Looking for a way to get fresh water to your chickens?

[ChickenWifey]

There is a heater for it, and it can be used without the auto fill!!! Both work with the chicken fountain!

 

[donnavee]

Oh, it looks so wonderful and I would love to try it - but I have ducks too and so would still have to have the buckets of water for them to clean their nostrils. Afraid the chickens would prefer the muddy stuff to the nice clean water. Crazy chucks.

 

[TheChickenFount]

Um, its a great way to water and I would love to use it, but

is -40 mild? Its only for 2 monthes though !!!

Another Alaska girl here, I'd jump all over this if it works to -30, especially with a manual fill option. I am not above carrying water Just like to do it less often

Second and second!

We have a test units in our freezers now and we will take it as low as the freezers allow. I only think that is around -4F. Right now we have been at 9F and we are having no freeze ups on the drippers. Heating the unit is the easy part, keeping the little bit of water inside the drippers from freezing and restricting water flow is whole different story but we think we have a solution.
I know 9F must be like a spring day to -50F and I am pretty certain I can not emulate those conditions although I will search for a facility that can...

Hope you have a wonderful evening.

 

[PrairieChickens]

This is a great idea, for the obvious reasons as well as the fact that I've noticed my chickens much prefer to sip dripping water than drink from still water like what's in their waterer. I seriously considered rigging up a water pump and giving them a little circulating fountain to drink from, but I never had the funds to put it together.

 

[ADozenGirlz]

Would this setup work for multiple adjacent runs? Does each unit need its own garden hose?

I have three coops and three Chicken Fountains and the hoses go from the spigot to Coop A, then coop A to B, B to C. It's a pretty nifty set-up!

 

[AZChickenQueen]

Well, this looks really neat and I just ordered one standard unit to try with my "big girls". It does get to freezing or just below a few of nights a year out here in the "intermediate desert" North of Phoenix but I don't think it will cause enough problems to order the heater unit. We will see about adding ice in the summer as the Texan tester needed to do. Water conservation is a HUGE issue here in the desert, and it takes a fair amount to keep the garden going in the summer, so anything that we can do to reduce it... if all goes well, then I will order a second unit for my smaller run with the "little cheepers"!

 

[bruceha2000]

I know 9F must be like a spring day to -50F and I am pretty certain I can not emulate those conditions although I will search for a facility that can...

Looks like you have 3 volunteers for the "super cold chicken coop" product testing!

Bruce

 

[WinterLadyAK]

Looks like you have 3 volunteers for the "super cold chicken coop" product testing!

Bruce

You sure do!

Though I'm not sure this bodes well ... when I went out this morning all four nipples had frozen, even though the five gallon bucket was nice and warm from the bucket de-icer I have in there. Two of them I was easily able to chip free (so I bet the chickens would've been able to de-ice them also), the other two are still frozen and I don't think a chicken beak will be able to get them working again. I'm sure I can de-ice them if I were smart enough to wear gloves out there, it was only about 3F out there so it must've gotten below 0F last night and while it didn't seem to be too cold for the chickens, it was too cold for me! Not sure the chicken fountain would be better under these circumstances than the bucket is, if the problem is with the actual nipples. I do have the water outside in the run, and there is quite a pile of ice under the bucket from occasional drips... I've seen some people use some sort of a slotted water catching something or other under the nipples, but that's just going to freeze too. The last week I've just been removing the sand clump of ice. Anyone have suggestions for this? Does the chicken fountain have any sort of accessory for catching little drips of water or suggestions how to do it in icy enviros?

 

[ADozenGirlz]

You sure do!

Though I'm not sure this bodes well ... when I went out this morning all four nipples had frozen, even though the five gallon bucket was nice and warm from the bucket de-icer I have in there. Two of them I was easily able to chip free (so I bet the chickens would've been able to de-ice them also), the other two are still frozen and I don't think a chicken beak will be able to get them working again. I'm sure I can de-ice them if I were smart enough to wear gloves out there, it was only about 3F out there so it must've gotten below 0F last night and while it didn't seem to be too cold for the chickens, it was too cold for me! Not sure the chicken fountain would be better under these circumstances than the bucket is, if the problem is with the actual nipples. I do have the water outside in the run, and there is quite a pile of ice under the bucket from occasional drips... I've seen some people use some sort of a slotted water catching something or other under the nipples, but that's just going to freeze too. The last week I've just been removing the sand clump of ice. Anyone have suggestions for this? Does the chicken fountain have any sort of accessory for catching little drips of water or suggestions how to do it in icy enviros?

This is the tray I use in my quail coop, NOT because the Chicken Fountain drips, but because the quail splash the water when they tap the pins. It works great!

 

[bruceha2000]

You sure do!

Though I'm not sure this bodes well ... when I went out this morning all four nipples had frozen, even though the five gallon bucket was nice and warm from the bucket de-icer I have in there.

Hmmm, doesn't sound good for me either then. I was ASSUMING that if I run warm water through the 3/4" pipe it would keep the nipples from freezing. I don't see a difference between that and your nipples in the bottom of a bucket with a heater. They are equally close to the warm water. Guess I'll have to wait and see. We shouldn't hit the "near 0F" temps for a couple of months though.

Bruce