Winter water

[NNYchick]

I ended up taking the plastic water fountain away any tilting the bowl with bricks under the back. I think the bowl was too high for them to see into. Now the water level is lower in the back too so less wet face feathers but I still have one that must think she is a duck because her whole face got wet then she went in the dust bath and gave herself a mud facial.

 

[debid]

This is my first winter with my girls. I was wondering if anyone has used an aquarium heater in their waterer?

A utility de-icer only heats to just above freezing. An aquarium heater has a lowest temperature around 65. So, you'll be using more energy trying to heat the water more than it needs to be heated. They also tend to be more fickle about water depth and being knocked around when you dump more water in.

 

[aart]

A utility de-icer only heats to just above freezing. An aquarium heater has a lowest temperature around 65. So, you'll be using more energy trying to heat the water more than it needs to be heated. They also tend to be more fickle about water depth and being knocked around when you dump more water in.

Depends, on many things like insulation, ambient temps/conditions, etc. My aq heater draws 50watts, deicers are usually 250W....but measuring power consumption is necessary to know just how much power a heating device is using.
I tracked my power usage with the aq heater during a frigid winter with a Kill-A-Watt device and recording daily readings over 3-4 months. Calculated that it cost about $2-3 a month on average over the winter...I thought that was reasonable for the worry free ease it provided.

You definitely have to keep water topped off and protect heater and vessel it is inside.
I built a 'cage' around heater and add only warm water daily, easy to carry out a gallon jug each day during chore time. I suppose it wouldn't be good for those not doing daily feeding, watering, observing.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/aarts-heated-waterer-with-horizontal-nipples.67256/

 

[debid]

Depends, on many things like insulation, ambient temps/conditions, etc. My aq heater draws 50watts, deicers are usually 250W....but measuring power consumption is necessary to know just how much power a heating device is using.
I tracked my power usage with the aq heater during a frigid winter with a Kill-A-Watt device and recording daily readings over 3-4 months. Calculated that it cost about $2-3 a month on average over the winter...I thought that was reasonable for the worry free ease it provided.

You definitely have to keep water topped off and protect heater and vessel it is inside.
I built a 'cage' around heater and add only warm water daily, easy to carry out a gallon jug each day during chore time. I suppose it wouldn't be good for those not doing daily feeding, watering, observing.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/aarts-heated-waterer-with-horizontal-nipples.67256/

A watt is a watt. It's going to take more energy to heat water to 65F than to 40F. If you use a small enough heater that it cannot keep up with the heat loss so it runs constantly and the water only ever reaches 40, you're breaking even. But, the first warmer day, the de-icer stays off all day while your aquarium heater finally gets to switch off after it gets that water to 65.

 

[debid]

I personally have the Allied Precision DT250. I got it for $29 and it's currently 6 years old and still performing flawlessly. I drop it in and forget about it until late spring. It doesn't get any easier.

 

[aart]

A watt is a watt

Yep, but the cycling of a heating device over periods of time is unknown unless measured.

 

[IdyllwildAcres]

Yep, but the cycling of a heating device over periods of time is unknown unless measured.

Who cares, at $2-$3 a month its just silly to parse this out.

Gary