How do you keep your water from freezing?

[Star and eclipsa]

How expensive are the chicken nipples on average? I also have a polish, and i hate seeing him with that cold water dripping onto his face from his feathers.

 

[Chickens are the best]

I use a water de-icer. It works like a charm, although it does require electricity.

 

[Dayrel]

How expensive are the chicken nipples on average?

Variable depending on exact type, quantity and vendor. Generally 80 cents to $2 each. Not expensive.

 

[Chickens are the best]

How expensive are the chicken nipples on average? I also have a polish, and i hate seeing him with that cold water dripping onto his face from his feathers.

They cost about $5-7 for 4. I recommend wrapping the screw end with some thin waterproof tape to prevent leaking.

 

[Cryss]

Hi all,
After talking to the woman at the local poultry supply store, I bought a heated dog bowl to use for our coop. Last week I switched to using that (instead of our galvanized waterer).

I'm already seeing some problems with it and things I don't like--chiefly that it's really easy for my Polish top hat to get her head feathers wet, which makes me worry about her on cold nights. But it also needs to be totally dumped almost daily, because it gets totally full of straw. Pretty sure the girls don't care if they poop in it, either.

So I'm wondering what people prefer? I saw a bunch of options on Amazon, ranging from $15-$70. I'd like something I can use with what we have already...

ETA: this is a small suburban flock. 4 hens and a small coop.

I also have 4 chickens. I used a rubber bowl but had the same problem. I don't eat anything in the coop. I want to get horizontal nipples but they were out of stock, so I bought two 1 gallon jug type waterers. You fill the jug, screw the "lid" on, and flip it upside down. The lid is like a dish, the water empties into the dish giving the chickens only a ring of water that they can't stand on and soil. If it gets a bit dirty I flip it over which drains out the water in the ring but saves the clean water in the jug. I also add a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar per gallon of water. So why 2 of these jugs? I keep the second one in my house filled. It stays room temp till the one in the coop freezes. Then I just swap them and bring the frozen one indoors. It's been very effective. I'm not throwing out gallons of water every day.

 

[aart]

They cost about $5-7 for 4. I recommend wrapping the screw end with some thin waterproof tape to prevent leaking.

This is the cheapest place I found to buy them, been a couple years tho.
http://allboutchickens.com/horizontal-poultry-nipples/

Shouldn't need tape....need to drill the right sized clean hole.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...watering-nipples.843040/page-34#post-14593735

 

[Star and eclipsa]

Variable depending on exact type, quantity and vendor. Generally 80 cents to $2 each. Not expensive.

They cost about $5-7 for 4. I recommend wrapping the screw end with some thin waterproof tape to prevent leaking.

thank you both!

 

[NancyNurseCxMama]

I don't have electricity to my coop or run.
17 degrees this morning, 40 mph winds, and the waterer is tucked into a sunny corner behind a clear PVC tarp wind block. The girls were out at about 0730. By 1000 there was light partial skim of ice on the water in the trough (standard 3 gallon red-and-white waterer) that I broke with a fork. I took the waterer out of the run and made sure it was running free by spilling some out. No frozen water in the reservoir.
Went out again at 1100 with a second smaller (two gallon) waterer. I placed a 1 quart container of hot water in the reservoir of that waterer just for the heck of it, along with room temp water. The first waterer had a very light skim of ice on the trough water. Chickens were fine drinking through that but I changed it out for the second waterer.
Almost two hours later, no ice in the trough. 23 degrees now, sunny, still very windy.
The girls are loving the wind-blocked area, eating and drinking well.
And in these short cold days, we now have a second layer!! A fat and fluffy BO has now joined my only other layer, another BO, in egg production.
Happy Holidays!

ETA: 2pm, 24 degrees, still no ice in my modified waterer. I know it won't last forever but three hours is pretty good in this weather, I think. Going out every hour to check.

 

[Huntsville Saloon]

My water stays perfectly clean and the chickens can't get themselves wet with it. I've been really happy. I started using those horizontal nipples last year and now I won't use anything else, I like them so much.

You are lucky! I tried to switch to a heated waterer with the horizontal nipples when it got to 10F here, and my dumb chickens couldn't figure out how to use it after 3 days, no matter what I tried. I almost lost them in the process.

 

[CapricornFarm]

I made this, need to put a cover on and it is done.