Water Freezing - no electricity to coop- any ideas?

[Yukonchick]

LOL, too funny. Ya thats what im using now is an electric dog dish. I was using a 100 watt bulb in a treble light but being enclosed under the chicken waterer caused the thing to get too hot and the wire in the treble light began to melt. A 40 watt bulb works ok but not when it gets minus 25 celsius. I just found it easier to take water out once a day to the heated dog dish. The bowl tends to get dirty all the time but I stuff paper towel in my pocket to give it a quick wipe before pour in the water.

 

[icnu]

Use cold water, warm water freezes faster. They should do fine drinking twice a day. Can you run a couple pipes on the roof? if you have some pipes you can make a simple loop to the roof and fill it with antifreeze water mix, make sure it does not leak. you only need a small part of pipe in the coop in the water container it will heat and heat the water some. Not a deep freeze idea but it works on cold days.

Have you used this idea? Is the antifreeze pipe actually going in/thru the hen's water supply?

Seems a little scary to me... antifreeze and animals don't usually mix well. Even though it may not leak now, doesn't mean it will stay that way. Hens pick at everything, wouldn't all that pecking/jarring make this more likely to leak? And what do you do with it once the weather warms up? Do you just leave it there?

I do kinda like the pipes idea thou...maybe a circuit only around the area you have the waterer? Something you can refill with hot water to keep it insulated??

 

[Mehjr10]

Have you used this idea?  Is the antifreeze pipe actually going in/thru the hen's water supply?

Seems a little scary to me... antifreeze and animals don't usually mix well.  Even though it may not leak now, doesn't mean it will stay that way. Hens pick at everything, wouldn't all that pecking/jarring make this more likely to leak?  And what do you do with it once the weather warms up?  Do you just leave it there? 

I do kinda like the pipes idea thou...maybe a circuit only around the area you have the waterer?  Something you can refill with hot water to keep it insulated??

You use Propylene glycol‎ for when you are around food or drinking water. They sell some for treating lines in RVs and things of that sort that needs to be winterized. It is also the same product used in Cough Syrups and other meds for thickeners. TSC sells some for adding to meds for animals and other uses.

 

[icnu]

Thanks for the info, it definitely makes it sound much safer,

 

[refamat]

I have seen where one person used the radiant barrier product to wrap around his 5 gallon water bucket for the insulator. Then with the vents closed and thick straw and manure (composting) on the coop floor and more than a few chickens, his coop kept warm enough to keep the water from freezing.

 

[colintoncollies]

I have heard that but how can that be true?

 

[colintoncollies]

That was suppose to be a reply to the statement warm water freezes faster. How can that be true?

 

[Pico de Gallo]

I don't think anyone's 100% sure.

Might be that warm water evaporates faster than cool water, so there's another cooling mechanism at work on the warm water. Evaporation has a cooling effect, not to mention, the slight volume loss (as molecules depart in gaseous form) means there's less water available to freeze. My waterer is a hanging 5 gal nippled bucket with a lid, so evaporative heat/volume loss is not even an issue.

Quote: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=is-it-true-that-hot-water

Not sure who considers 60 C 'lukewarm' (140 F = OUCH!), but at any rate, if you can put a lid on the evaporation I"d expect any perceived "problem" should disappear. Or you can simply pour hot water on ice, reducing it to a mere chilly fluid, thus altogether avoiding any weird T-dependent phenomenal effect.

Whatever the effect it is extremely minor, and if it's the difference btwn 50 F and 100 F you've still got a whole lot more joules to release before you reach 32...and beaks start chipping at ice.

 

[Sablemama]

I put some molasses and apple cider vinegar in mine seemed to keep from freezing from morning to evening and from evening to morning was just a bit slushy by morning

 

[Sablemama]

Oh yeah and one time on a really cold night - 30 I put on top of one of those instant heat dollar store pads wrapped in a zippered pencil case lol