Water Freezing - no electricity to coop- any ideas?

[HooDoo Mtn Farm]

if you hooked it to some marine batteries or glass mat batteries you could run and inverter and getplenty of energy to run a aquarium tank heater or a light bulb.
jon

That post was predicated on them being hooked up . .
The caveat was the amount of winter daylight charging the batteries.
Even in low daylight, however, one could buy a couple batteries and lug one out to provide power & bring the other in to recharge . . .

 

[HooDoo Mtn Farm]

fellow Idahoan!

Thanks!
You have bees, too?

 

[tedglo]

I have noticed, when I change my ice out, before I can pour in the water, my 4 hens and one rooster eat the ice chips from the broken ice. I'm sure it burns tons of calories but maybe lots of food and crushed ice from the household refrigerator ?? I know, it is not energy efficient for birds to eat ice, but they will eat it readily. Just an idea, they can eat crushed ice. idk ?

 

[Our Roost]

Before we had wired for electical outlets, we had the same issue of water constantly freezing when the coop temperatures inside started to drop. Heres a tip that helped a little! Add a block of wood that will float in the water. When the chickens drink, it moves and circulates the block of wood around to keep the water agitated just enough to keep from freezing. You dont have to worry too much about chickens drinking water at night when they are roosting and bedded down for the night. Fill your drinking containers in the morning when you feed them and the water will last longer during the day with the wood in it. Hope this helps.

 

[kellypepperk]

There are some great ideas on here! It get so cold here that I think the ping pong balls would just freeze and break, but I like the wood in the water...
but, this is what frustrates me... when we look for helpful ideas on an forum like this we know our own parameters - such as NO ELECTRICITY TO THE COOP. So, let's use what we're working with to come up with ideas - not try to figure out why there is no electricity to the coop or how to get electricity to the coop... THERE IS NO ELECTRICITY IN THE COOP - end of story!
Sorry to be so grumpy, but I would say a solid 3-4 pages of this thread were about electricity why not / you could...
Cheers to all. Maybe I'll go have some more coffee.

 

[snot]

I read last fall to use a small plastic lunch box cooler. My water stays thawed out all day, even in our -32 weather we just had a few weeks ago in Ontario. Great idea. bring the cooler in at night when they roost, then return it in the morning, works perfectly.

Do you have pictures of this or a better description of how your using it?

 

[TexasJ]

Ok w/o electric you can keep water from freezing by using large volume containers a large mass of water will take longer to freeze such as 5gl.. 1gallon will freeze much quicker also if u don't want to use a larger water container u can insulate ur container with foam and build a wood box around it to keep chickens from peeking foam off... good luck

 

[rosepetra]

It looks like everyone has great ideas. I know its hard when you work full time. We all love our chickens as part of our family's, I think for a piece of mind the best thing to do is an extension cord with a heated bowl.

 

[rosepetra]

LOL!! Your right.
It's just easier to correct the problem with electricity. I"m going to have another cup of coffee too.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

I have a hard time conceptualizing a coop so far away from an outlet it's impossible to run extension cords. Marine batteries are expensive! Add to that an inverter and the fact that it will only last a few years being drained to flat then recharged again so must be replaced. Honestly, even if one had to purchase 3 100' exterior extension cords at $45 each that's electricity to your coop forever for a mere $135. Our 100' cord reaches the coop and we already owned it so it was an investment of a winter heated water dispenser for $45 and I don't have to deal with frozen water in northern New Hampshire. Looking at last months temps on weather channel web site and next weeks forecast can say it will be 12 days of above freezing temps for highs in 40 days. Electricity is a wonderful thing for pennies a day.