Water Freezing - no electricity to coop- any ideas?

[pwand]

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

 

[jdeoliveira74]

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

paint the waterbucket black and keep it in the sun may keep it from freezing
jon

 

[7&8]

When there's snow available, fill a bowl with it and leave it in the coop. When the water freezes, they'll at least be able to eat snow. This makes you wish for snow when you don't have it, right?!

Personally, I want my birds to have access to some form of water at all times while they are awake. I would run extension cords to supply electricity to a clip light with a lightbulb of suitable wattage to keep the water from freezing. Do whatever it takes to set the light up super securely. Use electrical tape where you join cords.

Heated bases should be plugged directly in to an outlet, per their instructions.

 

[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

 

[BethanyS]

I was thinking about wrapping a towel or insulated material around the bowl and placing a rice heat pad under it. maybe set the bowl down inside or on a big pile of hay. the ground is so cold I would try anyway to get it off the ground somewhat .also considered a candle warmer you can purchase at Walmart that uses batteries instead of a heat pad.... I also try to place my bowl in the Sun using a black dish is a great idea. you could even get a pan and fill it with gravel rock or sand and place it in the oven at high heat then sit your water dish inside the pan... you would need to be sure and cover the hot sides with some thick cloth to help hold in heat and keep chicken toes from being burnt. I have also heard of people dropping hot rocks into water dishes. be careful using large rocks and high temperatures they can pop... although done properly you should be fine. they use hot rock in spas all the time. to help insure you don't have issues place rocks in oven before you turn on the heat if you are dropping Rock into water make sure it is luke warm. let us know what you come up with. good luck

 

[RattlesnakeRidgeWV]

My first question would be how far is your coop from the house. If it is less than 150 foot then run an outdoor extension cord. I have tried all the crazy methods and none work. You either do like NYRed said and don't worry about it, or run the extension cord and buy a $20 heated gallon and a half water bowl from TSC. They are blue and have worked for me for the last 5 years without fail! I tried the expensive heated metal ones and both failed, but not the blue plastic dog bowls. If you can not run the ext. cord then just give them water twice a day and they will survive!

 

[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.

 

[MBWeber]

I won't buy heaters since it gets -30, -40 here I just go out and refill the water as needed, but they huddle up and don't really drink anyways I think they may have some conservation abilities

 

[Puddin Fluff]

We don't have the super cold temps but when the weather is dipping below freezing we have a heat lamp suspended inside the coop above the 5 gal water fountin. We run a long extension cord out to power it as we don't have electric in our coop either. The birds don't mind the cold and the heat lamp is really for my convenience so that I don't have to be an ice breaker several times a day.

 

[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.