Archie01
Chirping
- May 16, 2015
- 15
- 18
- 74
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.
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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.Central Minnesota for me, so.. it gets cold!
I have 4 of those oasis type chicken watering cups I have used yet. After a little research I think I am going to build a simple 1x1x2 box with a side half cutout. Stick the heater in there with a 5 gal bucket and a couple of the oasis cups. That should keep it out of the elements plenty. I will show you what I mean tmr once done!
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.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.
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.
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.@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.
You must be up in the mountains?
..and it must not stay below freezing for even 24 hours at a time?