Winter water?

[Our Roost]

CGinJCMO, don't know where you got this pictured water feeder at, but I like it! What I don't like is the set up you have underneath it. Looks like a wet electrical shortage waiting to happen from messy chickens and spillage. I used insulated heat tape last year to wrap my PVC piping and it was a saturated mess to say the least. What I did find useful was heated and thermostatically controlled plug in electrical wire that came in several lengths. Primarily used for water pipes to keep them from freezing. Seems like you could wrap this around your water feeder spirally and make it work. Dont know if the bowl water will get enough heat from the container to keep from freezing or not. Just a thought. The other thing is a heated dog dish waterer. The large size holds quite a bit of water but still needs filled on occaision.

 

[CGinJCMO]

CGinJCMO, don't know where you got this pictured water feeder at, but I like it! What I don't like is the set up you have underneath it. Looks like a wet electrical shortage waiting to happen from messy chickens and spillage. I used insulated heat tape last year to wrap my PVC piping and it was a saturated mess to say the least. What I did find useful was heated and thermostatically controlled plug in electrical wire that came in several lengths. Primarily used for water pipes to keep them from freezing. Seems like you could wrap this around your water feeder spirally and make it work. Don't know if the bowl water will get enough heat from the container to keep from freezing or not. Just a thought. The other thing is a heated dog dish waterer. The large size holds quite a bit of water but still needs filled on occaision.

The picture and item came from Strombergs. There's a lot of sealant type glue inside where the light bulb is. It seems like the "professional" version of the tin can water heater I've seen here on BYC (I just don't seem to see cookie tins, just popcorn tins, around here - the gift cookies are packaged in plastic "tins"). I'm going to block the shelf (although hubby says it's not necessary) from the chickens scratching shavings under and possibly starting a fire that way. We have half-a-dozen old 75 watt light bulbs that I'll use as the heat source until they run out (hopefully I'll still be able to find non-energy efficient, non-florescent light bulbs in the future).

I tried the electrical pipe wrap last year (didn't work) and I switched to heated dog bowls. What I didn't like about them was the filth that accumulated in them. I couldn't just dump the water out onto the bedding and my hands don't like the cold water (the ache goes all the way up my arm to beyond the elbow) when I tried to scoop the floating stuff out (and I had the water bowl up a foot on a pedestal (old kitty litter box) plus the height of the bowl so I don't know how else I could have kept it cleaner since I didn't have a way to make sure no one was roosting on the edge of the bowl).

I still have the heat tape so if this method doesn't work out, I guess I can still do your idea. Unfortunately, I may not find out that this method didn't work until after it's cold. I plan to fill the waterers today but it's not cold enough to have plugged in yet so maybe I'll be able to find out how much of a wet mess it really is before it's too cold for me.

CG

 

[jimmywalt]

New modification.............. I was going to use a round 5 gallon bucket but it was too big for the location I was going to use it and power was too far away. So I decided to put it "inside" the coop (yes, I know that might not be advisable due to humidity, but it's the best I can do).

I also changed it to be made from a rectangular laundry soap bucket which will have a smaller footprint. (The bucket on the left in the picture below)

I put it in the coop to take these pictures and try out the size/location. It's right next to my 5 gallon bucket feeder which has been working perfectly for over a month. I blocked the door (seen on the right so the chickens couldn't get in when I was in there). You can also see the egg boxes to the left and the web cam above the water bucket. The picture was taken from outside the clean-out door. My coop is only 4'x4'x4'.

Also included pictures of what the bubbler (Harbor Freight $5.99) and heater (Walmart $14.94) look like inside the round 5 gallon bucket (I'll move these to my rectangular waterer).

 

[Our Roost]

Strombergs offers a plastic 3 gallon waterer with heated element for plug in. This might be the ticket for me and better than the heated dog dish waterer. Thanks for turning me onto Strombergs!

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

Strombergs offers a plastic 3 gallon waterer with heated element for plug in. This might be the ticket for me and better than the heated dog dish waterer. Thanks for turning me onto Strombergs!

