Think it's too cold for your chickens? Think again...

[Our Roost]

I have a 55 gallon water barrel set up for spring, summer, and fall watering and it really saves on time spent servicing the chickens. Winter! Thats another story and filling a heated water dish a couple times a day and evening is a real drag! A few good tips and ideas on here construct one for winter use. I hadnt thought that warm tap water would be like you and I drinking a cup of hot cocoa! I will definitely start giving it to my birds to warm them up inside.

 

[Lifestudent]

On those mornings when it's in the mid teens our chickens still trot right out when I open the door in the morning. They do enjoy having warm water. Once they run out they block my path because they want treats. It's fun hand feeding our chickens, including our rooster.

As for the cold though, they seem to enjoy it.

 

[groverlvchx]

I've been using heated doggie dishes filled with sand and with a traditional poultry waterer set on top. It does fine until about 5 degrees and then it freezes. I like the limited humidity and it's easy to change out the waterers for fresh, but I might have to break down and just use the doggie dishes without sand/waterers if this darn cold snap doesn't let up soon. I wish there was a better solution.

 

[GhostRider65]

Just the regular blue pet bowls from fleet farm, I have 2 bowls and 3 buckets 2 horse sized and one dog size bucket, that one is pretty good but the bowls keep only a very small circle open when it gets below zero and windy, the water will be warm inside the bowl, but the top freezes up....... go figure........... never tried one of those bucket heater things ya posted I would be afraid it would melt through the plastic........... Kim

 

[bruceha2000]

Here's what I rigged up with a 2 gallon waterer, yet it froze at zero degrees.

That is pretty amazing! People use those heater rings in open buckets at colder temps and the water doesn't freeze. You would think a covered waterer, especially a double wall like the one shown, would be easier to keep warm. I wonder if yours isn't putting out the expected amount of heat.

I have a 250W stock tank heater in my 5 gallon drink cooler. The water is well above freezing even at -15F. Now, to be fair, it IS an insulated cooler (Igloo) and I DID make a box to put around it that has 1" rigid foam on 3 sides and the bottom but that was mostly because I figured I would use less electricity keeping the water warm. Sadly, at -15 F, the nipples are still freezing even though the water is circulating through the pipe. I checked it 2 days ago by opening the drain on the pipe.

Bruce

 

[featherz]

I have a regular old heated dog bowl outside - didn't even freeze at 9 below zero. Guess I got a good one /shrug. I have four others that were inside the coops - those did not freeze either, but those I cover at night if it's getting near zero to reduce the humidity.

Oh, and no heat!! Even with leghorn pullets. My leghorns are laying eggs every day and it's several degrees below zero when they do it.

 

[cracked egg]

The inversion finally left here,last two days felt like spring. The little lady tells me the turkeys are strutting chickens are running around and the eggs haven't been frozen solid. I would love for this to hang around for a while.
Feel for you guys with the cold right now.

 

[Triplell]

The inversion finally left here,last two days felt like spring. The little lady tells me the turkeys are strutting chickens are running around and the eggs haven't been frozen solid. I would love for this to hang around for a while.
Feel for you guys with the cold right now.

I wish we would warm up more. It is 2F but I am sure it will be below 0F by morning. I have had many frozen eggs and cracked ones too. This cold makes it hard to ship eggs right now.

 

[groverlvchx]

I have a regular old heated dog bowl outside - didn't even freeze at 9 below zero. Guess I got a good one /shrug. I have four others that were inside the coops - those did not freeze either, but those I cover at night if it's getting near zero to reduce the humidity.

Oh, and no heat!! Even with leghorn pullets. My leghorns are laying eggs every day and it's several degrees below zero when they do it.

Maybe mine aren't very strong. This morning it was -9*F and their water was barely iced over--fine for the girls to peck through. Some days it's single digits above zero and frozen solid.

How do you guys deal with frozen eggs? We still use them for home use unless they're cracked--then they get thawed and given to the dog. She LOVES them. She carefully takes them outside, breaks them open and eats the egg, leaving the shell. Funny girl! But it's hard to prevent those cracks short of standing by the nest boxes with a catcher's mitt. Anyone have ideas that work?

 

[CGinJCMO]

Quote:Maybe mine aren't very strong. This morning it was -9*F and their water was barely iced over--fine for the girls to peck through. Some days it's single digits above zero and frozen solid.

How do you guys deal with frozen eggs? We still use them for home use unless they're cracked--then they get thawed and given to the dog. She LOVES them. She carefully takes them outside, breaks them open and eats the egg, leaving the shell. Funny girl! But it's hard to prevent those cracks short of standing by the nest boxes with a catcher's mitt. Anyone have ideas that work?

I had some eggs freeze in a (heated) garage fridge that cracked wide open. I cooked them for the family (those eggs were destined for sale until then). Out in the coop, I've had eggs crack but the membrane was still intact (I felt something like a crack on one so I played it safe and assumed it was, another was visible yet small). Again, I kept them for the family. I had no problem or ill-effects eating them. If the shell wasn't cracked or broken, I really didn't know if the egg froze or not. I didn't see any differences in the egg once it's thawed and couldn't tell you if it was a frozen egg or not.
Then again, I'm not known for my cullinary prowess. I usually don't care if I get brand name or generic foods. If there was a difference, I may not be capable of detecting it. LOL
CG