The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Leahs Mom]

Quote:
x2

 

[lalaland]

what is the ice cream bucket/dog bowl idea?

you take a heated dog bowl, like the blue one in leah's mom's picture, and you put a plastic gallon ice cream bucket in it. because of the coiled cord that the dog bowl uses to plug into a socket, it is a pain in the neck to pick up the dog bowl to empty or clean. Using a liner, like the ice cream bucket, means you can leave the dog bowl in place, and just pick up the bucket to rinse, to fill, or to bring out a clean one.

Leah's mom, I wonder if you could use a glass bowl liner instead to avoid the plastic? I have a glass mixing bowl that is about the right size, I might try that next winter.

I keep the dog bowl up on a block so it stays pretty clean.

 

[aoxa]

I have decided that I won't use the chicken nipple waterers for several reasons so that one is out for me. (I've said my reasons before so I won't repeat them here unless someone wants to hear again.)


I REALLY LOVE my cup waterers, (no mess in them, constant supply of water, easy to clean, natural position for the chickens to drink, etc.) but the tiny necks would freeze even though the water stayed unfrozen.

Finally was able to keep them open to about 10 F degrees with the fish tank heater:



However I was always worried that the necks were going to freeze and leave them without water so I was always feeling like I needed to check on them constantly. I did use this all winter long with success but because of feeling like I had to check them constantly, I don't think I'll use them this year. Maybe I will if the temps stay about 12 F or above as it works really well at that temp.

If I do use it, I'll have to just "settle down" and not keep worrying about the necks freezing.

.




********************************************************************************



Last year I made base heaters for my FERMENTED FEED by taking out the heaters from heated dog bowls. Worked great to put the ff on. I used a GLASS pie pan or a ceramic dish on top of it. This way I wasn't feeding from plastic that was constantly being heated.

Here's the link showing how I did them: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...keeping-thread-ots-welcome/1040#post_10111024





I also sat one of the canning jar chick waterers on top of one of those (I have the old fashioned glass bases). In really cold weather about half of the quart stayed thawed. The top part away from the heat base froze.




I really DO have some great ideas in my head for other waterers that I think will work well and also know how I'll heat them. I just haven't tried them yet. I want to be sure that there is no open water for them to step in and that is one of the challenges. I don't want to risk frostbite on any feet. I'm going to get some of my ideas in the test mode in the next few days. I'D LOVE IF I COULD DO SOMETHING THAT DOESN'T USE PLASTIC...AND I HAVE SEVERAL IDEAS FLOATING AROUND IN MY HEAD FOR THAT!


AND....
Has anyone just NOT heated the water at all? Have any of you tried just having 2 waterers of whatever type and just putting one out in the morning then switching it out with a second one in the afternoon and bringing the first one in to thaw and just doing a rotation? I have read that some folks have just done it that way and quit trying to do a heated waterer. Just curious if anyone is doing that?

Sue, I'd be VERY careful using something that is not tested and safe.. You know how I am... I made my own heaters for waterers in different pens (cookie tin) and the fire marshall scolded me.. even though it wasn't the cause. The only thing safe to use he said is certified and tested electrical units. Once you get into modifying them like this, it makes them unsafe to use.

Just thought I'd throw that out there. I know it probably won't be an issue, but again.. I'd hate for it to happen to you when I could have said something that may have prevented that.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Quote:
Last year I put a ceramic bowl into the plastic dog bowl at first. It fit perfectly in there. It was a large ceramic dog bowl and did a good job for the ff. I used it for the adults.



Then...

My ceramic bowl cracked. I thought it was just a fluke and bought another one. Lasted a couple weeks and cracked in the exact same place. I came to the conclusion that the top part of the ceramic was still very cold and that it cracked due to the change from hot to cold.

I may be wrong in my conclusion...may have just been a poorly made bowl as I purchased the exact same one both times.

