Chickens Water freezing

[starlite7077]

I only have one hen and one rooster. I live in Texas. We are having very cold temperatures right now and I was wondering how safe it is to add glycerin to my chickens water. If it's safe how much do I add?

 

[ToniTalley]

What would glycerin do?

 

[I Love Layers]

What are the temperatures supposed to be like? Water doesn't freeze at exactly 32° rather colder then that usually.
Seeming as it isn't going to get that cold, and it shouldn't freeze solid maybe just a thin layer that the birds can peck through, I would just go out an extra few times a day and check their water

 

[Smuvers Farm]

@lazy gardener @casportpony @WVduckchick

 

[casportpony]

I don't think I would add anything to their water.

 

[sourland]

Right now I am watering 3 times daily.

 

[Sagenovese]

I live in Pennsylvania and it is 8* today.
I have to keep my water from freezing and my favorite way is to use a bucket with a lid and a heater. I drilled four holes in the bottom of a lidded bucket and using teflon tape, I screwed in four chicken nipples. Make sure to use teflon tape so there is no leak (a slow drip will freeze). Then, I drop a submersible water de-icer into my bucket. I drill a hole in the bucket lid that is big enough to get the plug through, fill with water, and the de-icer keeps the water from freezing and the lid keeps it clean. Of course, you need electricity for this. I saw someone else use a brick, place a light bulb in the bottom of the brick (i think they used sand for substrate so nothing could set on fire with bulb touching it) and then they set a regular chicken waterer on top so that the heat from the bubl could keep it from freezing. I prefer chicken nipples for sanitary reasons. They love to peck at shiny objects so they learn quickly, even as day old chicks.

 

[Sagenovese]

Separately, I heard that adding beet juice to water can lower the freezing temp a little. Perhaps you might consider an experiment of juicing a piece of a red beet and adding it to the water to see if it is enough to keep it from freezing.

 

[lazy gardener]

There is nothing that you can safely add to water to keep it from freezing. You have 2 choices: either provide an electric heater for your water (I use a heated dog bowl) or make multiple trips/day to see to it that your birds have water to drink. A rubber feed dish/water bowl is helpful because you can abuse it severely to knock the block of ice out of it, where a regular plastic bowl will crack at the least provocation when it's filled with ice water.

 

[nightowl223]

I would certainly choose beet juice over glycerin as an additive! Glycerin could cause some pretty unpleasant side-effects just to save you a little time breaking ice. It seems to me that diarrhea and dehydration are the opposite of what you're trying to achieve.
https://www.livestrong.com/article/519369-side-effects-of-vegetable-glycerin/

Still, it's not that much trouble just to take them fresh water, and much safer.

(edit to finish - accidentally hit post with my clumsiness)