Winter water?

[Our Roost]

Essentially I gave up. I drain and clean out water barrel late fall and turn upside down over winter months. BUT, this takes care of water concerns spring, summer, and fall with little work involved. Mother nature fills it and I filter it and treat it with ACV. A heated water dog dish I have noticed at the feed store, comes in an extra large size. 2 and 1/2 gallons or 3, I think. Tempted to configure some fancy style water drinkers and cover the top to keep clean. With a little thought, this might work. Time to do some tinkering!

 

[coop410silkies]

  Essentially I gave up. I drain and clean out water barrel late fall and turn upside down over winter months. BUT, this takes care of water concerns spring, summer, and fall with little work involved. Mother nature fills it and I filter it and treat it with ACV. A heated water dog dish I have noticed at the feed store, comes in an extra large size. 2 and 1/2 gallons or 3,  I think. Tempted to configure some  fancy style water drinkers and cover the top to keep clean. With a little thought, this might work. Time to do some tinkering!   

I thought about doing that, BUT..........if you look at how the bowl is made, you will see that there is a small gap between its inner and outer walls. When you drill the hole for the nipple you might have to drill through both walls to accommodate the length of the nipple, and, since the nipple is tapered, you might not be able to completely fill the hole in the inner wall. When you fill the dish, water will run into the hole, and it MAY get to the electricals. Then you'd have a ruined heat less dog bowl with no warranty. At least that's what I thought about MY dog bowls. Sounds like yours are different, but you may want to think about this. Could be that you wouldn't have to drill in to the second wall. I forget; do you have ducks? Do drinkers work for them, or do they need something like a water bowl? You still can fit drinkers (and/or horizontal nipples) onto a bucket or plastic carbuoy or something that fits in your dog bowl, and place that vessel in It. I try to keep a little water in the bowl itself, and it seems to need little attention. The heated dog bowls do a fine job of keeping the water available to the nipples, and they are only 60 watts. I don't know about drinkers, though; I believe they are said to freeze, Buckets are my last resort for putting into my heated dog bowls: the chickens hop all over them and knock them over when they're empty - so I have to secure them. The plastic carbuoys that come with the smaller auto feed and auto waterers for cats are great for this. When I can find them at a thrift shop, I snaffle them up and use the carbuoys for the waterers and the nontippable base for food. Cheap at half the price

. Well, I didn't mean to write a book, meant only to tell you to think about drilling holes in your water bowls cause there ARE other options that don't risk the health of your dog bowls. Hope I haven't just pointed out the obvious and offended you. Sometimes I mistake it (the obvious) for an epiphany ----------- that requires sharing

P.S. You might want to take a look at Oxine ah (animal health) if you are using ACV in your big drum and liking it.

 

[Our Roost]

If you read my last sentence, it said "Time to do some tinkering". Yes I knew about the wall gap in the dog bowl heaters. I believe the heating element is in the bottom end of bowl and not in the side walls. I believe the outer wall keeps the cold away from the inner wall. Anyhow, it deserves taking a look at.
Water nipples and cup drinkers come in many configurations. Finding one best suited for drinking and the elements of winter may be difficult. The heat from the dog dish may not be sufficient to keep it from freezing. This is something I will play with in warmer weather and put on my projects list! Currently I change out dirty water every 3 or 4 days. If its not bad, I usually top it off using an empty milk jug filled with warm tap water.
Apple Cider Vinegar can help keep down bacteria levels and contaminates in water. Preferably, Draining the barrel to a lower level before a good rain shower and filtering the rain water most likely has the same effect. Heck, my birds drink out of mud puddles that have more junk in it than my rain barrel! Just saying. Thanks for the feedback. Will keep you posted on successes or failures.

 

[thebesticanbe]

The idea behind the copper watering nipples is that coppers better heat conductor and when you have a fish tank heater for any kind of heater in your watering system the nipples are less likely to freeze. All I have is a 5-gallon watering bucket with vertical nip nipples and a fish tank heater and it works fine set it outside for the past 3 days in the cold and normally only one nipple freezes

 

[BayBj]

Everyone has great ideas for winter watering! Helped me to figure out how to fix my freezing water problem.

