Terribly cold temps and I can't get the chickens to drink any water!

[Pip4Chirp]

I had no idea! Lucky for me that my chickens didn't eat much of the warm food I offered - I wonder if they had an instinct to avoid it.

 

[teach1rusl]

Just a suggestion about heated waterers...you can most likely find a better deal by just buying a heated dog water bowl... Personally, I think they're more durable than the chicken waterers. You can often find them for $15-20...

 

[jmagill]

Warm food is not a problem. It just means that they need to use less energy to digest it. That is a good thing for feed costs and egg production. Condensation from warm food should also not be a problem because you would only feed enough that it would be gone quickly and therefore there should be no problem.

My water is heated and has a lid on it, so it is not continually putting too much condensation into the coop. As long as you have good ventilation a bit of moisture is no different than the moisture from feces. The problem is when you have dripping water or open water that spills and soaks the bedding.

 

[Eggcessive]

Tractor Supply sells the heated dog bowl waterers. That is what I use--the 5 quart ones. They keep the water cold, and only come on when the temperature hits freezing. There are also some available online with removable stainless steel inserts. Easy for cleaning out, especially if you have an extra insert.

 

[chicken chickie]

Tractor Supply sells the heated dog bowl waterers.  That is what I use--the 5 quart ones.  They keep the water cold, and only come on when the temperature hits freezing.  There are also some available online with removable stainless steel inserts.  Easy for cleaning out, especially if you have an extra insert.

 

oooo thanks ..we are getting our cold snap as well and was worried about the water freezing as well

 

[aart]

I went to horizontal nipples to avoid wattles being dipped into bowls or dripped on by vertical nipples.