Most people I've heard of who bought those were disappointed.
The biggest complaints were they stopped working in just a short time

It's still hard to beat a "cookie tin"

Quote: It really doesn't HAVE to be a cookie tim

It's just a light bulb in any proper container
There's no wrong way to build one as long as your waterer fits on top

 

[Reurra]

I bought the heated horse bucket. It seemed better than the metal ones, and has a cord that is supposed to be anti chew.

Remember, when building something that contains both water and electricity, follow safety protocol. Make sure water cant reach the electrical areas, even if it gets dumped over.

 

[Our Roost]

Bear Foot Farm,

Hmmm, I read the reviews on the 3 gallon stromberg unit made by Kuhls. Electrical unit works well but very difficult to fill, lock and seal. Mixed review and not a very user friendly product design wise. I have plastic unheated waterers and they are hard to lock and fill also. A video demonstration is offered which might help the "some assembly required" instructions of use. Looks okay to me. Thanks!

 

[Island Roo]

Bear Foot Farm,

Hmmm, I read the reviews on the 3 gallon stromberg unit made by Kuhls. Electrical unit works well but very difficult to fill, lock and seal. Mixed review and not a very user friendly product design wise.

Yeah - I wrote one of those reviews.

We struggled with those 3 gallon heated waters for a couple of winters until I switched.

There is no "locking" mechanism on them - which would imply that the unit would come come apart unless you unlock it. We found that unless you are very careful the top and bottom come apart far too easily... dumping all the water. I got tired of being in sub-zero temperatures with dirty water all over my jeans and on the coop floor.

Very frustrating product.

We're using a nipple system with de-iced water now.

 

[CGinJCMO]

It's still hard to beat a "cookie tin"

Quote:

It really doesn't HAVE to be a cookie tin

It's just a light bulb in any proper container
There's no wrong way to build one as long as your waterer fits on top

The Walmart/Kmart/etc. popcorn tins are 18 inches or more tall making for something that seems easily toppled. Haven't tried it so don't know for sure. I've been involved in Scouting for several years and they did away with the popcorn tins <grrr> but I can think of the $40+ tins they used to have that after I ate the contents, would have made for a nice tall and wide warm base.

Quote: Maybe they fixed that because I just filled my waterers and locked them just fine. Granted, for the first one, I didn't slide the two pieces in line with each other on the first try and had to lift up and do it again (it wouldn't keep twisting easily to try to re-align). Not a design flaw, just a user flaw.

The second one, I made sure to look at where the locking slit and pins were before I slid the top onto the bottom.
One thing I know that I'm going to watch, is when you put the top on, the air can force some water out (and therefore into the heating unit perhaps?). Another thing I'm going to have to figure out is how much water is actually in it. I'm used to seeing how much water is in thru the sides (or my 18 gallon bucket doesn't run out often so I can fill weekly and not worry about running out. While it's still warm enough not to freeze the water solid, I have two 3-gallon rubber pans filled with water so I know for now, I won't have to worry about them running out of water while I'm at work. I have to carry gallon milk jugs filled with water from the kitchen to the coop when i have to fill waterers so it's kinda nice to know if I need 2 or 13 gallons before I go out).
I have them filled up with water, hooked up to a thermocube, and Tuesday's low is suppose to be 33 degrees so we'll keep our fingers crossed that they work. I do like the insulated layer around the bottom of the warmer. Hubby had it plugged in and running all day yesterday and the outside part (on the bottom) didn't get hot at all. All the heat is directed upwards.

CG

 

[jimmywalt]

To the guy that couldn't find a cookie tin.................

You can find these EVERY DAY OF THE WEEK at any thrift stores (like Goodwill, etc) for $1 or less!!!!!!!!!!!

Even try Dollar Stores - Dollar Tree, etc!!!!!!!!

But don't pay more than $1!!!!!

Also the light for inside............ Buy the cheapest lamp at Goodwill and strip it for the parts you need!!!!!!

That's what I did -----------