 

[coop410silkies]

    If you read my last sentence, it said "Time to do some tinkering". Yes I knew about the wall gap in the dog bowl heaters. I believe the heating element is in the bottom end of bowl and not in the side walls. I believe the outer wall keeps the cold away from the inner wall. Anyhow, it deserves taking a look at.
Water nipples and cup drinkers come in many configurations. Finding one best suited for drinking and the elements of winter may be difficult. The heat from the dog dish may not be sufficient to keep it from freezing. This is something I will play with in warmer weather and put on my projects list! Currently I change out dirty water every 3 or 4 days. If its not bad, I usually top it off using an empty milk jug filled with warm tap water.
  Apple Cider Vinegar can help keep down bacteria levels and contaminates in water. Preferably, Draining the barrel to a lower level before a good rain shower and filtering the rain water most likely has the same effect. Heck, my birds drink out of mud puddles that have more junk in  it than my rain barrel! Just saying. Thanks for the feedback. Will keep you posted on successes or failures. 

Sounds like you got a handle on stuff, and I'm feeling obnoxious for butting in. My chickens, too, drink from puddles, really gross puddles.

I am not worried about your chickens. I have a number of feed and water stations and am always trying to cut down on the work it takes to maintain them. So I can have more chickens

. I was toying with the idea of getting a heated water bucket and doing something like what you are considering. Will be interested to hear what works and what doesn't. Blessings

 

[bruceha2000]

I made a nipple waterer out of 3" PVC pipe, it loops down inside the coop reduced to 2" and then goes under the coop 2" providing water to the run. I wrapped it in heat tape, aluminum insulation and duct tape but the watering nipples froze so the chickens couldn't get any water. Currently I'm using a heated dog bowl but it gets dirty, I really would like to have the waterer working since the whole purpose was to provide fresh clean water.

I'm reading these feeds trying to get ideas on what I might be able to do or use. I saw something about changing the aluminum watering nipples to copper, not sure how that helps to keep them from freezing?
Someone also mentioned they shoved a submersible heater in the pipe or a de icer , not sure how those work.
My waterer holds 5 gallons of water and works great when it's not frozen

Any suggestions??

It would help if you put your location in your profile so we know if we are dealing with "might get to freezing a few days a year" or "below freezing pretty much every day for 3 months".

I gather your nipples are under the coop out in the breeze? I think that would be a killer for most any system. Also, is the entire system PVC pipe, no "vessel" to hold the water? If so the only "in water" heat source that will work is a fully submersible aquarium heater. The stock tank heaters fit in a 5 gallon bucket. Heating the water is better than heating the outside of the pipe especially PVC since plastic doesn't transfer heat well like metal pipe.

I'm using an "insulated" (meaning double wall) Igloo drink cooler. When it is about 15 or above I plug in the stock tank heater, as mentioned they are self regulating to keep the water above freezing. Colder than 15F I plug in the aquarium heater, mine needs to be set to ~75F to keep the system working down to -20F. Both are in the cooler all winter so I can switch which is plugged in without messing with them.

In the cooler (*) is a very small reptile waterfall pump that runs continuously any time the heaters need to be plugged in. It connects via 3/8" tubing to a 3/4" PVC pipe built into the bottom of the nest box and surrounded by rigid insulation. There are 5 saddle nipples in the pipe and the plywood bottom of the box is notched and drilled such that ONLY the pins stick out below. They can still freeze in very cold weather but USUALLY a small wiggle will free them up. There is a lot more plastic in the saddle nipples compared to screw in nipples so the warm water in the tank or pipe is farther from the metal pin.

* on a shelf in a sorta insulated box attached to the outside of the coop which is a converted horse stall inside an old barn so it isn't affected by weather other than temperature. The nest box is mounted on the same plywood wall as the shelf for the cooler.

Someone else in another thread was asking about where to get those copper replacements. No one seemed to have any advice on where to find them or whether they would not freeze.

