Solar Waterer

[maryvb1]

Hi, I wanted to ask if anyone has a good idea for a duck waterer for winter that uses solar? Or what you use to keep their water from freezing in the winter? I was trying to use a heated dog bowl, but I don't have access to electric where they're housed and would need an alternate power source. Any suggestions?

 

[FunClucks]

If you look on here, there's a number of threads that address this topic. What I got out of them is that if you use black plastic (thick black plastic livestock feed bowls from the farm store for example), it absorbs heat from the sun, and can help water melt sooner and stay melted longer during the day (will still freeze over night). Dump out the ice in the morning and refill with hot water. Animals get a few hours before it freezes again. Sometimes do this again at lunchtime.

Some folks use milk jugs or plastic bottles filled with boiling water, and they put them in the waterers every morning to delay freezing during the day. Some folks use dog bowl type waterers, dump it in the morning, refill with hot water, and add a plastic jug of hot water to float in it. The floating action, be it a jug or a golf ball or a ping pong ball, can disturb the surface of the water and make it so the water has to get a lot colder before it freezes solid.

I've heard that in remote areas in Alaska, they use compost (read animal dung, or organic matter, like you would do for hot compost). They dig a hole that is slightly bigger than the watering container, put the waterer in it, and fill the area around the waterer between the waterer and the dirt with compost. The compost heats as it decomposes, and keeps the water heated. As the compost cools, change it out and put fresh compost. Work for about a month or so at a time, depending on the compost and the temperature outside.

Solar can be problematic since in cold or cold enough temperatures the electronic components can stop working. You'd have to really look at the ruggedness of your system, and there can be significant cost compared to these other methods.