INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Kassafrass]

[COLOR=900000] x2 on the fire hazard--especially when used near water. A hot bulb plus water splashes can lead to the bulb shattering.


I use a heated bucket, myself, set underneath something or covered so there aren't any accidental swims over the wintertime. It heats at the base and keeps the water just above freezing. A thin layer of ice formed on the water during those nasty negative temps we had last winter, but the girls knew to peck right through it to drink. It does require an extension cord or electricity of some sort, which is one of the reasons I empty and unplug it overnight.

I'll have to go back and find it if you want to try it out, but there were also posts last winter about using the element from the same kind of bucket to make a heated base for waterers and fermented feed dishes. My girls use buckets for the rest of the year, so I stuck with just using the bucket for the wintertime.

Edited because my brain doesn't function properly after 10pm.


Edit 2 - Here's that post about using the element for a heated base (credit to Leahs mom for the original post, of course )[/COLOR] https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/730582/indiana-bycers-here/16100#post_12204212

In regard to a water bowl, i have been using the plastic one that came with the birds and coop. I hate it, but it has been workable bc i have had it outside so it hasnt been a big deal when they overturn it...multiple times a day.

Since we are supposed to get snow too, i am wanting to get serious about a winter solution. I dont want to run electricity out to the coop for winter, and i am afraid they will step in and overturn anything on the floor. Are there any hanging waterers you have liked?

Also, i have been brainstorming ideas with my engineering husband. We have been trying to figure out if there is anything we can put around or in a water container to help it not freeze as quickly. Since we are new to this, we have no idea if chickens will peck at or how they woukd handle these things. So if someone with more experience could give me your thoughts on:

~a water wiggler (like you would put in a birdbath
~insulated bag material made to slip around the waterer
~a heated rice filled bag made to fit around the waterer (like the bed buddys and other warm packs)

I know none of these will prevent freezing, but just hoping to slow the process.

 

[hoosiercheetah]

@Mother2Hens

I've moved on from the notion of chicks this year - I really just don't have time. I'm in search of pullets instead, so if you know anyone who's got a few, I'm interested!


That reminds me, does anyone know if there are going to be any more chicken swap meets this year, around the Indy or donut county area? I'm not sure where else to go for that kind of information.

 

[Leahs Mom]

I have a bunch of heated bowls around here. There are a couple problems - from my perspective - w/ using those.

They are an open water source which increases the chance that a bird could step in it. Now they probably wouldn't do that by choice, but in close quarters in winter during a scuffle...sometimes birds end up in places they never intended on being. Frostbite on feet and legs.

The other thing with an open waterer is that the wattles can drag through the water while they drink. Frostbite on wattles.

So far I've tried to come up with solutions that provide a "restricted opening" for water. The one that actually worked best was putting grit in one of the heated dog bowls, filling it with water to conduct the heat, then putting a small waterer on top of the grit. Worked pretty well but I had to attend to it more than I wanted to so I'm trying a couple different options this year. looked like this and I used a couple of them in different areas:



It seriously worked quite well. Who knows..may go back to that but the 2 other ideas I have will be much less maintenance. I'll report on them after I see how they work out.


Look @pipdzipdnreadytogo it's a little Tilde

 

[hoosiercheetah]

Oh, and since it was asked, here's the Character Study Update from my little flock of wierdos:

Queen Penelope (Wellsummer/Brown Leghorn I think) Does not seem to be top chicken any longer. She's in the middle ranks now, and she's a lot more calm and amenable to handling than she used to be. She had a bad run with bumblefoot a couple months ago, but it healed entirely on it's own, and now she's fine. She still lays four days in a row, then one off, like a metronome. You could set your sundial by this bird. Still my favourite chicken.

Out of the three RIRs only the biggest one has a distinct personality, and her name is Peonie. I'm pretty sure she's the Top Hen now. She's bossy and bold as brass, like Penny used to be. She's the one who runs out in front of the mower. The other two Reds pretty much just follow her around, and squat every time anything comes anywhere near them. I guess I think of them as the Ugly Stepsisters. They've lain well, but are slowing down as it gets colder.

