Yee ha - Winter is here! Question about water

[NHMountainMan]

We were supposed to get light snow, but ended up with freezing rain and a thin coating of ice. I was looking forward to seeing how the chickens would react to snow cover (look like I'll need to wait until Monday now!). Yup - I'm a cold weather fan. Who doesn't love watching a puppy's first reaction to a white wonderland! Hopefully the chickens will entertain me the same way...

So - Water. I have a heated poultry waterer inside the coop (got to 12 degrees outside last night, but coop never dropped below 39 degrees.)
I also have a galvanized water tray in the run, and will swap daily.

The question: What temperature water do you give them? Do you add warm water, hot water? I brought out roughly room temp water this a.m. Hoping to hear what you all do?

Thanks

 

[imnukensc]

Whatever the temp the water is that comes out of the hose is what mine get. Doesn't really matter because it's going to eventually get to whatever ambient temp is anyway unless it's heated and then it's still going to be cold.

 

[Folly's place]

Mine get water out of the hydrant, and in galvanized waterers on heated bases in winter. It's not warm, but unfrozen.
Mary

 

[NHMountainMan]

We're at the point where hoses don't work and faucets are shut down. All water is now coming from inside the house. So I could give them water anywhere from 55 degrees (well water temp) to 120 - from the water heater. The hotter the water, the long it'll take to freeze. Just wondering if anyone provided hot / warm water ?

 

[Ridgerunner]

It might be interesting to do an experiment and see how much longer hot water takes to freeze. It may not be as much of a benefit as you think. Of course you'd need to duplicate conditions.

I have a frost free spigot I use until it get down into the teens, then I carry water from the house. Whatever temperature it comes out is what they get. When I use the kitchen faucet I usually open both the hot and cold handles until the water starts to get hot. That's not to heat the water but to fill the bucket faster. Probably not an efficient thing to do since I'm paying to heat that water.

I'm in a different climate to you. When I was in Arkansas I used black rubber bowls to water the chickens. If it is in the sun the solar heating keeps it thawed reasonably well, some days down into the teens Fahrenheit. The sun does not shine at night, inside the coop, or on same days so I bang the ice out and refill. Since it's rubber I can do that without breaking it and the freezing water does not distort it.

Enjoy your weather while I contemplate my 60 degree morning. It is forecast to get down in the 30's in a few days, hopefully not cold enough to frost. I moved south for a reason.

 

[imnukensc]

FWIW, in general, hot water freezes faster than cold water. There are innumerable links explaining it on Google. Here's a couple: https://www.livescience.com/32128-does-hot-water-freeze-faster-than-cold-water.html
https://medium.com/the-physics-arxi...ysicists-solve-the-mpemba-effect-d8a2f611e853

 

[jreardon1918]

We have a 5 gallon bucket. With a 250 watt stock tank heater in it. Just plugged it in this week. I bring a gallon of water every few days to top off the bucket. On very cold days (below 0F) I bring hot water. But that is more to make me feel good than the chickens.

 

[CatWhisperer]

Hot water might freeze faster but this morning my chickens enjoyed it before that could happen.

 

[NHMountainMan]

FWIW, in general, hot water freezes faster than cold water. There are innumerable links explaining it on Google. Here's a couple: https://www.livescience.com/32128-does-hot-water-freeze-faster-than-cold-water.html
https://medium.com/the-physics-arxi...ysicists-solve-the-mpemba-effect-d8a2f611e853

wow - That's counter-intuitive, but conclusive - from now one, they'll be getting cold water from the kitchen tap - thanks for those articles!

 

[rosemarythyme]

Don't know if this one has been proven to be true, but I've also read that hot water is more likely to leach chemicals from the plumbing pipes, so I only use cold/room temperature water for watering my animals.