Live in Wisconsin...Need water heater recommendations

[pseudoyams]

Im building my coop and am looking for a good waterer and heater for it. Ill have 10 chickens when they arrive. Being in northeastern wisconsin it can get super cold out here and would need something to keep the water from freezing. I searched around at different online chicken stores, but not sure what I should be looking for or what works and doenst. Any recommendations????

Thanks!
Rob

 

[Run-A-Muck Ranch]

Well hello from another frozen wisconsinite (sp??)....lol

In the winter I usually have one of those electric dog water dishes that prevents the water from freezing...I use that for the birds...I do how ever also put in other things for water, but they do freeze...ie old roaster, sause pans, pots, etc. etc. I have those in there just to have extra water avaliable, until it freezes that is...but they are easy to get the ice out, cuz I just tip them over and the ice will fall out.
The electric heated water dish I use is one for dogs I believe. It seems to work pretty good for us....We have turkeys, geese, chickens, ducks, and guineas that all drink outta them.

(I actually have 2-3 of them I use in teh winter that don't freeze up, and additional 2-3 containers like the ones listed about--but those ones freeze)

sorry i know I repeated myself in this posts...probably would of been easier to delete and edit than explain myself...lol

 

[pseudoyams]

Thanks! So, is there some type of waterer I can mount to the coop and have the heater on it as well? Does one type work better than others?

-Rob

 

[Run-A-Muck Ranch]

not sure I can help you with that....

ours sit on the ground and have a cord to plug in...
I know they have other heated bases at the feed stores (ie fleet farm, and or farm and fleet). I've never used those before though so can't help there....

I suppose if you wanted the dog dish types up off the ground you could possibly screw/nail it to the walls somehow...on the outside plastic parts of course...

I have seen others who use heat tape and tape pipes for the water not to freeze, or even use those floating birdbath and or cattle tank heaters in different things...

I would be careful though if you are using those floating heaters or even the ones that sink to the bottom of your water container is plastic...

 

[briesberrypatch]

I have a heated base and it works great all winter (even last winter, when it got well below 0 for a week or two), but our winters in Ohio are a lot milder than yours. I think the base heater has temp limits on it - check it out and see if it would work in your climate.

I had a heated dog bowl like the other poster described, but it was too small for my flock and I had to refill it too often. Plus, it was really easy for them to scratch bedding into it, and it was always getting dirty.

The only thing about the heated base is that you MUST use a metal water font. The plastic ones can't be used with any kind of heater, as far as I know.

 

[2DogsFarm]

http://www.jefferslivestock.com/ssc/product.asp?CID=2&pf_id=0032631

I am looking into getting this one for my coop.
We get sub-zero temps, but hopefully not for too long.
I have a heated bowl for my barncat that cost about the same.

 

[Akane]

I just use a 2gallon wide mouth heated bucket. Although a couple nights last year even that froze on top and I had to point a heat lamp at it. Nothing is really made to withstand -30F.

Some people use the black rubber feeders and just pop the ice out a couple times a day and refill. If you have water close by and are home in the afternoon that's not a bad option but for those that work all day and don't have much time or when like me you have to carry water from the house to a coop 300' away it gets too difficult to do that.

 

[CrazyChickMom]

What is a "2 gallon wide mouth heated bucket"? Never heard of it? And does it work for -30?

 

[Superior Chicks]

I got my big red heated square one at:

www.snowcountrypets.com

My girls always drink out of open containers, and the design of this square one is perfect for an out of the way corner. Raise it up on concrete pavers/blocks to the level of the hens back. Stays very clean and works great.

I live on Lake Superior, so I know cold!

HTH

Ma

 

[Akane]

There are standard buckets and wide mouth buckets. Go walk in a feedstore and look at buckets and you'll easily see the difference. A standard bucket is very tall and narrow while a wide mouth is very short and fat. Tall narrow standard 5g buckets are dangerous and should never be left full of water in the chicken coop. Chickens can get stuck in them because they are too narrow for them to move their wings and push out and too tall for them to touch the bottom (frequently full size chickens get stuck head down in them anyway). A wider shallower bucket keeps chickens from getting stuck. If I have chicks out there I drop a brick in the bucket just in case.