How do you keep your water from freezing?

[Bwatson81]

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.

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 use 2 of these heated 5 gallon buckets that were bought from Rural King.

https://www.amazon.com/Gallon-Watt-Heated-Bucket-20FB/dp/B000HHQLHM

 

[Mark Armstrong]

As usual with me I waited till the last minute to prepare for the New Year's weekend cold snap to do something about my birds water, I picked up the 3 gallon fountain at TSC and found it somewhat disappointing, the tank is very thin plastic and is really flimsy, heater base seems to be fine and has kept the water unfrozen, 12 above here in N. Texas on New Year's morning, I had to route the cord so I can flip it over outside the coop to refill, it looses a lot of water when inverting to refill, it has a year warranty so i'm going to hold on to the receipt in case of problems

 

[CapricornFarm]

I use a cinder block and place a light bulb in the hallow cavity. The socket itself is bolted to a base fitting snuggly inside the block. I then place a ceramic tile directly on top of the block distributing the heat evenly while protecting the plastic waterer. Hope this helps

How is that working for you?

 

[CapricornFarm]

What I'm planning to do if/when we get rabbits and /or quail is to use nipple waters and then have a livestock watering trough de-icer in it. I used nipple waterers for one batch of chicks are really how much cleaner they were. I think nipple waterers would work great for Polish chickens.

If anyone has used anything like what I've described, I'd love to hear if it worked or not.

Do you use horizontal or vertical nipples?

 

[Toothpick]

I thought about a water heater of sorts. But in the end I didn't do it. I'd have to run two extension cords across the yard since I have two separate coops. Now that we are finally below freezing at night I empty the two water buckets at night and bring them in the house (so the water left in/on the nipples doesn't freeze). Then every morning fill it up and put back out. Temps are usually warm enough during the day so it doesn't freeze.

 

[KettermanHillCoop]

I'm currently using the "junk" (labeled in pic) waterer. It has been consistently in the single digits overnight for days with highs only in the mid 20s (F). I'm chipping ice out of the red dish in the morning when I open the coop and at night when I close it. Not sure if the birds can/will chip ice away to get proper hydration.

I have the waterer sitting on a piece of plywood that is sitting on a cinder block. I'm going to try placing a piece of insulation board between waterer and plywood.

I'm a bit disappointed in the performance in this heated waterer. I will be deciding on a different system for next winter. I don't have the luxury to be changing out water all day long so whatever I come up with needs to be sufficient for 12-14 hours...

Side note....the dog's water is perfect. He has the heated dog bowl.

 

[jthornton]

My vertical nipple bucket Mk2 worked fine last night at 1°F

JT

 

[birdmansmom]

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.

 

[birdmansmom]

I bought a plastic heated waterer from Fleet Farm. You can order it online as well. It has three nipples for drinking out of. I have three polish girls in my flock. Their heads stay completely dry and no straw gets into it. The water stays completely clean.

 

[Hivoltage]

As usual with me I waited till the last minute to prepare for the New Year's weekend cold snap to do something about my birds water, I picked up the 3 gallon fountain at TSC and found it somewhat disappointing, the tank is very thin plastic and is really flimsy, heater base seems to be fine and has kept the water unfrozen, 12 above here in N. Texas on New Year's morning, I had to route the cord so I can flip it over outside the coop to refill, it looses a lot of water when inverting to refill, it has a year warranty so i'm going to hold on to the receipt in case of problems

Sounds like we have the same water jug.