Liquid water in winter?

[Tomhusker]

I have a milk jug hanging in the coop with water nipples. I was planning on hanging my brooder light over it with a red or ceramic heat bulb and running on a timer for maybe 15 minutes every hour to keep it thawed. Or installing a light fixture and a shield with a 100w bulb.

 

[woodmort]

Quote:
I figured that.

 

[dlecolst]

Has anyone had success with the heat tape method? I currently have a PVC watering system with some nipples and I’m starting to prepare for the winter. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.

 

[woodmort]

Quote:
No, but it probably would depend on where you live and how cold it gets. I have a heat tape on my roof eave and it gets cold enough here so it can't keep up with the ice build up so I suspect your pipes might freeze in extended periods of freezing and blowing weather. If they burst it wouldn't be any fun.

 

[jeb251]

I have heat tape on my old system and am putting it in my new coops as well, works great here and it gets below zero regularly, there are some pics on my page if you would like to see how it going together

 

[dlecolst]

Thanks for the info Jeb. The only thing I found on your page were the coop construction photos, which I must say are quite impressive!

 

[jeb251]

oops forgot the link to photobucket is in the thread, here is a link to the thread wher you will find the link, there are more pics there

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=375826

 

[dlecolst]

Thanks for the link Jeb! I'll have to give it a try!

 

[jeb251]

your welcome, I hope it helps

 

[WoodlandWoman]

How would hens with small combs all be getting the tops of their heads wet, from drinking from a container? Mine dip their beak in the water, not their entire head, when they drink. I could understand one freak accident, but not as a normal flock occurrence. Chickens drink water in areas with harsh winters every year, without a problem. If they were talking about roosters from breeds with large pendulous wattles drinking out of deep containers, having a problem with their wattles, maybe. Small combs on hens? That just sounds odd to me.

More likely, it's a problem with wintertime coop air management, which can cause frostbite. Either chickens that are in air that's freezing, but too humid, due to inadequate ventilation or chickens in a freezing coop that are roosting in a draft.

Forcing birds to eat snow to survive just chills their core body temperature more. They can survive that way, but it just makes harsh weather even harder on them.

We've used big galvanized poultry waterers on metal heated bases, heated dog bowls, stock tanks with floating heaters and submersible heaters. They've all worked for us. The most important thing to me is to set them up as safely as possible. Secure things so that they can't be tipped over and have a heating element come in contact with flammable bedding. I like anything in the coop to be elevated on a fireproof base. We've never had a problem, but it always pays to think about what could happen if something electrical, that's encased in plastic, went "wrong." Isolating heating elements from coop litter is just good common sense.