Methods for keeping water from freezing

[1livelychick]

Great! I hope it works! I even use 2 gal buckets in the summer , now.. I got so tired of cleaning the chicken fonts. I think the water is much cleaner. Less areas for bacteria to stick too. I change the water out two times a day. we're having crazy HOTTTT weather here in the south. I hope this is not an indicator of the summer to come.

 

[bj32]

we live in Northeastern PA so... it's cold but it only dips into the negatives occasionally... this is my first year with chickens and their coop is rather small - just big enough for the 5 of them to roost and nest. I go out each morning with my boys and we put out their hanging feeder and fill the bucket with water (with water nipples screwed into the bottom). With this system, I'm not sure how to implement some kind of heater? I like the nipple system - they've used it since day 1 and it has worked great - no poop in the water, no spilled water containers...
does anyone else use this type of system or have any suggestions for keeping the water from freezing.
We are home every day, all day (I homeschool my 4 boys) and we can see their run and coop from our dining room window so we keep a pretty close eye on them...

 

[kimmerjo]

I know this is an old post I'm also looking for a way to keep water from freezing without electric but has anyone tried putting a tire that heats in the sun over a 5 gal bucket to keep it from freezing?

 

[Percheron chick]

I use a insulated black box for the horses that worked fairly well but the tank is 100 Gal+ that will hold a lot of heat during the night. A small 5 gallon drinker is going to dissipate the stored heat in an hour or two. Chickens aren't going to drink at night so start by bringing in the drinker at night. During the day, you should get enough solar gain to keep things liquid. Put the drinker on a black rubber mat (horse stall mat). It will give you a little insulation from the ground plus heat up in the sun. If you use the tire, stuff the tire with straw. Cover it with plywood painted black. The straw will help trap and hold the heat plus insulate the bottom from the cold ground. Paint the drinker black. Place it out in the sun enclosed on 2-3 sides plus the top with glass like a grow window. I'm adding a sun room to my coop for this winter (old sliding glass doors) to give them more dry area outside plus mine love to bake in the winter sun. I"m hoping that placing the drinkers out there will be warm enough to keep them liquid without too much trouble.

 

[kimmerjo]

I have a black 55 gal barrel... Is that big enough to hold heat over night I want the barrel outside to feed to a bucket or PVC waterer inside the coop?

 

[Percheron chick]

The valve and lines will freeze. It will take a few days for the 55 gallon barrel to freeze solid if you don't add water to it daily. How many chickens are you talking about? I've never monitored how much water mine go through in the winter but it's probably less than 1 gallon for 15 birds.

 

[kimmerjo]

I will have 20 chickens I will bring water every day to it . Is there is a way to insulate the pipes ?

 

[Percheron chick]

They make foam insulation for pipes but they're still going to freeze in less than an hour. You're talking 1/2 inch only. Not able to trap much heat in that.

 

[kimmerjo]

Ok so I looked up some info they say that water in a PVC will freeze at about 28 degrees. If the water is moving it will not freeze. So any ideas of how to keep the water moving without electric?

 

[desertegg]

I know you are wondering how to do it without electricity, but we put a pond heater inside a five gallon bucket with the chicken nipples on the bottom, then ran an extension cord. So there are no PVC pipes to freeze. It worked great.