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We have a couple of those and have used them for several years, never had a problem with them at all. Yours was evidently defective. They shouldn't cause the birds to get shocked. That wouldn't work very well for wild birds, either!
Here's the kind we have. It's the API 300 200-Watt Bird Bath De-Icer, we got it at
TSC, a lot cheaper than they are on
Amazon. I don't remember how much, though. Maybe $20, or close to that.
We use it in those flexible, heavy-duty black rubber horse buckets, so if there's an outage and they freeze, we can dump the ice and not break the container. Also, they're wide containers, so if a bird falls in, they can easily get out again. We once had a chicken fall head first into a regular bucket, she got stuck and drowned. That won't happen with these.
We have also installed no-freeze outdoor faucets, like these,
http://www.tractorsupply.com/webapp...10551_10001_50740_-1______?rFlag=true&cFlag=1 ,one at the coop, one near the house, and another by a storage building/work area we have. Those have been a lifesaver, not having to carry heavy buckets of water down the hill to the coop from the house. I have a bucket I keep at the coop for filling the flexible water containers. They're hard to move when filled, without slopping water all over.
These look good, too, but I haven't tried it myself.
http://www.tractorsupply.com/webapp...10551_10001_28384_-1______?rFlag=true&cFlag=1
You can't use them with plastic containers, though. You have to have a metal or ceramic container. Those gavanized waterers would work fine with them.
I want to try one of these, this year:
http://www.tractorsupply.com/webapp...2|14613|144100?listingPage=true&Special=false