Vertical nipples seem to be prone to freezing. This is due to a tiny bit of water being left in the nipple at all times. You might try to change to horizontal nipples which seem to be less likely to freeze. Of course, without a source of heat water will freeze when it gets cold enough.

I use a 10 or 15 gallon tote with lid, horizontal nipples, and a submersible stock tank deicer to keep my girls in water. The stock heater is 250 watts but only comes on when the temperature gets below 35 and turns off when it raises the water temperature to 45 so it's pretty efficient. Water stays clean as the lid keeps the dirt out of it. It only needs filled once every week or so. It's easy to see when water is needed as the tote is semi transparent. The temperatures have gotten down to just below 0 and so far this system has not frozen. Next year I plan on putting the tote into a larger tote and add some insulation between the totes except on the side that has the nipples.

I will not use this system in summer. Algae grows too fast in summer so I like to change the water daily. For summer I'll be back to using a small bucket with vertical nipples.

Algae won't grow if no light gets in the container. I only clean out my cooler at the end of summer and since it is opaque AND inside a trashy plywood enclosure, nothing grows in it and very little dust gets in.

....
Hope you get everything squared away. It is funny, I tell you. I get my clear flow flat hose out, attach it to the kitchen sink, run it 100 feet out to the coop waterer, stand out in zero degree weather while it fills, and after all is done, my chickens run outside to gobble up snow, their favorite wintertime drink. Go figure. I do NOT worry about water when there is snow and they can get to it.

My girls are even more weird. They have water in their coop and find puddles or go to the pond when they are outside. They will come out and eat snow but the BEST snow for some reason is whatever is on top of my boots from walking through it on the way to the barn even when we are outside and they are standing in snow!

 

[Rebal]

I'm in Montana, and it gets very cold here, especially with the wind chill. we just had a -10 weekend, now it's 20 - 30 degrees, but still negative temps at night.
FYI, my coop is not heated and has a small 9"x 9" door that stays open all year, with a 3' x 5"x 5" vent on the top side of the coop, they are out of direct drafts and the chickens have bulked up in down feathers.
They huddle together when in the coop, then come out to play during the day.

I built a 4x4 coop on top of a 4x8 run, they have full access to the 2+ acres but the snow hasn't melted so they've been staying close to home under the run where their feet are dry and out of the snow.
I did wrap the bottom of their run the other day to give them cover from the wind, I could hear them complaining.

As for my pvc watering system it's frozen right now, Lol, I really thought I had the winter water problem solved with the heat tape and mass insulation.
The dog bowl for now has been working great, but it needs cleaning daily. The chickens are at my Daughter's house just outside of town, I live in town and try to get out there at least every other day. Hence the reason for a watering system.

With all the great idea's that everyone has shared here on BYC, I'm thinking of hanging a 2.5 gal bucket with a submersible aquarium heater in the coop so that the water stays clean, at least for this winter.
With the submersible heaters and d-icers I think that along with the heat tape, it's worth a try on the watering system, of course have to wait until the pipes defrost in spring.

The watering system is a 3 in thick pvc pipe that reduces to 2 in, there's an elbow that turns into the coop (3 nipples) then down about a foot with another elbow providing water under the run (4 nipples). it hold 5 Gallons of water and worked great during the summer.

I thought the heat tape was going to work, someone said the 3" pipe was maybe to thick for the heat tape, with the exception of the 2" pvc that goes into the coop, majority of the pipe is exposed, the drip from the watering nipples froze before the water in the pipe did so the chickens couldn't get any water out anyway.

I haven't seen my chickens eating snow yet, but that's what I was thinking they'd do if they were thirsty.

My problem now is keeping the eggs from freezing...

by the time my daughter gets home it's late or I get out there, they've froze.
I have nesting boxes with pine shavings, maybe I should use the heat tape (since it's not working on the pvc) and wrap it around the nesting box??

Any ideas?

 

[bruceha2000]

I'm in Montana, and it gets very cold here, especially with the wind chill. we just had a -10 weekend, now it's 20 - 30 degrees, but still negative temps at night.
FYI, my coop is not heated and has a small 9"x 9" door that stays open all year, with a 3' x 5"x 5" vent on the top side of the coop, they are out of direct drafts and the chickens have bulked up in down feathers.
They huddle together when in the coop, then come out to play during the day.

