Just wanted to here any ideas. Things you guys do to keep your bird's water thawed?
Keeping waterers thawed
- Thread starter hamilton3475
- Start date
We live in a pretty extreme environment compared to you. but you can see what I do on my page. works her, should be completely trouble free there. I don't care for heated dog bowls, I like the bucket nipple waterers. just a personal preference really.
- Thread starter
- #3
Wow that's a great idea. I may do something on a smaller scale. Usually just have 2 months to deal with the frozen water here but it is a real pain. I also like your branches and I have got to make some of those cones for my feeders. I have tried other material and they just didnt hold up. Thanks for the info
I use the 3 gallon galvanized waterers with the water heater that it sits on, it has worked great for me here in WA, high elevation, low teens or single digit the next couple of days, works well for me , they have water whenever they need it.
Quote:
I have read a lot of books and periodicals on poultry and have never read that chickens need bacteria and algae in their water, or for their digestive tracts. As you have posted on your page. Please enlighten us as to where you obtained this information. Every thing I've read says they need "clean" water.
While free range chickens may get into things not wanted that does not mean they can just eat whatever they choose and most likely is the reason for sickness and disease. These are domesticated chickens not the "wild kind".
As for frozen water you can buy heaters to put in five gallon buckets with nipples or buy heated waterers , BUT NONE can ELIMINATE the need to keep clean waterers and fresh clean water available.
I carry gallon milk jugs of water to the coop in my wagon and rotate waterers, bringing in the old to be washed out. Work yes but if you fill your milk jugs at night they are ready for the next day. I also use hot water which cools enough for them to drink.
I have read a lot of books and periodicals on poultry and have never read that chickens need bacteria and algae in their water, or for their digestive tracts. As you have posted on your page. Please enlighten us as to where you obtained this information. Every thing I've read says they need "clean" water.
While free range chickens may get into things not wanted that does not mean they can just eat whatever they choose and most likely is the reason for sickness and disease. These are domesticated chickens not the "wild kind".
As for frozen water you can buy heaters to put in five gallon buckets with nipples or buy heated waterers , BUT NONE can ELIMINATE the need to keep clean waterers and fresh clean water available.
I carry gallon milk jugs of water to the coop in my wagon and rotate waterers, bringing in the old to be washed out. Work yes but if you fill your milk jugs at night they are ready for the next day. I also use hot water which cools enough for them to drink.
Love the natural branches wyododge. Nice looking coop!
Quote:
I have read a lot of books and periodicals on poultry and have never read that chickens need bacteria and algae in their water, or for their digestive tracts. As you have posted on your page. Please enlighten us as to where you obtained this information. Every thing I've read says they need "clean" water.
Mostly from those who have raised chickens for many, many, years longer than me. I choose not to believe that because I read a book I am smarter than someone who has had their hands dirty in the ground. The knowledge and animal practices of those prior to 'drugs and sterility' are much more valuable to me than a book, article, or some college paper written recently. The fact of the matter is that animals (and humans) digest their food through biological activity, i.e. bacteria. That bacteria is present when they are born for sure, but it is also supplied by the environment. Unless you lock your chickens up in a room that is completely free of 'unwanted' items, they can and will eat what they want to. If you limit the natural bacteria they come in contact with, they will not develop an immune system to combat it and will sicken and die. In addition, we did not, and will not, use medicated feed, it strips the beneficial bacteria from their systems. Nor do we inoculate with antibiotics, or worm with 'synthesized' drugs. Quite the contrary, our birds were in the dirt after a few days building their immune system, getting cold, and developing the tools they need. Limiting the 'sterility' of the environment our chickens live in is how we raise them. We have VERY healthy, active, vibrant birds. Personally I chose to trust the life experience of people who raise chickens in the area I am in, over a book written by someone I have no knowledge or personal conversations with. Just our choice. As I stated, we choose to embrace bacteria and avoid sterilization, it is, at best, a loosing battle, and one which I am not interested in fighting. There is no reason to fight it, so I choose not to. I would argue, and have been told by others in my community, that we have remarkably healthy animals. We raise our cows the same way. If you disagree, I support your knowledge, arguments contrary to mine, and decisions fully. As a matter of fact, I am very open to the idea that I am COMPLETELY wrong and misguided, and if you prove me wrong I will be the first one to admit it.
