Heating water without power

[Hei-hei]

Hi Al! I have no power by our run. We live in Central NC. It doesn’t get crazy cold here, but it does get cold enough to freeze the water. … basically, I’m a looking at 20/30 degrees with no snow. Would a black rubber bowl be good enough?

 

[RubelliteRose]

We don't have too many days below freezing, so I use the black rubber bowls for water in the winter. The water will freeze during the night in those, but it is easy to break the ice by flipping the bowl upside down. We add some hot water in the morning and set it in the sun. At temps in the 20s, we sometimes will need to break up the ice midmorning or early afternoon if it is cloudy.

 

[BarnyardChaos]

30-deg just overnight, probably yes. 20-deg all night and part of the day, probably not.

I haven't tried it, but I've seen articles on DIY solar heating for livestock tanks, and wondered if it can be modified for small chicken waterers. Bascially, you'd need to add a clear tent of some sort over the waterer, with an air-gap between the inside surface of the tent and the outside surface of the waterer. The waterer would need to be a dark color, black is best. I'd put it on a black-colored base, too, and in contact with the ground. Worth a try.

Other than some kind of solar or battery-powered setup, you'd just need to empty waterers every night and refill every morning.

 

[TwoShepherds]

I live in south east Tennessee. Our winter climates might be similar. It's possible for us to run an extension cord from our garage to a heated waterer in the run, and I did that for a winter or two. However, the last several winters, I haven't even bothered with heaters. I just go out in the morning and break the ice in the goats' buckets and run warm water over the frozen nipple waterers that the chickens use. It's almost never cold enough to refreeze during the day.

I would love to find a solar or battery powered water heater, but if they exist, I don't know of them.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Black bowl for sure. Awesome product. Empty the water from it when you put the birds away at night then refill in morning when you let them out. Otherwise come mid winter your tripping over these large ice pucks stuck to the ground. At least that how it is in Northern Vermont. There is only a month up here where somebody needs to be home to empty and refill the bowl mid day or run a cord for small deicer in same black bowl. That's how good those rubber bowls work.

 

[Hei-hei]

I live in south east Tennessee. Our winter climates might be similar. It's possible for us to run an extension cord from our garage to a heated waterer in the run, and I did that for a winter or two. However, the last several winters, I haven't even bothered with heaters. I just go out in the morning and break the ice in the goats' buckets and run warm water over the frozen nipple waterers that the chickens use. It's almost never cold enough to refreeze during the day.

I would love to find a solar or battery powered water heater, but if they exist, I don't know of them.

I might have to do the extension cord method. I need to go out of town for a few days. Will have friends check on them. But, not sure they will get there quick enough for fixing the frozen water.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

I might have to do the extension cord method.

Hi there, hope you are enjoying BYC!

I've seen people without power dig a whole to compost chicken waste and set the water on top.. the composting heat keeps water thaw.. in theory.. I have no personal practice with it.. but there is some valuable information from a few trusted and experienced keepers in the following links. The only thing I will note is that my water freezes faster left out in the open then when up under the eves of the house or even under tree/run type cover.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/alternate-method-to-prevent-water-freezing.73180/

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...lectricity-no-freezing.1497407/#post-25001827

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/anyone-ever-try-anything-like-this.1279582/#post-20615650

 

[TwoShepherds]

I might have to do the extension cord method. I need to go out of town for a few days. Will have friends check on them. But, not sure they will get there quick enough for fixing the frozen water.

Extension cords worked for us.

 

[Dakar2009]

Those black rubber bowls sound like a great idea! I'm going to try that route first. I can definitely get out there in the morning to knock the ice out. And also LOVE the reminder to knock out the ice AWAY from the coop and run so you don't trip on them. I totally would have done that, lol

 

[Hei-hei]

Hi there, hope you are enjoying BYC!

I've seen people without power dig a whole to compost chicken waste and set the water on top.. the composting heat keeps water thaw.. in theory.. I have no personal practice with it.. but there is some valuable information from a few trusted and experienced keepers in the following links. The only thing I will note is that my water freezes faster left out in the open then when up under the eves of the house or even under tree/run type cover.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/alternate-method-to-prevent-water-freezing.73180/

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...lectricity-no-freezing.1497407/#post-25001827

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/anyone-ever-try-anything-like-this.1279582/#post-20615650

Interesting idea!