I built a 4x4 coop on top of a 4x8 run, they have full access to the 2+ acres but the snow hasn't melted so they've been staying close to home under the run where their feet are dry and out of the snow.
I did wrap the bottom of their run the other day to give them cover from the wind, I could hear them complaining.

As for my pvc watering system it's frozen right now, Lol, I really thought I had the winter water problem solved with the heat tape and mass insulation.
The dog bowl for now has been working great, but it needs cleaning daily. The chickens are at my Daughter's house just outside of town, I live in town and try to get out there at least every other day. Hence the reason for a watering system.

With all the great idea's that everyone has shared here on BYC, I'm thinking of hanging a 2.5 gal bucket with a submersible aquarium heater in the coop so that the water stays clean, at least for this winter.
With the submersible heaters and d-icers I think that along with the heat tape, it's worth a try on the watering system, of course have to wait until the pipes defrost in spring.

The watering system is a 3 in thick pvc pipe that reduces to 2 in, there's an elbow that turns into the coop (3 nipples) then down about a foot with another elbow providing water under the run (4 nipples). it hold 5 Gallons of water and worked great during the summer.

I thought the heat tape was going to work, someone said the 3" pipe was maybe to thick for the heat tape, with the exception of the 2" pvc that goes into the coop, majority of the pipe is exposed, the drip from the watering nipples froze before the water in the pipe did so the chickens couldn't get any water out anyway.

I haven't seen my chickens eating snow yet, but that's what I was thinking they'd do if they were thirsty.

My problem now is keeping the eggs from freezing...

by the time my daughter gets home it's late or I get out there, they've froze.
I have nesting boxes with pine shavings, maybe I should use the heat tape (since it's not working on the pvc) and wrap it around the nesting box??

Any ideas?

If you do the 2.5 gallon bucket and aquarium heater, remember that the heater must be under water at all times, they don't have a "shut off if not wet" feature and will overheat if trying to heat sub zero air to their set point.

Yeah the freezing egg thing is a PITA. I'm retired and at home most days so I can check for eggs every couple of hours when it is below freezing. That is why I looped the 3/8" tubing under the 1/4" plywood floor of the nest box on the way back to the cooler kinda like radiant floor heating. Thought maybe it would help keep the eggs warmer. But it is folly since the pine shavings in there insulate the eggs from the bottom of the 4' long nest box and the tube. Given necessity is the mother of invention, I've not attended to the frozen egg problem since it is infrequent here. Mostly happens if a hen lays after I've put them up for the night, they either lay in the box (had one last week, slightly cracked but still usable) or from the roost some time during the night. I think the only way to solve this problem would be heat, either for the entire coop (which I do NOT advocate) or just the nest boxes or roll out nest boxes where the eggs end up in an area that is heated to above freezing.

I suppose if you devised a warmed area for rolled out eggs with the water pipe in the same space, you could heat a pretty small area to just above freezing. Maybe if you run warm water through the pipe continually as I do, you could achieve what I had hoped to do having the water pipe keep the eggs from freezing since you wouldn't have all the pine shavings between the pipe and eggs.

I'm sure it would be hard now but I think I would put a shutoff at the top of the 1' section to the run and turn it off, at least in the winter. Some people don't want water in their coop (in case it leaks) and so put the water in the run. Since your chickens, like mine, always have access to the water in the coop, there isn't any reason to have it in the run as well. At least that would bring your winter water problem to a more limited area.

 

[Rebal]

Thank you bruceha2000 I did not know that about aquarium heaters
I wonder if those temperature controlled Easy Heat Inc. 10802 Plug Kit For Pipe Heating Cable-HEATING CABLE PLUG KIT (not necessarily this one) I've seen different ones too, but I wonder if that would work? Turns on at 32 degrees turns off at 40..

I'll have to check that out. Thank you

Frozen eggs.. Are the eggs still good if they are frozen?