Water Freezing - no electricity to coop- any ideas?

[Hawk CL]

put marbles in your water as many as you can if its a gravity waterer as it takes room it will be easy for them to break the ice as there will be gaps which are thiner.

but now I do not know what type of waterer you are using i had to do it also in Canada and for Guinea chicks so they do not drown

 

[catsbully]

I'm in southern Ontario (Canada) and we have freezing temps most of the winter season here as well. I take my watering can out in the morning and then in the afternoon/evening to give my girls their water and they seem to be doing just fine with that! they manage to peck at the thinner ice to keep it open on their own for a good part of the time...I do however do an extra fill up if the temps are particularly cold! Chickens are alot more hardier than we tend to think they are! I also leave the pop door open all the time (again except for extremely cold spells) and each morn when I go into the coop its toasty warm! amazing how much heat 37 birds generate!

 

[yolka doodle]

Hi, we have had cold weather in england -4 to -5 and my hens water was freezing up, so i put some apple cider vinegar into the water and it did not freeze? but my guinea pigs water did as they can not have the vinegar so i guess it worked.

 

[icnu]

What about composting-- it may generate enough heat so the waterers won't freeze so quickly...I don't know what your setup is, if your waterer is inside the coop, you could use the deep litter method inside the coop, that should keep the waterers (and your girls) nice and toasty. Outside, especially in the winter, a pile will have to be fairly large to generate heat, and that means a good sized space and lots of organic materials-- fresh horse manure works really well with this!

I would think if you situate a waterer on top of/to the side of the pile, it may not freeze, especially if you have it on a side protected from the wind protected... if you can weather proof your run a bit, that might also help the compost pile regulate temp... think of what direction the wind is coming from and build a wind-blocking wall on that side out of straw bales/tarps. Just a few ideas, hope they help!

 

[RollinWithTheStones]

I heat up the kettle on the stove and walk it out there to them. One bowl outside and one inside, has worked great for two winters in a row.

 

[bumpercarr]

I also put out two water containers during cold weather. I find that the regular waterers freeze up too quickly, so I use two shallow black rubber feeders to put water in. I leave one of them out where the sun hits it for at least part of the day. Because they are black, if they even get a little sun they manage to stay warm enough to not freeze during the day. They freeze every night, but I give them fresh water in the morning. I'll be glad when it warms up and stays warm.

 

[Hennyville]

A battery powered water heater or solar panels.

 

[Desert]

I check on their water as often as possible, breaking ice or changing out water if needed.
Another thing I do is keep a few 1 gallon containers full of water on the kitchen counter, that way first thing in the morning I can take one outside when I check on the flock, and the same thing throughout the day.

I've also placed a 55 gallon container for water right beside the coop so I can scoop as much out as I need, but to keep it from freezing I've placed what I can only describe as an upward facing pinwheel in the center of the container. It sticks up out of the top and at the bottom of the container is the same sort of thing, like a small wind turbine to churn up the water.

This has helped quite a bit because the wind keeps it spinning, even if slowly, and that sort of slows down the freezing and ice forming. It's like an automated ice-breaker, I suppose.

 

[Coupe]

My flock does fine with just getting water in the AM. Every morning i dump the ice out and refill...they never act like they are horribly thirsty or anything.

 

[Coupe]

My flock does fine with just getting water in the AM. Every morning i dump the ice out and refill...they never act like they are horribly thirsty or anything.