Need Help. Winter is here and the Chickens need water

[janelle18]

OK. So this is my first winter with chickens, we were doing pretty good so far for not having our water freeze, but it has finally happened to I really need to find a solution to the problem of keeping them in water all winter.Below are some picture of the current watering system I use, gravity feed buckets into waters. I have 7 pens (one bucket runs 2 pens), But i have two pens that have there own buckets. HOW do i keep all these chickens in water? Do you thinking a heating element in the bucket would keep the water from freezing in the hoses/waters? What about giving snow? Today I made each pen a snowball and they loved it.. but do they not get enough water from that? I dont really want to buy new waters and running the electricity out of each pen would be a pain, plus there isnt a whole lot of extra room in the pens. Any idea's?!

 

[donrae]

I only use the black rubber tubs for water, not as fancy as your set up. When it freezes I take a pitcher of hot water out three times a day to pour on the frozen water and thaw it. It stays thawed for a few hours, depending on how cold it is. I know folks think animals have to have fresh water available 24/7 but much livestock has been raised with access to water a few times a day and done just fine. You know, the saying you can lead a horse to water but can't make it drink? Well, those horses didn't have troughs, they could drink a few times a day. Same for my birds.

 

[The Lazy L]

One Cowpoke's solution: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/728396/freeze-proof-automatic-watering-system

 

[janelle18]

Lazy L, i saw that, but i don't want to have to put in a whole new system since i already have one that will work 9 mo. of the year.

Donrea; yes, we were discussing tonight and I think our best option is to put small bowls in each pen and give fresh water a couple times a day. And i agree, my horses go out for 6 hrs each day and don't have fresh water, they just take a big drink when they come in

 

[Emmalion]

Why not try a bird bath heater. They come in all different sizes and are submersible. They make plenty that are safe for plastic. The downside of them is you have to make sure to keep plenty of water in the bucket.