Water heater

[MamaSaylor]

We are in the forecast for our first snow tonight. This will be our first winter with chickens.

We bought a water heater, are they safe to put in the coop? Its raised off the ground wooden coop with linoleum flooring. Do they get hot enough to worry about fire hazard? Or should I cover the run and stick it outside?

 

[boskelli1571]

Hi there & welcome,
I'm paranoid about fire, so I don't heat the waterer. I get up in the morning, take over a fresh pail of tepid water and replace the frozen. I do the same in the afternoon if necessary. Since the chickens are sleeping at night, if you get up early they shouldn't get dehydrated. That's my choice, I'm sure others will give you further advice, good luck, Sue

 

[jsmith2952]

I keep mine out in the run (which is covered) on top of a stepping stone. Its a diy cookie tin and lightbulb set up. I was nervous putting it in the coop since there's so much more shavings and straw and whatnot in there than in the run, but I've seen plenty of pics of those who have it right in the coop surrounded by straw. Hope that helps.

 

[MamaSaylor]

Hi there & welcome,
                I'm paranoid about fire, so I don't heat the waterer.  I get up in the morning, take over a fresh pail of tepid water and replace the frozen. I do the same in the afternoon if necessary.  Since the chickens are sleeping at night, if you get up early they shouldn't get dehydrated. That's my choice, I'm sure others will give you further advice, good luck, Sue

I fail as an early bird right now lol, which is why I was asking if it could be inside lol. Pregnant with #4 and 3 under 4.. I'm cherishing sleep lol

We had chickens growing up and this is what we would do lol

 

[boskelli1571]

I fail as an early bird right now lol, which is why I was asking if it could be inside lol. Pregnant with #4 and 3 under 4.. I'm cherishing sleep lol

We had chickens growing up and this is what we would do lol

I can see why you don't want to get up in the morning............

 

[brookhill]

Has anyone tried the commercial made water heaters? By commercial made I mean not a DIY. I'm not that handy, but don't know if the ones you can buy in the store are worth the money.

 

[JackE]

Has anyone tried the commercial made water heaters? By commercial made I mean not a DIY. I'm not that handy, but don't know if the ones you can buy in the store are worth the money.

You can get one online, or from an AG store, or TractorSupply, for right around $50, give or take a couple of bucks. I guess they would work OK, but, you are buying a piece of fine RedChinese engineering. It may last for years, or it may crap out on you the first night. And thats the thing, once it burns out, it's done, throw it in the garbage can.
Thats why I built one of those cookie tin heaters, it costs me less than $5, and if the bulb burns out, I can just open it up and put in a new one. $5 for something I put together in about 15-20mins, and has worked great for going on 4yrs. Or $50 on a crapshoot that might not last a week. That would be up to you if it is worth the money. For me, it was an easy choice.
To the original poster, put the water heater inside the coop. Put it on top of a couple of concrete pavers, and set the water fount on top of that. I wouldn't set it right down on the floor, it would be too low anyway, and the waterer would just get filled up with bedding debris.

 

[brookhill]

Thank you for your opinion. While I'm the least talented DIY person on this earth. I'll look into building one as you suggested

 

[PrincessTamTam]

We built two water heaters out of old cookie tins. Drill a hole in the side, run the wire through, attache the hardware and screw in the lightbulb. The tin itself rests in a wooden box and the waterer sits onto of the tin lid. It works great and we made two for each of our 7 gallon waterers.