Water Clean, Thaw, and Outside..?

[aart]

That would probably be R2elk in Natrona county, WY.

Ah, yes...there's an article:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/alternate-method-to-prevent-water-freezing.73180/

Says: "I normally replace the manure annually.
I prefer to use horse manure but since I no longer have a horse, I use the chicken droppings that I collect from under their roosts."

Hey @R2elk ....this still working for ya?

 

[NatJ]

Yes...we had 1 cold night and the cups froze solid.
I love them for warm weather, but they are useless below freezing temps.
I’m looking for heated waterer options right now...I am TERRIFIED of a causing a barn fire.

There's one really low-tech option: carry fresh water a few times a day.

I grew up in Alaska. We dumped and refilled every water container twice a day. In really cold weather, we'd sometimes do it a third time at midday. (This was for chickens and rabbits, no large livestock.)

It really helps if you have two waterers--one can be inside thawing while the other is outside freezing.

The water container does not need to hold a lot of water, if you're replacing it several times a day. (There's no need to carry out 5 gallons of water, and bring 4 3/4 gallons back in frozen--use a smaller container in that case.)

Rather than buy a new or special waterer, I've seen people mention using a bowl or bucket. My family's way to make an extra feeder or waterer fast was to cut a big hole in the side of a plastic 1-gallon milk jug. Sit it on the floor in the pen, or hang it by the milk jug's handle.

 

[Manhen]

I need to spend more time getting my girls to use HN.

I like them to see me bringing in the water. There are 2 5 gallon fonts, when one is low or dry I refill them both. They know I am the chicken king.

 

[aart]

Hmmm. How about this. I'll start my next batch of chicks off from the get-go, and hope they train the older girls. Even if the old girls don't catch on, I'll train each new generation the same. Eventually the old drinkers will die off ad only nipple drinkers will remain. Does this sound viable?

That could work....or you could just train them all next spring.

 

[aart]

The heater states on it that it is for indoor use only..... is anyone using these outside?? If so, did you build some type of small structure around it to keep debris off?

I've seen people use them outside, but, yeah, some shelter would be good.

HN's are the bomb, I rarely use anything else.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/aarts-heated-waterer-with-horizontal-nipples.67256/

but it's worked fine the last couple winters.

Does it even freeze where you are?

The world is made up of protons, neutrons, electrons, and morons.

Love your siggy!

 

[aart]

Yeah, it actually does! We even occasionally have snow!

You must be up in the mountains?
..and it must not stay below freezing for even 24 hours at a time?

 

[wamtazlady]

but of the 3 hens I have, one is about 3, the other two are about 26+ weeks, no eggs yet! I' m thinking it's to cold for egg laying.

Laying has to do with the number of daylight hours, not the weather. Your 2 young chickens may wait until February when the days are getting longer before they start to lay. The older hen would be just getting over molt. She will also likely to start laying again in February.

 

[Kikiriki]

I have to warn you. Those cup type waterers freeze really fast. They will be frozen when horizontal nipples and even vertical nipples are still thawed. I would not recommend them for your cold winters.

Yes...we had 1 cold night and the cups froze solid.
I love them for warm weather, but they are useless below freezing temps.
I’m looking for heated waterer options right now...I am TERRIFIED of a causing a barn fire.

 

[Kikiriki]

@Kikiriki You might want to try the system blackdog043, and I use. Has gotten down into the -20s F and has never frozen. What you need is a water container. I use a plastic tote with lid, and blackdog042 uses a plastic barrel. We both use horizontal nipples and a 250 watt stock tank deicer that is rated for use in plastic. The deicer has a built in thermostat so it turns on at 35 degrees and off again at 40 or 45 which makes it pretty efficient and safe. Harder to start a fire when the heating element is under water. Some of the benefits are that the water stays thawed, the water stays clean, and with mine the 11 gallon tote holds enough water to last 12 chickens for a week so less filling. As for costs, my tote was about $7, the horizontal nipples about $10, and the stock tank deicer about $40. The stock tank deicer is a good deal as mine is now on its 5th year of use.

My chickens wouldn’t use the nipples...I had to switch to cups, but they already froze once. The deicers are overpowered at 1500w, so I’m looking for something that uses less than 60w.
Thanks for the idea, though!

 

[SammyBrowell]

We have two of them outside the coop, and they work famously. We did have an issue with mice that chewed through one of the wires, but we haven't had any issues with low temps and having them not work. We live in Denver, and it gets COLD here. Like, negative 15 degrees cold at night sometimes, and we haven't had any problems. The water does get dirty, so I just bring them in and really scrub the gunk off about every other week.