winter water

[flying_babyb]

How do northerners keep there chickens water from freezing in the winter? Our coop will be heated but water freezes in our heated garage (where the coop will be) so Im wondering how to prevent this? I live in MI

 

[nuchickontheblock]

we used an electric heated metal base with a metal double walled waterer this winter. worked great -- goes on at about 34 degrees and kept the water from freezing in our coop that doesn't have any insulation. We live in Maine, so had plenty of days and nights below freezing.

 

[FlashPointFarm]

I took a plastic barrel, cut it to 14" high. I then fill it with water and put a livestock water heater in it. Works very well.

 

[Sophie Mae]

I used the chicken nipples in a tidy cat kitty bucket, put an aquarium heater in it, no freezing and the water stayed clean and poop free!

 

[ralleia]

Wow--three responses, and three different techniques!

We're using a 44-watt birdbath de-icer sitting under our 6-gallon fount, which has worked well. This one my DH bought doesn't look extremely sturdy though, so I'm planning on replacing it with a heavier-duty bird-bath heater next winter. As long as you size the heater to the amount of water, you can get by with about anything designed to raise the temperature of water!

 

[flying_babyb]

thanks guys! I never thought of using a aquarium heater, we have a ton of these from all the extra fish we raised!

 

[Mason]

Quote:
We have the same heater (from tractor supply) works great.

 

[kittycooks]

I use a heated dog dish. It has never frozen, even in -30 temps. It has a thermostat that shuts off at 40 deg. or something like that.

I am intrigued with the aquarium heater in a bucket with nipples. I wonder if that would work here in MN?

The dog dish is more efficient: the heated metal plate uses 125 watts, an aquarium heater uses 100 watts and the dog dish uses 25 watts so I guess it saves money in exchange for changing the water every day.

 

[Laurajean]

I'm in a very cold part of New Hampshire, and I use a metal water base heater that I plug into an extension cord. This:

Then I use a metal self feeding water, and set it on top of it, just like this:

It doesn't warm the water, just prevents it from freezing. Worked great all winter, and it got COLD. Never froze once. Very convenient. It was on sale for $30.00 at my local Blue Seal, WELL worth it. No headaches or worries and my electric bill didn't even seem to notice. I also love the waterer itself, because it's covered, it keeps the water clean, and because it's large, I don't have to fill it often for my 8 chickens. Love it.

 

[zoa]

we live in ND and it gets to -30 or so here in the winter. We bought this one at TSC for about $30 and we have never had a problem with the water freezing