Keeping water warm in the winter w/o electricity?

[Tootie23]

Greetings!

I have figured many ways to utilize solar energy, shed light etc. My only question is whether there is a solar water heater for the chickens water supply? I plan on using a rain barrel style PVC nipple system and I would think that the water in the pvc pipe would freeze pretty quickly (I live in NE Ohio). I would like some way to keep the water in the barrel warm. Any ideas? I've tried looking for solar pond heaters and bird bath heaters with no luck!

 

[mywifewasonherenowiamalso]

i looked into this also and concluded that you can in the summer but in the winter you still have to do it the old fasioned way.
im in southern indiana

 

[Arielle]

This seems to be a problems for many in the colder climes! I'm hoping that with a larger coop with many more hens, their body heat will keep the water from freezing. The benefit is IMO warm water encourages more drinking which equals more eggs. I hope someone does know of a solar based water heater!!!! Otherwise I was thinking of heating a clay brick on the wood stove and then putting it in the bucket. Seems labor intensive. GL hope someone knows of a solution!

 

[AtomicChicken]

Maybe you could use something like this heat wrap with the fiberglass wrap around the pipe and then plug it into an inverter? Seems like the draw would be pretty light if the pipe is short.

As a new member I can't do hyperlinks....
"www dot heatersplus dot com / pipes.htm"
"www dot heatersplus dot com / wrapon_pipe .htm"

 

[TN_BIRD]

Larger barrels of water take longer to freeze. Same for moving water.

Maybe you can put the nipples on the barrel and water them straight from the barrel? Maybe there is some sort of solar pump you can put in the barrel to slow the freezing process down (even a large barrel will freeze if it gets real cold for long periods of time)

Wonder if you could figure out some way to have the water drip or trickle from the barrel? My dog would rather drink water from the running faucet than her bowl.

One more option might be to use those hot hand packets (not sure how to use them with the nipples, though). Regardless, you'll probably still need to go out there every now and again to make sure the water isn't frozen.

 

[goldtopper]

The water in the pipe or bucket will last longer than the nipples. They'll freeze up in a hurry, no matter how warm the water is.
I'm just going to switch to a heated hanging waterer for winter. It routinely gets -20f here with stretches of 2 weeks or more of the highs below zero.

 

[mywifewasonherenowiamalso]

i know its warmer here but i use a shallow pig feed pan (like 3 or 4 gal) and have a heat lamp over it, when its in the 20s i dont need it cause chickens peck through the ice. you would have to put it close at that temp though (mine is about 1 1/2 ft off the water and at an angle) and when you put water in use hot water