "x" in the lid, and then snap the lid on the container. From there, just plug it into my outlet, and away I go. If you're worried about glass aquarium heaters, there are some that are a solid design with no glass at all. They cost a bit more, but there is nothing to physically break on them.

 

[aart]

Aw are you serious? There's no way I'll be able to wire electricity to my coop this winter and it's supposed to get to 19 degrees F tomorrow

Have tried it, on a pond, doesn't work.

fill it with hot water in the morning

Hot water freezes faster than cold.

Have done it. 2 identical containers of water, one filled with hot, one filled with cold and placed side by side in the coop on a frigid winter day. Hot one started freezing up first.

This has worked well for me for 5 years now, down to -12°F.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/aarts-heated-waterer-with-horizontal-nipples.67256/

For the winter months, I use a 5 gallon fish aquarium heater that I attach on the bottom inside the 20 qt. container with the suction cups that came with the heater. I thread the plug end of the cord through the "x" in the lid, and then snap the lid on the container. From there, just plug it into my outlet, and away I go. If you're worried about glass aquarium heaters, there are some that are a solid design with no glass at all. They cost a bit more, but there is nothing to physically break on them.

Have you ever run this dry?
Got pics?