Water Heaters for the winter

[Tetonchickens]

Hi all-
I recently changed to using a plastic waterer for my birds. I found that the metal ones would corrode rather quickly (I use cider vinegar) and lose their shape making it difficult to keep them from leaking. The issue is winter has arrived and I have historically used a regular plug-in base heater. I am wondering if it is safe to put plastic on this base or not? Should I put an insulator between like a piece of plywood or ceramic? I wonder if it would even keep the water from freezing though without direct contact... Any thoughts appreciated!

 

[Julia62]

We just made cookie tin warmers. I also use a plastic waterer and used a piece of non-slip cupboard liner on the tin so it , well, wouldn't slip off the tin! It works fine and is not warm enough to do anything to the plastic which is fairly thick. I have just a 25W bulb in it. We also put one in the coop on top of two bricks so it doesn't touch the bedding. We slid the electric cord through a piece of PVC so the chickens couldn't peck at it and on the water one, we used silicone chalking around the cord area so water can't touch it if it drips.