Heating the water

[beakkeeper]

I know that most of you heat your chickens' water during these winter months, and some of you use rabbit or nipple waterers for ease and cleanliness reasons. Does anyone combine the two? In my most recent McMurray catalogue, in the rabbit section, they advertised a heated rabbit waterer. It isn't online, as far as I can see, but I was wondering if anyone else had used this. If it works, great, if not---just another expensive piece of junk.

 

[brooster]

yeah my water freezes and it becomes a pain, i use a platform heater that you set the fount on. I would think the rabbit heated water thing would not be good, i dont think it would hold enough water, maybe if you had 3-4 chickens but i have 15 and i would need more than one. good for rabbits but not chickens

 

[coberdor]

Here is the link to a previous thread on making water heaters. https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=117287

I used a 40 watt for my peeps small waterer and a 50 watt for the 1 gallon waterer. They work great. I found it was cheaper to buy a cheap clamp light and take off the cone, than buy the pieces. Each one only cost me $6.30.

Here is the link for the Youtube heater that I used as a model for mine:

Carmel

 

[LynneP]

I love my electric dog bowl from Farm Innovators. I have only 12 hens and power in the coop and this device worked when the outside chill factor was at -41C. Mind you, we're insulated, too. Birds love to dip their heads in it sometimes, I have two that blow bubbles through their nares. If it were practical I'd have an electric fountain for them. The Farm Innovators bowl is 1.5 gal and has a wire guard on the cord to protect from biting/pecking.

Available at tack shops, feed stores, hardware stores, pet stores, ag supply houses and co-ops.

Shown here-
https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=7693-seasonal-concerns

 

[Chickie Mamma]

Hello, you are probably better off with the heated dog bowl. I had the heated rabbit bottle and it leaked and always had icicles coming down. I threw it out.

 

[TeaLady]

I use nipple waterers mounted in a bucket. (http://www.solwayfeeders.com/productsdetail1.asp?STOCK_CODE=1396, except when I ordered you could get a kit of the nipples and use your own bucket).

We found that the first thing to freeze was a little ice cap over each nipple -- the metal nipple was a great heat conductor. We had one night when the whole bucket froze solid. The solution was a submersible aquarium heater -- just drop it into the bucket and make sure the water level stays higher than the heater. Since the heater is a wand sort of thing that lies almost flat in the bucket, it's easy to keep the water level up there.

We do not yet have the waterer hooked up to a water line. If we did, having the line freeze would be a big issue. We'll have to come up with a solution for that next winter.

 

[noriko]

I'm using a electric dog bowl too.(It's a blue one. My brother in law gave it to me since they were done with the chickens.) I saw that at Wal-Mart too.

 

[CARS]

Heated stand with a 5 gal. double wall fount. No freeze ups

 

[farmerbrown]

I have 2 PVC pipe waters. There both 6” pipe about 2’ long with a cap on each end. After the cap I cut about 12” long by 2.5 inches into the side of the pipe for them to drink out of [ wall ] and a 6” long by 2 inches deep for an auto top off float (off a RODI system for fish). Once it starts getting cold out I put in a 100 watt submersible fish tank heater (the ones that have a metal tube not glass are the best). For cleaning you just pull it thought the hole and wash out. I have a sink right there and there waters are on an elevated platform in the coop.