While free range chickens may get into things not wanted that does not mean they can just eat whatever they choose and most likely is the reason for sickness and disease. These are domesticated chickens not the "wild kind".
This is not true. Sorry. Our chickens are domesticated, but they are one or maybe two generations from wild birds. Take a trip to east Los Angeles some time, it is full of 'wild' chickens that have no human care whatsoever, drink 'dirty' water, eat what ever they want, go pretty much anywhere they want, roost in trees, nest on the ground, seek shelter when they need to, and are thriving to the point of being pests. One thing they certainly are not doing is drinking from a sterilized bucket, sleeping in a sterilized coop, and eating from a sterilized bowl. I am fairly certain those birds came from domesticated chickens and not some 'wild' chicken introduced from Botswana. They are domestic birds that got loose, and are now 'wild', and probably healthier, and happier for it. Chickens, as are all birds, are dinosaurs. The scales on their legs are actually a form of feathers. there has recently been insights into dinosaurs which draw a link from their scales directly to the formation of feathers. If true, that would be 65+ million years of evolution some would try to combat, not me.
As for frozen water you can buy heaters to put in five gallon buckets with nipples or buy heated waterers , BUT NONE can ELIMINATE the need to keep clean waterers and fresh clean water available.
We do keep fresh water available, we just don't sterilize, bleach, and inoculate everything. Sure we clean out the buckets and add some ACV, but given the choice our birds will drink out of a puddle in the middle of the road, or a rain filled dish every time. I for one believe the chicken knows what it NEEDS better than I do. I just do the best to mimic what nature has given them and try not to get in the way to much. Try it and see for your self, put a bowl of tap water in a bucket and let it set for four or five days and put it next to a bowl of what you consider 'fresh clean' water. Let the chickens show you which is best for them.
I carry gallon milk jugs of water to the coop in my wagon and rotate waterers, bringing in the old to be washed out. Work yes but if you fill your milk jugs at night they are ready for the next day. I also use hot water which cools enough for them to drink.
Quote:
Just a warning those dunce caps are a real 'female dog' to wrap. Almost worse than a football!!! GRRRRRR!!! worth it when they are done though.... And yes our system is pretty complex, but unfortunately we have to do it. Well I have to, so my wife doesn't. You could use a 55 gallon drum on a table or ledge with a hose in the bottom and a valve. If you paint it black, and put it so the sun hit it, I would be willing to bet the solar radiation would give it enough heat in the day that it would not freeze at night. If it did just grab a small deicer and it wont for sure then.
As far as the branches go, everywhere they cross, there is a bolt through them. Learned that lesson the hard way. 24 chickens are HEAVY!!! I used ACQ (exterior and pressure treated rated) self tapping bolts. They have a torx screw head but the head is very large so they don't pull through. They were 4" long so I had to cut the end off if it stuck out the other side (bolt cutters). At the walls, they are screwed into the OSB walls.
Thanks for the compliments guys. Truth be told the chickens could probably give a crap about the roosts, but we like them!!!
I have read a lot of books and periodicals on poultry and have never read that chickens need bacteria and algae in their water, or for their digestive tracts. As you have posted on your page. Please enlighten us as to where you obtained this information. Every thing I've read says they need "clean" water.
