Simple homemade heated chicken waterer

September 24, 2012 Posts No Comments
Heated chicken waterer

Our homemade chicken
waterers make it
easy to leave town for as long as a week in the summer, but frozen
nipples nix winter trips.  With the carrot of a visit to the
Yucatan dangling in front of his nose, Mark set to work to turn one of
our bucket waterers into a heated waterer that
would survive winter’s freezing temperatures.  The result is
simple and works well, but still needs some tweaking to make it a bit
more elegant.



Version 1.0 is shown
above — drop an Ice and Easy Deicer in a bucket waterer, plug it
in, and wrap the bucket in Reflectix to hold in the heat.  This
version worked fine until temperatures dropped to 17 degrees
Fahrenheit, at which point the nipples froze up.  If you live in a
warmer climate, this may be all you need.


Light bulb heats chicken nipple

Version 2.0 added a 65
watt bulb in a metal reflector to channel the light and heat onto the
nipples.  The extra warmth kept water flowing until temperatures
dropped down to about 5 degrees Fahrenheit, a rare occasion around here
and one which seldom lasts more than a few hours.  This version is
definitely good enough for our winters, and when we came back from our
vacation we discovered the unintended side effect — increased egg
production due to the light. 



Mark’s going to keep
experimenting, though, because the light bulb uses more energy than we
really need to keep the water thawed.  We’d also like the design
to be more elegant and easier for the backyard enthusiast to put
together.  Meanwhile, don’t forget that you
can win a 10 pack DIY kit if you come up with a better solution.  We look forward to
seeing your heated chicken waterers in action.

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.

Heated bucket chicken waterer

September 24, 2012 Chicken Waterers 18 Comments

Lu Ann Shank did such a good job of describing her homemade, heated bucket waterer that I’m
just copying her email and photos below:

Our flock belongs to my 13-year old son, Christian. As part of his 4H project he raises and shows several breeds of large fowl. At one of the poultry shows an acquaintance gave him a few of your nipples to try. We went home and put a bucket waterer together and have been thrilled with
the result.

I saw your request for winter-waterers and thought I would share what has worked for us. As a disclaimer – we live in North Texas – I can hear those flock owners from up-north cackling already – we are fortunate to only get snaps of cold temperatures here that do not linger – So far this waterer has functioned for us without complaint. The idea is simple enough and could be easily modified by your creative readers in colder climates.


Reinforced bucket handleHere is what we used:

  • 2@ 5-gallon buckets
  • 1 @15’ pipe heating cable
  • 2 Fender Washers
  • Caulk
  • Epoxy


I started with our original bucket waterer. It is the black bucket in the photos. I chose black to discourage algae growth. Before I began to modify the bucket I reinforced the handles withHeat cable wrapped around bucket watererfender washers and epoxy to
compensate  for the additional weight.


Starting at the bottom of the black bucket, I wrapped the heat cable around the bottom third of the bucket. Make sure that the
cable lies flat and does not cross itself.

Hole in side out of outer bucket


Remove the handle from the second (white) bucket. Cut out the bottom of the bucket and drill a hole in the side of the bucket about two thirds of the way up from the bottom.

Heated chicken bucket waterer


As you slide the black bucket into the white bucket thread the plug and thermostat of the heat cable through the hole in the white bucket. Twist the black bucket as you slide it into place to take up any slack in the heat cable. Before you push the buckets into their final position – run a bead of caulk near the top of the black bucket. This will adhere the two buckets together.

 

 


Chicken nipples in a bucket watererFlip the buckets over. Run a
bead of caulk between the bottom of the black bucket and the inside lip of the white bucket to keep curious hens from pecking at the cable.


Let it dry and plug it in.



The “lip” created by the white bucket protects the nipples from the wind and – so far – has kept them from freezing. The added
benefit is that my son can now set the bucket flat on the ground to clean it without
damaging the nipples.

Modified bucket waterer lid 
The only other modification that I made was to add a PVC elbow to the lid making it easier for my son to fill without removing the lid. I also put a wire plant basket on top to keep the girls from perching on top.

We recommend these chicken nipples, this three foot length of pipe heating cable, and a layer of chicken-friendly insulation. In our experience, the waterer shown in this post is good down into the teens Fahrenheit.

 

Heated chicken waterer ideas

September 24, 2012 Posts No Comments

Kats engine oil heaterSeveral 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.



Heated horse bucketNext, 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!)



Zoo med reptile heaterFinally, 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.



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!


Our homemade chicken
waterer keeps the
flock happy and healthy with clean water.
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.