watering with bucket and de-icing coil

[jmc]

perfect question for a may day right?
but i wanna do something before next winter. anyone water DUCKS from one of those buckets--for horses maybe--that you put a heating coil in to keep ice from forming? in winter of course, not in MAY. would you recommend one. i'd like to try those this winter. im sick of constantly wondering about water freezing.
thanks and keep cool. its 90 degrees here today!!!

 

[WoodlandWoman]

I believe there are also buckets with the heater already built in, too. I don't have ducks, so I've used several other heater types for my chickens and sheep.

The only warning I have about buckets is to not use a deep, narrow bucket that is open. I think someone here had a chicken drown, wedged in a 5 gallon bucket. I'd either use a shallower bucket, like a 2-3 gallon or if you use a deep bucket, cover the top and drill holes in the side for them to put their heads through, to drink. I've seen that done, too.

 

[Orchid]

I've seen people mention using a heated plastic dog bowl for watering in the winter, too. They are wide and comparatively shallow vs. a heated horse bucket. The other thing I saw mentioned, which I plan to try, is filling a heated dog bowl with sand and setting the waterer on top of the sand. It seems like it would keep the water cleaner longer.

I know, it seems silly to think about it now, but where I live we spend at least half the year enduring winter and the other half preparing for it!

 

[jmc]

MN and WI. ugh yeah, those are big winter states! don't seem to be getting any hits about the water buckets with a coil to add to them. i've heard that the 'preheated' buckets can be junk. what is your experience? thank you!

 

[Mrs MIA]

We just use the black rubber bowls... pop out the ice, add fresh water twice a day. The heated dog bowls are great for chickens, but ducks tend to sit in their water if it's above freezing, so you'd be filling it constantly. Maybe if you put 2" chicken wire over the top, they could get their heads/bills in to drink, but not their whole bodies...

 

[Tala]

I have two heated plastic dog water bowls. They cost about $20 from TSC.
They worked great till my gfi outlet quit on me and I came out one morning to find ice

but no, really, I bought one first and liked it so much that I bought another one -- so they get my votes!

 

[pips&peeps]

I bought one of those buckets last winter and it worked great. The heater is built right in and the birds cannot chew at it. They have to be plugged in and the cord is protected by a long metal coil, so no problems there either. (I have geese and they are chewers...)

 

[WoodlandWoman]

Everything I've used has worked fine. I use a heated dog bowl for just a few chickens. For a big coop full of chickens, I use one of the heated bases that looks like an upside down pan, with the element up underneath. We use a big metal waterer on top. We've also used a submersible heater like you put in a bird bath or stock tank, in the bottom of a small stock tank. At one point, we also had a floating heater, that we used to keep a hole open in our small pond. You know, I think that one may have worked the worst. The one winter we used it was especially cold, though.

Sometimes, there can be a difference in the quality of the same type of heater, depending on the manufacturer. I think there have been better and worse versions of the heated dog bowls and metal bases discussed here before. I think it was the cheaper styles that had the problems. Also, I like to have anything like that on a concrete block or elevated with a paver tile underneath it, for safety. Just in case.

 

[Akane]

My chickens have a heated 60gallon 2' deep stock tank with bricks to get up to the rim and inside in case they fall in. Then in the coops I use heated 2-4gallon wide mouth (flat back) buckets with a brick inside again to keep it from tipping over and prevent drowning.

 

[briteday]

A cheap aquarium heater from Walmart will work fine for a 5 gallon bucket.