Waterer Advice for Our Chickens' First Winter (in Wisconsin)?

[jenblain123]

Quote:
cjatthefarm, I meant to ask you more about this waterer. I don't think it would work for our Wisconsin winters, but I'm definitely intrigued by the design. Do they hook up only to a rain barrel, or can they be linked to a garden hose somehow?

 

[jenblain123]

Quote:
Last thing (I promise): I've been wondering all this time if maybe we just got a junky brand of galvanized waterers. We bought ours at Blain's Farm and Fleet, and they were quite cheap, and I've noticed some more pricey ones ever since I started paying attention to them. I think we're going to go with either the heated dog dishes or with a different, better quality brand of galvanized steel. Thank you again!

 

[booker81]

Not sure if you've noticed it, but it's worth a hint

If you're using the waterers with the hole at the bottom where it fills the pan for them to drink from, make sure if you set it on an not-so-level surface that the "hole" side on on the lowest side. If you place the waterer with the hole side on the "high" side, it will continuously try to fill the pan and just spill out the "low" side.

We use a regular livestock bucket (I think it's a 4 gallon?) with a livestock ring type bucket heater in it. We fill it regularly so they can reach the water, but it keeps it from freezing, and it's easy to pick up and bring into the house to fill and take out again. The chickens get the idea of how to use it pretty quickly, and as long as we place it in a non-roosting area, they manage to keep it clean. I still dump and wash it out about once a week to keep yuckies out of it.

We're too cheap I guess to get anything else, since we had the buckets and heaters from the horse farm

 

[blueberrychickens]

We used a 1 gallon plastic waterer w/ a cookie tin heater under it & it worked great! There are many others on BYC who use them w/ great success, https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=107951
Good luck!

 

[cjatthefarm]

Quote:
cjatthefarm, I meant to ask you more about this waterer. I don't think it would work for our Wisconsin winters, but I'm definitely intrigued by the design. Do they hook up only to a rain barrel, or can they be linked to a garden hose somehow?

I believe you can do either one. With a hose I believe you would need a pressure regulator for the hose.....

Perhaps there is some info on the Becktime site. I rely on my handyman for all this!!

But my girls are all over these cups--I wish I had NOT put in 6 nipples and only 2 cups! They 'peck' at the nipples, but they DRINK from the cups!

Best of Luck!

 

[karlamaria]

put your galvanized water on bricks, they can not tip it over then and it will not leak. also cold here, in fact 30 and 40 below at times. not sure what I will use yet but I will be putting a heat lamp in the coop and that should help.

 

[jenblain123]

Quote:
They actually leak even when we set them on a level surface (outside of the coop, while filling them), so I think I will go ahead and try a different brand. I had to do a double-take on your temps! Sounds like you have some serious winters in Butte!

 

[bethgranberg]

Hello I am from illinois and we have similar weather the last few winters I have been using cheap waterer from farm and fleet frustrating leaks and hard to fill I think this year I will try something different. I never use heat lamp with my older birds just keep their water free of ice they will be fine

 

[JodyJo]

Greetings...I live at 8,000 ft in Colorado, we get -25 at least in the winters here...I use a galvanized metal waterer with a heater underneath. It works great, I do have to knock a little bit of ice at times, but they don't run out of water on cold days

 

[coldupnorth]

A heated dog water dish worked best for us up in northern Minnesota. We put them up on bricks to keep the straw bedding out of it. Worked really well and are relatively inexpensive.