Looking for ways to heat water

[cd3364]

This is our first winter with our chickens. Our coop is a distance from our house and we would like to find a solution to heating their water supply without running an electric cord from our house. Any suggestion are welcome!

 

[tree48]

Sorry buddy run the cord

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

If you live where you have infrequent freezes (like me) then you can get by with black rubber fortex bowls- you turn them upside down and step on them - the ice falls out.

But they do need liquid water and I fill those bowls twice a day when it is freezing out. I would absolutely run the electric cord if you live where you are going to have a long duration of freezing weather.

 

[cowcreekgeek]

You could:

1. sit w/ it between your knees 'n wrap your arms around it.
2. trick a brood hen into believing the easter eggs on top would hatch once the weather breaks.
3. Dig a hole deeply enough in the center of the coop to be below the frost line, and possibly go further by driving rebar sections deeper into the ground so as to conduct the earth's heat more diectly to the water, form a 'pipe' of closed-cell or styrofoam almost to the surface, and backfill w/ something having enough solar mass to overcome all but the coldest nights.
   
   
   hey ... number three might just actually work ~'-)

But, it might just be cheaper to run the wire, esp. if you run low voltage out there, and use an inverter just large enough to heat your water and provide minimal lighting. Or, include a battery on the coop side of the wiring, so as to provide considerably more energy for relatively short periods.

 

[chfite]

Does it freeze where you are?

Chris