Water Freezing - no electricity to coop- any ideas?

[pidgejr]

How about a solar panel hookup, or those simple wind turbines if you get a breeze
?

 

[Jakoda]

all good ideas...I saw a couple somewhere, and forgive me for not being able to give credit to their creators where credit is due..

1. I saw someone take some BIG rocks, heat them up in the oven, put them in a tin (like xmas tin), set the water on top, keeps it from freezing for quite sometime supposedly.

2. The electric heated dog water bowl, someone used that, but found the water was disappearing to fast (they worked couldn't get out there during the day), took a small chicken waterer, (plastic ones), filled it up and set that in the middle of the dog bowl,,provided added water to the bowl...

Since my barn is kaputz, my electricity is gone for now, so I've just been changing it a couple times a day when it really froze up..chicks don't seem to mind ..

 

[Catfish267]

I don't know how good of an idea this is but you could heat rocks and put them in the water. That is what people did a long time ago.

 

[blondiebee181]

I'm with the judge, don't over think this. I just run water out there twice a day. We use the Fortex rubber pans, and when they freeze we just stomp the ice out and put fresh water in. It's more work if you do it twice a day, but hey, if this were recess we'd all have sand in our shoes, eh?

I do the saaaame thing...or at least I did until this week when it's finally int he 20s+ but for a few weeks here in Boise it got down in the teens and singles. I got up each morning at 8 like clockwork (I call it chicken time now....what's the time? Half past chicken time...lol) I too use the black rubber fortex bowls...I originally started using them because I have ducks too and they need to be able to rinse their noses, but man are those things durable. You can stomp them, hammer them, throw them at trees, pour hot water over them, even run them over with your car (hey I was curious) and they don't break. Luckily, either me or my bf would be home at some point during the day so we were able to break it up more often, probably closer to 3Xs a day, but even on the days where we could only do it once in the am and once at night, all the girls were fine and got plenty to drink. They also eat snow, so if you have any of that lying around, they will eat it for some quick hydration.

 

[Legend]

I heard a few ping pong balls help because they move about

 

[themadchicken]

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

Why cant you run electricity to your coop?

 

[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.

 

[HooDoo Mtn Farm]

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

Having lived with solar a # of years, it's rare to generate enough power to create heat. If she's lucky, an inverted metal pan with a 25-40W bulb, with a galvanized waterer set on it, may work. She's in Rockaway, NJ; I used to live in Boonton, a few lifetimes ago. I seem to remember winter days as being pretty sunny, moreso than here in N. Idaho, so it may be possible!
Those kits are now on sale for $139 . . .

 

[Shellzba]

wow thank you everyone for so many good ideas... I can't run electricity to the coop because my husband won't let me. He says it's a fire hazard... I disagree but he wins (mostly because i'll put it out and he'll take it in) I think we're good I was worried because someone told me that they needed warm water in the winter to keep them warm.. I guess it was an old wives tale. I'll just stick with the watering 3 times a day... Spring is almost here so I'll just have to deal for a couple more weeks. I just didn't want anything to happen to them because they weren't getting enough water..
Thanks again... you guys are always so helpful.
Michele

 

[fuzidragonbunnie]

I don't know if this would work or not-I'm in southern Nevada, and we had a cold snap around Christmas, but probably not as cold as NJ. Is the coop enclosed? Would your girls' natural body heat keep the coop warm enough so that the water wouldn't completely freeze? I sometimes keep one waterer inside the coop on the really cold days, and their body temp at night keeps the coop just warm enough so that the water doesn't freeze (it does get a bit messy because the girls don't really care where they do their business, but they at least have the water). Also, our girls will peck at the ice frozen in the waterer if they don't want to wait for it to melt.