How do you keep your water from freezing?

[Sietse]

What I do is having a heater in their coop because it’s very cold at the moment. This makes the chickens more comfortable and the water won’t be freezing.

 

[Dizzydog]

Here is my DYI solution that I posted a while go. It works well and I have used it for years in a very small coop where space is in short supply.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...your-inventions.631861/page-297#post-14320040

 

[path.otto]

I use a 10"cookie tin fitted with a lamp kit. (Similar to @GC-Raptor) I place it on landscaping blocks for the base and then 4" railroad-type timbers (bigger than landscape timbers). Until about 15 degrees I use a 40 watt bulb, lower than that and I switch to 60 watt. I keep my water in the run in a plastic hanging waterer. I also plug the heater into a Thermo Cube that turns on at 35 degrees and off at 45 degrees. Seldom do we have to think about the higher temperature during our winters, until this year it appears. If you are interested you can get the plan on The Chicken Chick's web site. So it won't tip over I keep the hanger attached in case some hens decide to get rowdy!

I made some changes when we had some high winds coming from the SE, prevailing winds are generally from NW and I don't have the southern exposures of the run covered in plastic.. My water froze solid over night. Yes, I fill it and leave it overnight in hopes I don't always have to get up at the butt crack of dawn to water the chooks!
Defeats the purpose of my automatic door opener.

I took a black rubber pan (about 15-18" across) and I placed a clay pot tray upside down in the bottom. Amazingly it fit perfectly. I placed my cookie tin water heater inside the pan on top of the tray (added height) and packed straw around the cookie tin inside the pan in hopes heat would not radiate through the sides so quickly. In colder weather I change bulbs from 40 watt to 60 or even 100 depending on how cold it is. Success!

 

[gocgo]

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.

I tried that...the water stayed thawed, but the nipples froze solid.

 

[chicknmania]

Ours love getting the warm water in the morning. I like to think that warms them up after the long cold nights. We keep a heated dog bowl with water for them, although, agreed, it's not the best solution. We also use regular waterers and just rotate them so there are a couple that are ice free out there most of the time, in addition to the heated dog bowl water. In switching them out, I always use boiling water to thaw the frozen ones, so I take that opportunity to sterilize them too by scrubbing with soap and boiling water rinse.

The main bad thing about the heated dog water bowl is that the roosters sometimes dip their wattles in it, which is not a good thing in sub zero temperatures. That's why we try to make sure they have regular ice free waterers also.

 

[LeeAnn Toler]

I don’t heat my chickens’ waterer either. I empty it out at night and refill it with warm water in the morning and afternoon.

I've been doing the same thing because I'm worried that water will freeze on them. And I don't have a coop, it's just fenced in.

 

[LeeAnn Toler]

What I do is having a heater in their coop because it’s very cold at the moment. This makes the chickens more comfortable and the water won’t be freezing.

You can look on Amazon because I found a safe heater and a heated roosting pole. Other websites have them too. I'm supposed to be getting it tomorrow so I'll let you know Thursday how they did with it.

 

[Krazyquilts]

I tried that...the water stayed thawed, but the nipples froze solid.

Good to know.

 

[Fairview01]

How is that working for you?

I use the same setup. I had to move to a 100w bulb and that did the trick. It was 15 last night. I didn't have open water all the way around the waterer but there was enough that wasn't iced over first thing this morning so they could get a drink when they got up 2 hours before I did. In a lot of places the ice was so thin that they had pecked holes through it to get to the water.

 

[Dayrel]

In a rush, I bought a 2 gallon bucket with integrated heater and thermostat at Rural King. Took 5 minutes to install two horizontal nipples (hanging nipples wouldn't work because the heater is on the bottom). I then trimmed a 5 gallon lid to cover it, keeping in moisture, heat and keeping out dirt. Added a wrap to help retain heat. Total cost less than $40.

Update: The bucket has now proven itself down to -10 degrees. It had some frost around the top inch of the inside of the bucket, but the water was still liquid and the horizontal nipples remained unfrozen. At only 60watts, it is economical as well. Very good solution if you don't need a 5-gal bucket setup.