How do you keep Water from freezing

[ryan820]

I can't imagine changing water that often even in the warmth of the summer! Wow!

I use a bucket that is suspended from a post with nipples not the underside. I throw an aquarium heater into the bucket (it's a small, shatter proof one) that lays on the very bottom. It is connected to a timer that cycles on and off in 30 minute intervals. Easy peasy. Our temps are to bottoms out at -9F tonight and it was 2 last night...the water never froze.

 

[Stacykins]

Quote:
Don't use Hot Water, one it is not good for your birds and two it will freeze faster than cold water.

Chris

x2

Hot water will freeze solid quickly, while if you water them with cool water, it will actually freeze slower and only start with a thin sheet of ice on the surface of the water which can easily be punched through. The reason behind this is that cold water has more dissolved gas in it, which settles on nucleation sites on the walls of the water container. These disturbances on the sides of the container are what allow water to crystallize. But hot water has less dissolved gas, and the entire solution slowly cools until once it cools enough, the entire thing begins to freeze rather than just a thin crust around the edges.

It is almost like the hot water allows the rapidly cooling water to become supercooled , and then when it finally is disturbed because of the addition of a seed crystal, it freezes solid.

 

[Linn Bee]

I do like the idea of a warm rock or brick as long as it doesn't heat the water too much. It just might add enough heat to the waterer to keep it from freezing up over night. I could easily see setting one daily on the furnace.

I managed to run e- to the garden shed and have an extension cord going to the coop. So far I haven't plugged the water heater in. Hasn't been needed with temps down to 19 degrees (F), but nights are supposed to get into single digits before the end of the week. Sigh!

Love, Linn B (aka Smart Red) Gardening zone 5a - 4b in south-est, central-est Wisconsin

 

[chickened]

Bring the chickens in the house.

 

[SundownWaterfowl]

I dont. I just change the water 2x a day. They usually will keep a small hole pecked through the top layer of ice to drink out of.

 

[rungirl]

Well, besides a heated watered, I keep a big black rubber feed pan out in the run with water in it. It still freezes, but on sunny days when it's not terribly cold, the black rubber stays warm enough to keep the ice melted. Other than that, you're going to have to haul water... which is no fun in the winter. I'd run an extension cord.

 

[chickened]

You can do a lot with heat tape.

 

[OldGuy43]

It depends on where you are of course, but here it rarely stays below freezing during the day and since the hens sleep at night we just break the ice off the ice in the morning and they're good for the rest of the day. Colder climates of course will require a different solution.

Wrong spelling of their/they're.

 

[galanie]

Quote:
SO TRUE!

Love that sig.

 

[rose45]

Have a 250 gallon tank for 26 chickens and want to prevent the water from freezing