Then there's Elsa, my white and buff EE. She's a very consistent layer of small blue-green eggs, so she's fun but not very useful. She's very timid, hates being handled, and is probably the bottom chicken in the order. She makes this bizarre chortling gobbling noise that's accompanied by a single violent head-shake. It sounds a bit like a turkey gobbling. She also honks like a goose now and then. I've never heard her sound like a chicken.

I've still got the two Golden Comets. They are my all-star egg machines. They've lain large or ex-large eggs almost every day since they started, back in late July I think it was. No sign of slowing down for weather. They're pretty middle-of-the-road birds, not too shy or friendly. They're broader in the beam than I thought they'd be, so they may be decent eating at the end.

And lastly there's the Black English Orp, Anne Boleyn. Anne has completely stopped laying. I hope she picks back up in the spring, because she's huge and I'd hate to feed her all winter for nothing. I'd much rather eat her, and if I can find a good batch of replacement pullets, I might just give her the axe anyway. Anne is still dumb as a bag of hammers, and couldn't find the food and water if there weren't other chickens eating and drinking.

And that's about it! I can't wait to add more strange and wonderful feather-heads to the flock!

 

[hoosiercheetah]

Of Water and Ice:

Sadly, there are only a few ways to make heat. The only really practical ones for chicken water are insulation, fire, and electricity. I don't know how much insulation you'd have to have on a waterer to keep it above freezing, but I don't see a way to make it work on it's own. Fire is right out. Which pretty much leaves electricity.

I have an idea. I use the basic TSC read and white plastic waterers. I'm going to try sticking one of these to the side:

http://www.amazon.com/Zoo-Med-Repti...=1414669635&sr=8-1&keywords=under+tank+heater

Which will definitely keep the water warm. Possibly too warm, in which case I'll wrap the heater in cardboard and then tape it to the waterer.

But, it takes power in the coop. I honestly don't know how to keep water from freezing without some kind of power source.

I suppose you could always go geothermal, but that seems a bit much for chickens.

 

[Leahs Mom]

@hoosiercheetah
You'll have to keep us updated if that works for you. I don't know how hot they get?? Don't melt your plastic


PS: And in case I wasn't clear, all of my ideas use electricity. All of them will work but I'm not sure I will like any of them. Have to use them for awhile before I decide if I can recommend them to anyone else

 

[ChickCrazed]

I used a regular heated dog bowl for part of last year, then a heated horse bucket for the remaining part of the year. I didn't do anything fancy with either and had no issues of frostbite due to wattles dragging in the water. It should be a natural way to drink so they should naturally know what to do with their own body parts to keep them out of the water (my way of thinking, i realize some chickens are super stupid). I am going to use the heated horse buckets this year. I'm still working on getting electricity out to the coop. I have all the materials, just waiting for my cheap electrician to decide he can help me do it!

 

[Leahs Mom]

I used a regular heated dog bowl for part of last year, then a heated horse bucket for the remaining part of the year. I didn't do anything fancy with either and had no issues of frostbite due to wattles dragging in the water. It should be a natural way to drink so they should naturally know what to do with their own body parts to keep them out of the water (my way of thinking, i realize some chickens are super stupid). I am going to use the heated horse buckets this year. I'm still working on getting electricity out to the coop. I have all the materials, just waiting for my cheap electrician to decide he can help me do it!

I have considered trying the heated bowl just open to see what happens. I've never offered an "unrestricted opening" waterer because the hen shed was pretty close quarters and I didn't want anyone stepping in it. I've known a couple of people that had birds lose their feet stepping in an open waterer.