Mostly from those who have raised chickens for many, many, years longer than me. I choose not to believe that because I read a book I am smarter than someone who has had their hands dirty in the ground. The knowledge and animal practices of those prior to 'drugs and sterility' are much more valuable to me than a book, article, or some college paper written recently. The fact of the matter is that animals (and humans) digest their food through biological activity, i.e. bacteria. That bacteria is present when they are born for sure, but it is also supplied by the environment. Unless you lock your chickens up in a room that is completely free of 'unwanted' items, they can and will eat what they want to. If you limit the natural bacteria they come in contact with, they will not develop an immune system to combat it and will sicken and die. In addition, we did not, and will not, use medicated feed, it strips the beneficial bacteria from their systems. Nor do we inoculate with antibiotics, or worm with 'synthesized' drugs. Quite the contrary, our birds were in the dirt after a few days building their immune system, getting cold, and developing the tools they need. Limiting the 'sterility' of the environment our chickens live in is how we raise them. We have VERY healthy, active, vibrant birds. Personally I chose to trust the life experience of people who raise chickens in the area I am in, over a book written by someone I have no knowledge or personal conversations with. Just our choice. As I stated, we choose to embrace bacteria and avoid sterilization, it is, at best, a loosing battle, and one which I am not interested in fighting. There is no reason to fight it, so I choose not to. I would argue, and have been told by others in my community, that we have remarkably healthy animals. We raise our cows the same way. If you disagree, I support your knowledge, arguments contrary to mine, and decisions fully. As a matter of fact, I am very open to the idea that I am COMPLETELY wrong and misguided, and if you prove me wrong I will be the first one to admit it.
While free range chickens may get into things not wanted that does not mean they can just eat whatever they choose and most likely is the reason for sickness and disease. These are domesticated chickens not the "wild kind".
This is not true. Sorry. Our chickens are domesticated, but they are one or maybe two generations from wild birds. Take a trip to east Los Angeles some time, it is full of 'wild' chickens that have no human care whatsoever, drink 'dirty' water, eat what ever they want, go pretty much anywhere they want, roost in trees, nest on the ground, seek shelter when they need to, and are thriving to the point of being pests. One thing they certainly are not doing is drinking from a sterilized bucket, sleeping in a sterilized coop, and eating from a sterilized bowl. I am fairly certain those birds came from domesticated chickens and not some 'wild' chicken introduced from Botswana. They are domestic birds that got loose, and are now 'wild', and probably healthier, and happier for it. Chickens, as are all birds, are dinosaurs. The scales on their legs are actually a form of feathers. there has recently been insights into dinosaurs which draw a link from their scales directly to the formation of feathers. If true, that would be 65+ million years of evolution some would try to combat, not me.
As for frozen water you can buy heaters to put in five gallon buckets with nipples or buy heated waterers , BUT NONE can ELIMINATE the need to keep clean waterers and fresh clean water available.
We do keep fresh water available, we just don't sterilize, bleach, and inoculate everything. Sure we clean out the buckets and add some ACV, but given the choice our birds will drink out of a puddle in the middle of the road, or a rain filled dish every time. I for one believe the chicken knows what it NEEDS better than I do. I just do the best to mimic what nature has given them and try not to get in the way to much. Try it and see for your self, put a bowl of tap water in a bucket and let it set for four or five days and put it next to a bowl of what you consider 'fresh clean' water. Let the chickens show you which is best for them.
I carry gallon milk jugs of water to the coop in my wagon and rotate waterers, bringing in the old to be washed out. Work yes but if you fill your milk jugs at night they are ready for the next day. I also use hot water which cools enough for them to drink.
Quote:
Just a warning those dunce caps are a real 'female dog' to wrap. Almost worse than a football!!! GRRRRRR!!! worth it when they are done though.... And yes our system is pretty complex, but unfortunately we have to do it. Well I have to, so my wife doesn't. You could use a 55 gallon drum on a table or ledge with a hose in the bottom and a valve. If you paint it black, and put it so the sun hit it, I would be willing to bet the solar radiation would give it enough heat in the day that it would not freeze at night. If it did just grab a small deicer and it wont for sure then.
As far as the branches go, everywhere they cross, there is a bolt through them. Learned that lesson the hard way. 24 chickens are HEAVY!!! I used ACQ (exterior and pressure treated rated) self tapping bolts. They have a torx screw head but the head is very large so they don't pull through. They were 4" long so I had to cut the end off if it stuck out the other side (bolt cutters). At the walls, they are screwed into the OSB walls.
Thanks for the compliments guys. Truth be told the chickens could probably give a crap about the roosts, but we like them!!!
Last edited:
Quote:
That's what I use too. It gets pretty dang cold here in Wisconsin sometimes and I never have an issue with these.
That's what I use too. It gets pretty dang cold here in Wisconsin sometimes and I never have an issue with these.
I use heated dog bowls. Works great and it gets single digits and below here.
- Thread starter
- #10
ty very much. Lots of good info.
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