Several readers have emailed
me ideas for creating a heated chicken waterer, but all of them say
that they haven’t tested the heaters on their flock. That’s good
news for anyone wanting to enter our homemade
heated chicken waterer contest since you’re free to steal
these ideas and run with them.
First, from Billy Ray:
Your
quest to find a inexpensive water heater for the winter seems pretty
easy to me. Grew up in Kansas and we had cold winters up there. Live in
Dallas now since 1977 and it is much better here. Anyway a simple
solution would be to buy a Kats engine oil heater model #15200
[$11.99 at Northern Tool and Equipment] put it inside a copper tube and
plug it into a timer. Have to experiment with the on off time
then insert it into the top of your bucket style
waterer (wrapped in thermal wrap like for a home water heater)
through a drilled hole and presto you’re done. A more expensive way
would be to buy a 35 dollar circulation type engine water heater and
install it with a timer to run for 20 minutes every 2-3 hours or to
keep the water warm but not let it freeze. I have designed a
simple method like this for a cattle water trough with the
recirculating pump.
quest to find a inexpensive water heater for the winter seems pretty
easy to me. Grew up in Kansas and we had cold winters up there. Live in
Dallas now since 1977 and it is much better here. Anyway a simple
solution would be to buy a Kats engine oil heater model #15200
[$11.99 at Northern Tool and Equipment] put it inside a copper tube and
plug it into a timer. Have to experiment with the on off time
then insert it into the top of your bucket style
waterer (wrapped in thermal wrap like for a home water heater)
through a drilled hole and presto you’re done. A more expensive way
would be to buy a 35 dollar circulation type engine water heater and
install it with a timer to run for 20 minutes every 2-3 hours or to
keep the water warm but not let it freeze. I have designed a
simple method like this for a cattle water trough with the
recirculating pump.
Next, Felice Quilici
suggested:
Loved the post on Julie’s
pegboard watering system. I have an idea
about winter time problems. What about an heated horse bucket and
an
home made wooden lid with a hinge in the middle* to accommodate filling
up the bucket as needed?
(*a two part, half circles lid with a
hinge in the middle. Hope that makes sense!)
pegboard watering system. I have an idea
about winter time problems. What about an heated horse bucket and
an
home made wooden lid with a hinge in the middle* to accommodate filling
up the bucket as needed?
(*a two part, half circles lid with a
hinge in the middle. Hope that makes sense!)
Finally, Naomi Meyer chimed
in:
I don’t want to enter this into the
contest since it isn’t a “design”
but more of an easy quick fix. I have a small urban flock and reused a
small stick-on reptile heater that we had from a previous pet on
your
waterer. It keeps the water from freezing but doesn’t really heat it.
contest since it isn’t a “design”
but more of an easy quick fix. I have a small urban flock and reused a
small stick-on reptile heater that we had from a previous pet on
your
waterer. It keeps the water from freezing but doesn’t really heat it.
For those of you who
might be taking any of these ideas and turning them into your contest
entry, I would add the tip that you need to be sure to focus on the
nipple since it’s the first part of any system to freeze. I look
forward to seeing your entries!
| We recommend our 3 pack DIY kit for making a heated waterer for up to 50 chickens. The CD that comes with each kit includes complete instructions to help you build our favorite heated options without any trial and error. The heated waterer we use in our own coop requires two buckets, a three foot length of pipe heating cable ($23), and the contents of our kit. With a layer of chicken-friendly insulation, the waterer is good down into the teens. |
