Waterers and what works best in the winter

[Jaeden Mckinley]

I use a 20 gallon clear plastic tote with lid with horizontal nipples and a deicer. It only needs filled once every 2 weeks.

I would love to see the setup.

 

[DickMidnight]

Yeah, whenever you have the time it would be great to see that waterer.

here’s an older picture. you can see he deicer plugged in for the winter.

i used a hole saw bit wide enough to pass the plug for the deicer through, and then plugged it with a plastic plug.

a standard plug works great for the summer. for the winter, i drilled a 3/8” hole through the center of a second plug, and used a utility knife to cut a slit to the hole.

if that sounds confusing, i can get better pictures for you.

 

[Jaeden Mckinley]

here’s an older picture. you can see he deicer plugged in for the winter.

View attachment 3339531
i used a hole saw bit wide enough to pass the plug for the deicer through, and then plugged it with a plastic plug.

a standard plug works great for the summer. for the winter, i drilled a 3/8” hole through the center of a second plug, and used a utility knife to cut a slit to the hole.

if that sounds confusing, i can get better pictures for you.

Not confusing at all, it looks like a very nice setup you have there. I bet it works well.

 

[Poodlemum]

We use a heated horse trough we put nipples on since they won’t freeze. Seems to be working great! One of my Polish doesn’t get it and I take water out for her though

 

[Jaeden Mckinley]

We use a heated horse trough we put nipples on since they won’t freeze. Seems to be working great! One of my Polish doesn’t get it and I take water out for her though.

That snow looks like a lot of fun.

 

[Poodlemum]

That snow looks like a lot of fun.

The kids and dogs have been having a blast! The chickies and I not so much lol. I swear the house will be dry again… At least it’s convinced everyone to lay in the nest boxes though!

 

[Dakar2009]

I normally have the Rent-a-Coop water cups but even putting that on a plastic heating plate, the cups still freeze.

I tried the black rubber tub but I'm not big on going in and out of the coop every morning when it gets really cold and there is snow in the way.

So I went back to the standard plastic watering fountain I had and put that on the plastic heating tray. Problem solved for now.

 

[Krugerrand]

Hello! First time chicken owner here as well. So I can't really say from any experience. But I've done my research, and have found this waterer that I'm planning on using this winter. It has nipples, so there's no way of the chickens kicking dirt, dust, debris, or getting chicken poop in the water. And it's heated, so it won't freeze. The only issue being that you'll need electricity out there to plug it in. You'll need it though, otherwise the water will freeze, regardless of what type of waterer you end up using. If the water freezes in the nipples, it can damage the nipple causing leaks. And to me... A leaky waterer, is a useless waterer.
View attachment 3338818

I bought this last year for my first year with chickens and am very pleased with it. It handled a SW-PA winter just fine and is going strong at the moment.

I'm integrating a pair of pullets into my flock at the moment and have a 2nd homemade version of the same without the heat. I take warm water out each morning. So far it hasn't been cold enough to freeze before night time, but I have to swap it out again in the morning. So, if electricity is a problem, just rotating a few of these throughout the day can do the trick.

I like horizontal nipples because they hold up to freezing better than vertical and the water stays clean. The chickens prefer a bowl of water. In the hot days of summer, I'll often provide cold water in a bowl or something similar so that it's easier for them to drink more.

 

[Krugerrand]

This morning my dad brought me to our local Runnings and we bought the farm innovators' Heated 2-gallon nipple waterer, The best part is I have silkies so I don't have to worry about the size of the waterer. Is it easy for the chickens to drink out of, how do they learn that's where the water comes from? Thanks for helping me.

When my chicks were in the brooder, I had them drinking out of a smaller bottle with horizontal nipples so that they would learn early. They like to play chase with a laser dot. Get them chasing a laser and get the dot on the nipple and they'd figure it out in no time.

Older chicken you can pretty much hold their beak onto the nipple a couple times and they figure it out too. All you need is for 1 to learn and the rest will follow suit.

 

[HorseGirlAbby]

I use a galvanized double-walled waterer, on a heated base in the winter. This is the second one I've gone through, the first one lasted a couple years, and rusted through. The heated base has lasted five cold winters, but I think it's finally going bad. The water was ice this morning. And when the double-walled ones freeze, it's impossible to pull the top off, because they'll freeze together. So it's a good idea to have a backup plan in place.