If you live in an area where it freezes do you keep water outside?

[gale65]

Would a water heater with a light bulb prevent freezing outside? I live in zone 5 and it gets well below freezing most of the winter. I am hoping to not have to keep water in the coop...

 

[greenegglover]

I recomend a heated dog bowl for outside. TSC carrys one there for $20.

 

[gale65]

Quote:
We bought a heated dog bowl for our dog and it didn't even last one winter. I'd rather use a light bulb type heater-I would trust it more.

btw I think I'll use the busted dog bowl to hold a flock block this winter.

eta: I wonder if we just got a bad bowl. It cost about $30 at Ace Hardware and is red and square. I notice a lot of people use heated dog bowls here on this board. At any rate I don't think I could talk dh into another one. He was pretty ticked off about the one that quit.

 

[7L Farm]

Quote:
We bought a heated dog bowl for our dog and it didn't even last one winter. I'd rather use a light bulb type heater-I would trust it more.

btw I think I'll use the busted dog bowl to hold a flock block this winter.

eta: I wonder if we just got a bad bowl. It cost about $30 at Ace Hardware and is red and square. I notice a lot of people use heated dog bowls here on this board. At any rate I don't think I could talk dh into another one. He was pretty ticked off about the one that quit.

I would of returned it.

 

[wyododge]

I don't particularly care for heated dog bowls, but it is really a personal preference, not a reflection of their function. You can see my page for our set up. Basically 5 gallon bucket and poultry nipples with a bird bath deicer.

 

[ECBW]

I did not find it necessary to keep water outside. The chickens know where to get a drink in the coop. When free ranging, they drink from puddles, flower pots, etc.

Keeping the water inside also helps it from freezing.

 

[pawsplus]

I keep my water outside--the way my coop is set up there is no way to protect stuff on the floor from poop from the roosts (trust me on this!) so it's easier to keep food and water out in the run. In the past I just always removed the waterer at night, dumped it, and refilled it the next a.m. MOST of the time it warms up decently during the day around here so usually this worked. But sometimes it didn't and I'd come home to frozen water.

So this year I bought a heated waterer. So far, so good! I turn it on when it's going to drop below 32F and I no longer have to dumpa and refill--plus I always know that my chix have liquid water when I'm not home.

 

[gale65]

Quote:
It was past 30 days so we had to contact the manufacturer. They said we'd have to pay to ship to them and for return shipping back to us so it wasn't worth it.

 

[gale65]

Quote:
There was water around our waterer in the coop (it's a top fill fountain type) but it's not leaking so I put it outside. I don't want it to happen again. It is up on blocks (about 12" off the floor) but somehow it either leaked or they made a heck of a mess with it. It isn't leaking now so I don't know if it leaked just for a while or what happened but I thought maybe it would be better if I kept it outside. That's why I'm thinking about just keeping it outside all the time.

 

[LindenLiving]

Freezes here as well so my solution is to bring warm water out in the morning and again in the evening when I toss them some scratch to get their internal heaters working for the night. This year I am placing the water bowl in a bed of straw to help insulate it and keep it from freezing to quickly. Usually the sun does warm up the bowl enough to keep it from freezing during the day. No electricity out in the coop area.