How do you water your chickens in the winter?!

[Reinbeau]

Quote:
Lynne, I have to admit, hubby does the water, it's too heavy for me, so changing it isn't a problem

 

[HappyHatch'en]

I was born and raised in northern Minnesota, reading this post and specially you folks who have had snow fall already...reminds me to well why I live here in Georgia...we do not have mosquitoes, deer flies, few sunny days, -45 degree days and top it off with multiple feet of snow.
I get a few days each year with snow, but do not shovel or drive and our fall weather runs into December.
However it can get cold and the south needs it to kill a few bugs that won't survive with freezing temps. This will be the first winter with birds and it sounds like the heated pet dish might be my answer, however the 200 feet to the coop presents it's own problem and carrying water every day for them is not an option...anyway you could keep the water flowing would minimize it freezing? Solar would be nice if it wasn't expensive. I really can't believe people are worrying about freezing water bowls this early....but I read to learn and thanks for posting this thread.

 

[fiskz]

Just saw this post and was wondering how this worked for you, do you continue to use it. I'm thinking about the same thing but maybe use a 40 watt bulb with a standard socket. Poke a few holes into the side of can for a night light affect and so it doesn't get too hot.


Quote:

 

[ChuckenGirl]

In the magazine Backyard Poultry, someone had the idea to use a heated horse bucket as a waterer...

 

[PoultryPedia]

Here is a photo of the type of raised water bowl holder I used to hold my stainless steel water bowls.
Prevents litter from getting kicked into the water, keeps the chickens from stepping into the bow, and keeps the bowl from getting tipped over.
It is made by taking the metal top part of a lampshade and bending it into 'waves', and screwing the center into a small stack of wood.

You can hang a heat lamp (SECURELY!) about a foot above it to keep the water thawed. A regular lightbulb (60 or 100 watt) will usually do the job.
If you want, you can plug the heat lamp into a timer (about $5 at Wal-Mart) in the power socket that will turn the light on for only a couple hours 2 times a day, so the lamp isn't running all the time but the chickens get a good amount of time they can drink throughout the day.

 

[gmachicken]

I have a bird bath that has a heater within it. It is plastic so I just set in in the coop with the plastic waterer on top of it. Worked great.
We run a cord out there from a shed. Also have a timer on it.

 

[bluetrain]

Wow...7 pages...lol......well here in Western North Carolina, in the beautiful Foothills area, most winters are not that bad, but I would say that this past winter wasn't anywhere near normal...it got flipping cold around here......we use a pet (dog) waterer that has the big blue bottle on top that feeds into a selfregulated pan...anyway, the bottle didn't freeze but the water in the pan did, so I took an old heating pad and wrapped it around the bottle, sort of down toward the bottom where it helped keep the water in the bottle a bit warmer and the base/pan warm too and it seemed to do the trick.

 

[Chemguy]

As I post this, it is the middle of summer, but I'm trying to think ahead a little bit. I wonder if it might be possible to use one of those submersible aquarium heaters inside of the waterer. They come in a variety of wattages, and just might do the trick. A small 50W heater runs about $10 US. Does anyone have any experience with using these?