discussion about winter waterers

On Facebook there has been a discussion about winter waterers.  I have had to change things a bit since moving here.  The heated bases I was using in BC were only working here until -10-14C and then freezing.  So this is what I came up with.
Heated dog dishes with big plastic pickle jars with holes close to the lids to let the water out slowly and not have it to deep in the dish.

A picture is worth a thousand words.



Here is a hen drinking, you can see the water is not to deep.



I find it will last 2 days with 19 hens.  They have to go outside to drink and do every day.  
It does get some dirt in the bottom of it, but it is from them washing their beaks out in it.  They are not able to put their feet in it and they don't sit on it. I do fill the dish up slightly when I fill the jar so the water level is a bit higher to begin with and it lasts longer.




I just dump the dirt out when I refill the pickle jar.


Please feel free to post pictures of what works for you with the winter waterers!!!

Great timing Coopslave - my system seems to be failing me this year. I have a duck that won't stop roosting on the metal fonts and she poops in them.  Hmmmm, I could put them outside.  They'd stay clean, and she'd have to roost inside then. Thinking out loud here.  You're so smart, look what you made me do!!

But I do have a question.  Where, exactly, are the holes in the lid please and thank you?  Just in case I decide to switch things up?

I have a hole just in the neck, just above the lid and one a little higher up. The holes dictate how deep the water is in the dish.

So the pickle jars are plastic??

farmchiq wrote:So the pickle jars are plastic??

yep, went to a fast food place and asked for them. I was contemplating some PVC pipe to have even more water but this is working really well for now. Even have one in with the roosters. It lasts forever in there.

Does the water in the top of the pickle jar freeze? I have heated bases we made with tin feed pans and 60 watt bulbs but I am having the issue with the water freezing up inside the fonts, the bottoms stay thawed but I have to take the fonts to the shop and thaw them out after a day and a half in this weather.
I have 2 coops with the heated dog dishes in them and I really like them, never have issues with the water freezing I have them inside though. I like the pickle jar idea so they cannot get in there and get their feet wet and get the water dish full of poo...

I did have some water in the top freeze once so far. I had filled them right up and we went down to -27C one night. The bottom was still liquid and when they drank the frozen stayed at the top. If I know it is really going to be cold overnight, I don't fill them right up, just about half way seems to work so far. Still learning what works though.

This is very similar to my system. I use a larger ice cream bucket with no lid...just some holes near the rim. I fill the bucket, place the heated bowl on top and flip it. The chickens keep the water cleaner and I haven't had freezing problems when they are inside.

thank you, thank you, thank you and oh, did I say thank you? I was trying to figure out something that would work here for the winter. I wanted to go to a summer 'nipple' system, but knew that wouldn't work in the winter. This will be great!!! No breeding pens in the winter, so the boys in the bachelor pad and the hens in the hen house.

Nipples do work in the winter. I will take photos of mine when I do my bedtime check in the coop.

Pretty self-explanatory, but here's some words anyway.

Rubber pail, hanging from a chain in the ceiling. Holes drilled in the bottom and nipples screwed in. I have three on this pail. I put a piece of plywood on top just to help keep dust out and maybe a little heat in.


250 watt sinking de-icer in pail. The lighter bucket de-icer that UFA sells don't do the trick; the heavier, higher watt ones sit on the bottom of the pail and put out enough heat to keep the nipples flowing.


It's been as cold as -21 inside the (insulated) coop and this pail didn't freeze. I tried other de-icers in other pails and had problems with the nipples freezing, but this one has been problem free. I ordered more of the 250 watt de-icers as a result.

The other benefits of the nipple waterers include ...
- No scrubbing waterers daily because they kick bedding into it (I occasionally pitch the water out the door, swish with clean water, and refill)
- No wet spots on your floor from leaky/tippy waterers
- Chickens don't roost on them (well, mine don't)
- No frozen combs or wattles from birds dipping them in water and then having them freeze
- More floor space for your birds to move around
- You can raise/lower the buckets on the chains according to the age/size of your birds
- They're cheap like borscht and can be used year-round (just add the de-icer in the fall and take it out in the spring)
- Easy to refill (just pour water in the top) - you don't get your hands/gloves wet when refilling

I think these kinds of threads are invaluable.  Others innovations, designs, call it what you will are such wonderful learning tools for us all.  We have been very, very fortunate this winter, with only getting to below 10 a few times.  The average temperature here at nights seems to be holding at about -5.  I know that much more cold weather is coming, January, I believe, is an even more cold month than the time before Winter actually comes to pass.  I absolutely love the idea of the nipples on the buckets, but that will be for summertime.  I AM going to make some of these, big buckets, hanging, like I see with Authentic's, but that is to come in the months to follow.  I think that is the most wonderful design, and I recall threads about how the nipples are mounted on the bottom of buckets.  I see that as a very simple method of watering.  

For now I have been able to go back to my system where I have the 5 gallon water fonts, sitting on a heated dog bowl, that is filled with water.  It is mild enough to be doing that, but when we had some colder weather, this is what I did.  I had the one gallon font sitting in the heated dog water bowl, which had water in it.   It was time consuming, as the one gallon fonts had to be filled with water every morning, and sometimes two times a day, but the system worked very well for keeping water liquid.  The picture you will see is horrible and looks like things are very dirty, but really not, the room is not overly well lit and my phone camera is crappy in low light conditions.  But this is what worked for me for a time when it was very, very cold.  Just yesterday I put the 5 gallon font on the dog water bowl for the cochins, they seem to use less water than the buff orpingtons, not sure why, maybe less birds .  I love the pickle jar method, but only have glass pickle jars.  I do have two gallon buckets with lids, might give that a whirl and see how they would fit in the dog water bowls.  I so worry about frozen wattles in water, but this seems like it would totally work, as the water would not get very deep.  Having the waterer up a little off the ground too, would help, so the wattles don't dangle down too heavily.  Have a wonderful day, CynthiaM.

.

Going over this post tomorrow morning, there is some interesting information