Scary!

[NorthChicken]

I have been using a blue heated dog bowl all winter for the girls. Worked great, even in the -30F below zero weather, the water was cold but it wasn't frozen. I had the bowl just sitting on the ground of the girls covered run.
We had a warmer day a few days ago, and since the ground is frozen and the melting snow has nowhere to drain, my run turns into a swamp.

I didn't even think about that issue when I headed to work, and by the time I got home from work, I found the bowl stuck in the ice in the run where it had frozen after being a wet mess all day and then having temps drop that afternoon/evening. The water inside the bowl was also frozen solid. I just unplugged it and resorted to hauling water to the girls the past few days.

Today it warmed up enough that I was finally able to get the bowl out of the ice, and found a big, melted spot on the bottom of the bowl!! Obviously the coils inside must have gotten wet and sparked enough to melt a large hole in the plastic. I am so glad it didn't cause a fire in the run/coop!

Lesson learned, next winter I will be sure to have pavers or some bricks for the dog bowl to sit on so it doesn't get soaked.

 

[lazy gardener]

North chicken, Hello from Maine! A bit south of the tundra! I have one of those bowls also, and absolutely love it, except when I clean it and forget to plug it back in. Senior moment strikes again. Any how, I keep mine on a pallet that I sawed in half. It is the perfect size to keep the water bowl, and their FF bowl up out of the DL. I also keep a milk jug filled with water in the middle of the water bowl to create a "moat" to keep the girls from walking through it during our Arctic blasts. I think your flock is small enough that it would work for them as well.

 

[NorthChicken]

Awesome!! Thanks for the advice! I think I will give this a try.