Winter water, no electricity, all options on the table

[TJAnonymous]

I work from home so am able to take water to the chickens multiple times per day. Usually by 7am they get their first waterer. At lunchtime (11ish) I take a new one out and bring in the first one so it can thaw. Around 3 pm, I repeat the process. At dark, the water and food are removed from the run.

This year, I am trying a heated water powered by a solar panel. Hasn't worked well yet...we need to add another solar panel and battery. One panel and battery didn't have enough charge during the recent cold (highs in the low 20s), snowy, no sun couple of weeks.

FYI...batteries are notorious for not working in the winter time due to their engineering. The electron flow that creates a charge slows down tremendously in cold temperatures.

 

[SeaCity]

I use a normal pot, on bricks, and put ( depends on the temperatures) 1-3 grave light candles underneath
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That's a neat idea!

 

[FunClucks]

I use a normal pot, on bricks, and put ( depends on the temperatures) 1-3 grave light candles underneath
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Chickens + fire!!! The pyromaniac in me likes this solution. The cautious adult in me has concerns. But that's awesome that it works for you! I'd be worried about catching my chickens on fire - they're super curious and spastic on the best days.

 

[FunClucks]

So, I haven't had much winter weather yet, and being in North Alabama, USA, we don't get much - freezing temps come and go for about 3 months, maybe 3 days of snow (6" max). But we did have a month or so of temperatures so far this year that went into the mid to low 20s at night - I use 5 gal buckets with horizontal nipples set up on cinder blocks. I found that if I filled the bucket up all the way with water, and set the bucket in a sunny/breeze-free location, it didn't freeze all the nipples at night. The other waterer, which was placed in the windy, shady corner of the coop, consistently froze overnight on at least one size of the bucket, but the other nipples were mostly fine.

Basic heat transfer/thermodynamics - the more water in the bucket, and the higher the bucket temperature at the start of the night (freezing time), the longer the bucket would take to freeze. As long as the temperature got above freezing soon after sunrise the next day, the waterer was fine. My next step (if needed) is to use dark blue or dark red 5 gallon buckets (black would be optimal but I haven't seen those) to optimize solar heating (heat load) during the day, which would make the water in the bucket have as high of a temperature as possible at the start of night-time/freezing temperatures.

I send my son out to push on each of the water nipples to break the ice if possible each morning the temperature goes below freezing. It only works if there's a tiny amount of ice. If 4 of my 8 nipples aren't frozen, I call it a win. The rest thaw out within ~3 hrs of sunrise, depending on the outside temperature. My flock is 16 chickens at the moment.

 

[RojoMarz]

FYI...batteries are notorious for not working in the winter time due to their engineering. The electron flow that creates a charge slows down tremendously in cold temperatures.

Yup. Then add in the cloudy days and keeping solar powered can be a challenge.

 

[SheaLoner]

Im considering half burying a styrofoam cooler or otherwise insulated box in the run, and cut an access hole in the side and insert rubber bowl/bucket. Would most likely close the hole up at night, and maybe add hay bales around the sides. Possibly add a solar fountain pump to keep it thawed during the day.
Every winter I dream more and more about somehow getting power out to the coop.

 

[MotherofOrpies]

Chickens + fire!!! The pyromaniac in me likes this solution. The cautious adult in me has concerns. But that's awesome that it works for you! I'd be worried about catching my chickens on fire - they're super curious and spastic on the best days.

Ím not sure if you can see it, but I live in a sandy area, there is nothing in the coop except sand and poop , so no material to burn. The candles are stuck into the sand and the bricks protect them from curious chicken, I wouldn’t do something like that if there was danger for the chickens!

 

[Suzz]

Is a long heavy duty extension cord to garage or outside outlet on house an option? I have 75 foot cord and a heated dog dish that works very well or maybe your coop is to far away from house just an idea

 

[drangle]

Get one of those galvanised double wall drinkers and take it inside at night. Bring it back out in the morning. Boom. No fighting with ice

 

[drangle]

Fill a water bottle with super salty water. Like 1/4th salt and close it up tight and toss it in the water dish. It will keep it from freezing as fast