Looking for Winter Advice- What do you wish you had known

[WisconsinGardenChick]

Quote:
I wouldn't let that stuff anywhere near my girls or my garden. Sevin is a carbamate, derived from nerve gas.

Katherine

 

[claud]

I didn't read all the posts but.....

HEATED WATERbowl/bucket/dish!!

 

[vsavor]

what did they do 100-150 years ago?

Several years ago I toured a Hudson's Bay post in the Northern BC town of Fort Saint James. One of the buildings had a chicken coop built off of the kitchen. It shared a wall with the kitchen, so there would have been some heat exchanged there. I've also heard they would leave a candle burning in the coop to help laying. . . I imagine that would add a bit of heat, but wouldn't it be a fire hazard?!
Verna​

 

[dancingbear]

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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

 

[Mrs MIA]

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This is what I use in my coops. Works great.

 

[vermontgal]

4 heavy breed chickens put out about as much heat as a 75 watt light bulb. A flock of 25 is about the same as a 450 watt heater in your coop.

 

[classless chickens]

As for heating the water, has anyone thought about a heating pad? Most are plastic covered and you control the temp. I am not sure about safety, but I have used them in the bed for my back all night.

 

[Bauk-bauk]

My neighbour uses a heating pad and claims it works fine.

 

[chicksrcool]

Here I am losing sleep over a California winter approaching (we do get snow each year)...but I don't think I have much to worry about reading about "real" winters that many of you endure. I have been driving my husband crazy with the winterizing I think we need to do. Hopefully I can stop obsessing over it and this forum sure does lay certain worries to rest.

 

[ozark hen]

Quote:
Proud of you for recognizing the fact that you have nothing to obsess over!