But...
I have had experience feeding wet feed. I also try to restrict the feed to the edges so that they don't have wattles sitting on the wet feed...only the beak needs to go in the bowl. I was totally successful with having no frostbite issues with that until I changed how I was feeding it JUST ONE DAY. "Mister" got frostbite on his wattles from that one day experience without the restricted opening so I quickly put it back like it was before. (It didn't effect any of the ladies whose wattles are shorter.)

Perhaps eating feed is different than drinking. If the opening is restricted, the wattles stay on the outside and only the beak goes in. But if it's a bucket or bowl with the water level going down, I can't even think of a way that they could keep their wattles from getting in the water. (Of course I'm talking about birds that have good sized wattles like the roos or ladies with highly developed wattles...)

I'm thinking that in a "nature" setting they would likely be drinking from a stream or puddle in which the water goes down at a slope, allowing them not to put the wattles in there either....

Just pondering...and trying to be proactive for prevention....(which is worth a lb. of cure, I hear)

 

[ChickCrazed]

I have considered trying the heated bowl just open to see what happens. I've never offered an "unrestricted opening" waterer because the hen shed was pretty close quarters and I didn't want anyone stepping in it. I've known a couple of people that had birds lose their feet stepping in an open waterer.

But...
I have had experience feeding wet feed. I also try to restrict the feed to the edges so that they don't have wattles sitting on the wet feed...only the beak needs to go in the bowl. I was totally successful with having no frostbite issues with that until I changed how I was feeding it JUST ONE DAY. "Mister" got frostbite on his wattles from that one day experience without the restricted opening so I quickly put it back like it was before. (It didn't effect any of the ladies whose wattles are shorter.)

Perhaps eating feed is different than drinking. If the opening is restricted, the wattles stay on the outside and only the beak goes in. But if it's a bucket or bowl with the water level going down, I can't even think of a way that they could keep their wattles from getting in the water. (Of course I'm talking about birds that have good sized wattles like the roos or ladies with highly developed wattles...)

I'm thinking that in a "nature" setting they would likely be drinking from a stream or puddle in which the water goes down at a slope, allowing them not to put the wattles in there either....

Just pondering...and trying to be proactive for prevention....(which is worth a lb. of cure, I hear)

I understand the concern! I did have three roosters (two cochins with giant wattles) and still didn't have any issues with frostbite even during the polar vortex (a tiny bit on combs, but not wattles or feet). Animals will be animals, i wish I could find a way to bubble wrap them because they always seem to find a way to damage themselves despite your best efforts. But, not having had issues with plain open water as bad as last winter was, I'll use them again this year. They work well, are designed to withstand horses and dust and hold a ton of water. Since I am going to try to put them in the coop this year (last year they were in the run) I will probably put a board over the back 3/4 so someone doesn't get chased through the water, but then again that will probably encourage them to stand on the water and could cause a mishap (see previous statement about animals damaging themselves no matter your best efforts).

I am up to 80 mouse corpses removed so far from the floor. I have a ton of mouse corpses trapped behind hardware cloth that I can't get to but can see

. Not sure what to do about those. I'm ignoring the ones that are in the loft. Body count is slowing down though!

 

[hoosiercheetah]

I understand the concern! I did have three roosters (two cochins with giant wattles) and still didn't have any issues with frostbite even during the polar vortex (a tiny bit on combs, but not wattles or feet). Animals will be animals, i wish I could find a way to bubble wrap them because they always seem to find a way to damage themselves despite your best efforts. But, not having had issues with plain open water as bad as last winter was, I'll use them again this year. They work well, are designed to withstand horses and dust and hold a ton of water. Since I am going to try to put them in the coop this year (last year they were in the run) I will probably put a board over the back 3/4 so someone doesn't get chased through the water, but then again that will probably encourage them to stand on the water and could cause a mishap (see previous statement about animals damaging themselves no matter your best efforts).

I am up to 80 mouse corpses removed so far from the floor. I have a ton of mouse corpses trapped behind hardware cloth that I can't get to but can see

. Not sure what to do about those. I'm ignoring the ones that are in the loft. Body count is slowing down though!

Better living through chemistry!