hello everybody. this is my first winter of having chickens and i am facing a huge problem. the water in my coop is freezing and the problem is the coop is around 65 yards away from the house. my parents dont want to run electrical down to it and they would like to get a solar panel but those are to expensive. i am flipping out. WHAT DO I DO!!!!!!!!!!!! i need answers asap
If electricity and solar are both out of the question, you're just going to have to haul warm water a couple times per day. I limped through last winter by hauling water but we didn't have very many days where it was needed. This year, there is an extension cord that will be replaced by a permanent line come spring.
We use two waterers, keeping one inside our warm house at all times. In the morning, or periodically throughout the day, we just swap out the frozen one in the coop with the one from inside the house. It's a simple system.
I carry down water twice a day in a bucket. In the winter, I water the chickens in those big rubber bins they use for livestock. They're nice and flexible, so you can pop the ice right out, and pour water in. Plus, I've seen chicken's combs stick to metal in really cold weather, so I keep my metal waterer out of the coop in the winter.
