Water is freezing in the coop

[TcherDawn]

I use one of the heated poultry waterers. It does the trick, but it is hard to flip it over without getting water everywhere. Not a good feeling for me getting wet when it is below freezing out.

 

[LynneP]

Does the electric plastic waterer work well when it's desperately cold? Saw one at our feed store today...but the owner didn't know... I'm wondering if it's worth having a large bucket on hand to carry that out or to tip the contents...

Nice setup, by the way...

 

[TcherDawn]

It says right on it "Good to Zero degrees" My coop is ultra insulated, so the outside temp has gotten to zero, but inside it stays much warmer. It has been down to 18 in the coop and it was just fine. It also says on it "Protect from wind" I am not sure why on that one. I have it up high, so it stays very very clean. It has its own thermostat, so you don't need a thermocube with it.

 

[LynneP]

Thanks, not yet certain if I'll get one or a second dog bowl for the next flock. Farm Innovators has a square bowl that holds 1.5 gallons...

 

[jeb251]

here is what I did, I took ten foot of 3" pvc cut a 4' and a 2' piece and put a 45 there, I then put six nipples in the pipe and used heat tape that comes on and goes off at 8 degrees, I then insulated the whole thing and hung it in my coop, it has gotton verry cold here in northern indiana and so far it is working like a charm.

 

[70monte]

I use a heated plastic dog bowl and its worked fine so far.

Wayne

 

[BethESH]

There's a great thread in the "Feeding and Watering Your Flock" section on this very issue - it's all about making waterer heaters out of cookie tins...check it out!

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=107951

Folks on BYC are absolutely brilliant!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good luck!!!
Beth

 

[waynesgarden]

I have that same plastic waterer from Farm Innovations in the photo above. It works well far below 0 degrees. Keep it out of drafts.I don't remember it freezing when temps were down in the 20's F below outside the coop.

I'll confirm that TcherDawn is correct that it is hard to flip upright after filling. Prepare to get an occasional drenching. I fill and flip inside over the bathtub. Learned the hard way, outdoors at 5 below.

Wayne

 

[Smokin Silkies]

I used a cookie tin and put christmas lights in it, closed the lid and put my plastic waterer on top. My chickens like to knock over the waterer all the time so heres what I did..
I screwed the bottom of the tin into a corner by the door, put the lights in it and put the lid on. The cord from the lights comes right out the door and is plugged in. The tin will not get pushed around because it is screwed to the bottom of the coop. The plastic water sits on top and has a shoestring around it that is secured to a hook on the wall so they can't knock the waterer off the tin. It works great for me. The water stays cool/warm, never frozen and its gotten to the teens around here, and its never knocked over anymore. Got the tins for $1 each and the lights for $.50 each at the thrift store. It cost me $3 for 2 coops. Great deal!!! Would recommend it to anybody!!!