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Not a real good idea. They are not as apt to eat the snow as they would drink water. I can see them doing this if there is no water available but they still wouldn't hydrate as well. Cold chickens with even colder snow in their bellies makes for birds who are more susceptible to disease, especially if dehydrated most of the time. They can digest their food better with water and they lay bigger eggs when pleny of water is available. They may stay alive eating snow but its not optimal living for any animal. If that were the case, you would never see animals drinking during the winter....they would just all eat snow.
As for the stock tank heater in the barrel? Usually the freezing point is in the hoses from the reservoir and the nozzle on the end of the hose. We used to do the tank reservoir for our rabbits and used heat tape on the distribution hoses but we always had freezing at the nipples at the very end of the system.
Not a real good idea. They are not as apt to eat the snow as they would drink water. I can see them doing this if there is no water available but they still wouldn't hydrate as well. Cold chickens with even colder snow in their bellies makes for birds who are more susceptible to disease, especially if dehydrated most of the time. They can digest their food better with water and they lay bigger eggs when pleny of water is available. They may stay alive eating snow but its not optimal living for any animal. If that were the case, you would never see animals drinking during the winter....they would just all eat snow.
As for the stock tank heater in the barrel? Usually the freezing point is in the hoses from the reservoir and the nozzle on the end of the hose. We used to do the tank reservoir for our rabbits and used heat tape on the distribution hoses but we always had freezing at the nipples at the very end of the system.
