As we all know it is imperative that all animals have access to fresh clean drinking water, but what do you do when winter comes, and you find frozen waterers?
We have several ways we keep water available for our feathered friends. First, in our chicken pens, we use either a 5 Gallon or 3 Gallon galvanized metal gravity fed waterer. We like the metal ones as they are more forgiving during the winter when it gets cold. We have found that the plastic waterers tend to break more easily, split or crack if they happen to freeze and generally do not last as long in colder temperatures.
In the past we have used either the Little Giant or the Farm Innovators heated base.
They have worked fantastic, and we have never had an issue with them not working. Though, due to the aluminum top rusting out and creating holes we would only get about 2 winters use out of them. This could be our own fault, not the product itself, as we never removed them from the pen when we weren’t using them.
As well as, while filling the waterer, there would be times when water would spill and sit on top of the heater, perpetuating the rust. What I liked about them was that they were metal and had a base to protect the element and electrical components inside.
When we first started using the water heater, there was concern about the potential for getting an electrical shock, if the heater did happen to malfunction. So, to take precautions, we used an old automobile tire to raise the heater up off the ground, in case any water made its way into the covered pen from rain or melting snow. The heater fits perfectly on top of the rim and the bottom of the heater sits just below the rubber tire. If water does collect under the tire or if water is spilled while filling the waterer, it will not affect the heating element.
The other safety precaution we took was using an outdoor GFCI (Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter) multi plug outlet, which is a similar product to this one found on Amazon. We have ours mounted to the interior wall of the coop, and we take the heater cord and run it through a small hole from the exterior side of the coop wall. Feeding the cord in and plugging it into the GFCI outlet. It is nice knowing that anything we plug into this outlet is protected if there happens to be an electrical short.
This year we needed to replace the heater and decided to try a stainless-steel version. It doesn’t sit as tall as the others used in the past, but it still fits nicely into the wheel. It does not have the plastic bottom cover, and the components are all visible when it is upside down. However, since we have never had any of the chickens knock over the waterer or heaters in the past, we are going to give it a try. With this being stainless steel, it is our hope that it will not rust out like the previous ones.
With the heaters being electric, we do have an extension cord running out to the chicken coop. Which we use for the heater and for a shop light, if we happen to need extra light while putting the chickens to bed or collecting eggs. Not everyone has the option to use these heaters, and you can find another alternative that we use, further down in this article.
One of the great features that we like in both heaters we have used, is that they will automatically come on and turn off. You will not be using electricity constantly. They have a temperature sensor that will turn on the heater when the temperature drops below freezing and when it warms up above, it will turn off. The only time we must worry about the water freezing is if we have a power outage, then it’s back to lugging water out every few hours. (Those 5-gallon buckets come in handy for everything on the farm!)
For the occasions when we have a power outage, we bring out rubber ramekins. When the water freezes in these dishes, we can simply flip them over and step on them to break up the ice, which makes it easy to dump out and refill.
We do not have electricity running out to the duck area. For our water loving creatures, we use a larger rubber ramekin inside their pen, and they use it year-round. We have found that using the ramekins is a much easier way for them to drink and flush their bills, than the waterers used for the chickens.
There are a lot of different ways to keep your waterers from freezing, but for us this is what we have found to work best on our small farm, and we hope it helps you too.
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