I was never able to find a glass that fit into the dog bowl as well, but that is what I'm going to do this year I think...use a pyrex in the dog bowl and see if it can make it without cracking from the hot to cold.



When I first made the bases from the dog bowls it was for the chicks so that they had a flat shallow feed pan they could access easily.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Sue, I'd be VERY careful using something that is not tested and safe.. You know how I am... I made my own heaters for waterers in different pens (cookie tin) and the fire marshall scolded me.. even though it wasn't the cause. The only thing safe to use he said is certified and tested electrical units. Once you get into modifying them like this, it makes them unsafe to use.

Just thought I'd throw that out there. I know it probably won't be an issue, but again.. I'd hate for it to happen to you when I could have said something that may have prevented that.

Aoxa...that's exactly why I DIDN'T make a heater from a cookie tin and I DID make it from the heated dog bowl base that is tested and approved as safe.

I even had the parts to do the light bulb cookie tin thing and decided not to make it due to concerns about fire safety.

I liked these dog bowl heater bases because of that very reason.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Oh...and just to clarify, I didn't alter anything in the heater and the exposed base was exactly as it was in the bottom of the plastic dog bowl. So I was very careful to be sure that I wasn't exposing anything that wasn't already exposed when using it on the dog bowl as it came.

 

[aoxa]

Aoxa...that's exactly why I DIDN'T make a heater from a cookie tin and I DID make it from the heated dog bowl base that is tested and approved as safe.

I even had the parts to do the light bulb cookie tin thing and decided not to make it due to concerns about fire safety.

I liked these dog bowl heater bases because of that very reason.

For what it's worth those cookie tins heated better than the dog bowls, but water + electricity.. that is something you have to be extremely careful with. :S

Once you take it apart, I believe it voids it's safety warenty. The insurance company always looks for someone to blame. They were trying to figure out if the fire started from something that was faulty - like heated dishes or a power bar. The damage was so bad they couldn't really tell.

They knew the area it started in.. Unfortunately it could have been from a space heater in our FF closet (it was a safety space heater that if moved would shut right off, which was annoying because one tap would turn it off..), a power bar, hay that combusted (possible.. the hay we had was sitting in the snow waiting for us for a couple hours), overloaded extension cords (this is my bet, because we had witnessed sparks before )
So long as you plug them into the appropriate area (no extension cords), I think this would be reasonably safe.

I hate winter. So not looking forward to it.

 

[aoxa]

Oh...and just to clarify, I didn't alter anything in the heater and the exposed base was exactly as it was in the bottom of the plastic dog bowl. So I was very careful to be sure that I wasn't exposing anything that wasn't already exposed when using it on the dog bowl as it came.

Not trying to nag you, but that info is important to be out there!

 

[armorfirelady]

However I was always worried that the necks were going to freeze and leave them without water so I was always feeling like I needed to check on them constantly. I did use this all winter long with success but because of feeling like I had to check them constantly, I don't think I'll use them this year. Maybe I will if the temps stay about 12 F or above as it works really well at that temp.

If I do use it, I'll have to just "settle down" and not keep worrying about the necks freezing.

.

This made me giggle....reminds me of those who poop watch lol .........tho I admit I did watch my girls when they were on the cup waterers. I need to repair mine since it started to leak. And I don't think the girls ever got the hang of drinking from it no matter how many times I showed them

Hopefully I have better luck next time

 

[flagirl]

noticed bumble foot on my wellsummer. want to try putting nustock on, but am questioning if I can use vet wrap. am still building up the floor of the coop with sand(1 1/2 ft so far) to keep the water out, but the sand inside is damp all the time. No rain for 4 days, but water level only down 1". to get out of the coop the girls have learned to jump from milk crate to milk crate (7 in all) to get to dry land. Would it be ok if the vet wrap was wet most of the time? and we are expecting rain this weekend, so may be shoveling more sand in soon. we have created an island for them. If i can figure how to get a pic loaded, I will show the girls parading along the crates-pretty funny.