Water Freezing - no electricity to coop- any ideas?

[Shellzba]

My 3 girls are troopers... they are still laying once a day even though the temp here in Northern New Jersey is in the teens for the last 2 weeks and we aren't going to see any relief for a couple more weeks. My challenge is that their water keeps freezing within 2 hours. I work full time, we bring the warm water first thing in the morning around 7am then again around 11am and again around 4:30pm each time the water is frozen solid. I'm worried that they aren't getting enough to drink. I can't run electric to my coop. Does anyone have any ideas on how to keep the water from freezing so quickly?
One idea I got was glycerine and the other is saline. Which is better for my girls?
Any help will be appreciated
Frozen solid in NJ

 

[NYREDS]

I water once a day in the morning. Often this time of year the water freezes during the day. The birds drink enough before it freezes. I've kept poultry here in Northern NY for over 50 years & this has never presented a problem.

 

[onedoodle3]

You can buy a dog dish that plugs in at Walmart. They work great.

Now, I don't know about the OP but I'm not sure I want to run extension cords all the way from Walmart to my coop! That's over 35 miles!

Sorry...that just hit me funny....

 

[pwand]

You can buy a dog dish that plugs in at Walmart. They work great.

 

[jdeoliveira74]

if there is a harbor freight close by you could do solar panels the whole kit is 189 and you would be able to do a light and a heated dish or aquarium heater in the water
jon

 

[Phoenixxx]

If you are able to run extension cords, a fish tank heater will work as well. Probably cheaper than any of the fancy contraptions others here have mentioned.

 

[wittyeyedoc]

Long before we had readily available electricity we use a battery. You could rig a box with a bulb and set a water pan over it. The heat would keep the water liquid longer. If you insulate it it could work quite well.

 

[Twoodz]

I live outside of Fairbanks Alaska and it is not uncommon for the temp to drop to below minus 50 and stay that way for weeks. All I do is run an outside extension cord to the coop (There is a difference between regular extension cords and outside extension cords). And inside the coop I have a power strip that is in a box so the hens can't get to it. Also I put a heating lamp above the water, pointed at the bowl and cage it off. All I did to cage it off was put a strong chicken wire around. I also have a very very small heater I bought for 20 bucks at Home Depot. I have the heater on a shelf in a upper corner that is also caged off and it is on a timer. Between the lamp a small heater and the hens the water never freezes. And should not for u you.

 

[acemario]

Place a ceramic tile (like one you'd buy from a hardware/flooring store) under your water dispenser. If it is in the sun, even better. The tile retains the heat much better than anything else. Our water freezes much slower since we've switched to this easy/no-electricity technique.

 

[jasmer]

Wow, lots of great ideas for using the sun to keep water from freezing. Perhaps you can combine a few of them--place a black-colored water receptacle on some ceramic tiles in the sun.