Keep water from freezing in the winter?

[PinkFlamingoFrm]

Ok, so Im trying to plan way ahead for the winter, and this will be our first winter with chickens, so heres my plan. Before I take the idea to the guys, (and get made fun of if its a bad idea lol) I want someone else's opinion to know if it is even gonna work.

The chickens will be in a barn over the winter. It is separated into about 9 different coop areas. There is only one electric outlet & I cant overload it with heat lamps for every coop.(I dont really understand why, something about blowing breakers because the electricity comes from another barn?) I thought about solar panels, but I dont think there will be enough sunlight for that. I have 2 surge protector things with timers. I can plug all the heat lamps into the timer thingies & set them to alternate turning on and off so that there isnt too many on at a time & so that the heat gets spread out between all of them. The main goal is to keep the water from freezing. We are in central pa, so it doesnt get too too cold, but its not warm either.

Does anyone think this idea will work? or is there any better ideas out there for this type of situation?

 

[CochinBrahmaLover]

Does it get -20 on a daily basis? If not, you don't need heat lamps. If it does, only on -25+. If you have 9 coops, in one barn, then I'd imagine you will have a lot of chickens. A well insulated coop/barn will save you LOTS of money.
We get -30 to -60 about 8 months out of the year. The heat lamp probably only raises it ~10* degrees, so our chickies have been in -50 fine.
As for the idea, I only say its bad because I'm guessing your spoiling them and wasting money. I'm *not* trying to be rude, but snow and cold wont kill a chicken, just toughens 'em up!!
As for keeping the water thawed, either heated water bowls or water defrosters.
May I ask, why are you having 9 coops if you have a barn? Just 9 separated sections? I'm confused, are you breeding (something not commonly done by newbies, so not a common conclusion is all) or?

 

[Hokum Coco]

I live in Canada and winter brings with it -40º temperatures

I used a gallon pail with nipples on the bottom wrapped with heater tape on the outside held in place by what else "Duct Tape"!! It worked perfect.

However I scraped that in exchange for rubber bucket that freeze over night and the ice just pops out every morning.

My reason for changing was to insure my flock had fresh water every day (I was getting lazy and my water was not being changed and getting stagnate.)

I am of the opinion that easier is not always better or sanitary.

 

[PinkFlamingoFrm]

Does it get -20 on a daily basis? If not, you don't need heat lamps. If it does, only on -25+. If you have 9 coops, in one barn, then I'd imagine you will have a lot of chickens. A well insulated coop/barn will save you LOTS of money.
We get -30 to -60 about 8 months out of the year. The heat lamp probably only raises it ~10* degrees, so our chickies have been in -50 fine.
As for the idea, I only say its bad because I'm guessing your spoiling them and wasting money. I'm *not* trying to be rude, but snow and cold wont kill a chicken, just toughens 'em up!!
As for keeping the water thawed, either heated water bowls or water defrosters.
May I ask, why are you having 9 coops if you have a barn? Just 9 separated sections? I'm confused, are you breeding (something not commonly done by newbies, so not a common conclusion is all) or?

No, it doesnt get that cold. I have about 75 chickens, but there is also ducks, peacocks, pheasants, etc in the barn. My fiances dad uses some of the barn too.. He has 50 chickens & 100 pheasants in it too.. The barn is seperated into 9 different sections. It was a calf shack for when the farm was a dairy farm. Its now a beef farm, so this is the first the barn has been used in years. Thats just how it was built. Theres not 9 coops in the barn,its 9 seperated sections, I used coops for lack of a better word. I cant use that much electricity to keep all of the heated water bowls on all the time... which is why I was leaning towards heat lamps to keep the water from freezing. Plus is if was all about "wasting money" I would be wasting more money on buying heated water bowls than wiring up heat lamps that I already have & running them all winter. I dont think the barn is all that insulated, and its not my property so I cant just go & insulate it. My fiances dad just lets us use the barn. I take care of his chickens & we get free reign on the extra space. It works out. We were just discussing winter last night. Made me start thinking about what were gonna do. Thats all..

 

[PinkFlamingoFrm]

They do get fresh water every day. So Im guessing that it will all just work out then. Hopefully. I guess when winter is here I can experiment for what works best.

 

[CochinBrahmaLover]

Hi sorry I missed this.

Ok so it sounded like this was your first year with birds, LOL. With THAT many birds, it's gonna be a warm barn. You may need to scoop out a top layer of ice in the morning / night, but a rig of heat lamps set up would do well for cold days. How cold does it get in PA? If it doesn't get below zero often, then I doubt frozen water is going to be a huge issue (here, it gets solid through and through, there I think it'll just be a top layer).
Best of luck

 

[PinkFlamingoFrm]

Thanks. If I remember correctly it averages around 25-30 In the winter. I can't even remember the last time it went below zero. I couldn't imagine -30. I would die. I hate cold lol. I'm hoping for no issues during the winter but I would rather be prepared than run into an issue unexpectantly. Lol I hope it stays warmer in there. At last count there was about 275 total birds we had between us lol. All that body heat might keep any water from freezing, hopefully

 

[aart]

Please be very careful about the electricity in your barn, overloaded circuits, extension cords and heat lamps are all very dangerous.

Heated bowls would be much more effective than heat lamps to keep water bowls from freezing, thus more cost effective as well.

You might think about setting up a watering system with nipples or cups and a heated circulating water flow.

Might all depend on what your goals are long term. Are these layers or breeders, or what is your chicken plan?
You might wait and see what the climate is like inside the barn before investing in anything to fight the freeze as you may need to do nothing.
How many waterers do you need to keep from freezing? There are some DIY bowl heaters out there too.

This might help: advanced search>titles only>water freeze

But again, be careful with your electricity. Fire Safety

 

[4 the Birds]

Please be very careful about the electricity in your barn, overloaded circuits, extension cords and heat lamps are all very dangerous.

Heated bowls would be much more effective than heat lamps to keep water bowls from freezing, thus more cost effective as well.

You might think about setting up a watering system with nipples or cups and a heated circulating water flow.

I was thinking the same thing about heating a single holding tank or container with circulating water supply lines. Probably way more complicated and pricey for what you want though. Your breaker "throws off" when you exceed the available wattage to a circuit. The heated water dispensers are pretty low wattage and you could get one for each of the 9 areas and stay well within a standard 15 or 20 amp circuit. Space heaters are what need ALOT of wattage! Not sure if you want to spend the upfront cost of so many heated dispensers though. The best option to stay on the "cheap" would be a brooder lamp down low (standard watt bulb instead of heat bulbs or heat lamps) and in the corner of each stall and near the water container. It will not ensure that the water stays unfrozen but it may help enough in your Winter temps and also provide an area for your birds to huddle near during frigid weather (if they need warmth). Your only other option is to haul warm water and refill containers multiple times each day if the water freezes. You will tire of that quickly! Of course you can run another elec feed line to the barn on another circuit but not sure if you are for the cost of that. Having available clean water at all times and a dry shelter are pretty important in my book for the health of livestock. As mentioned.... be safe with your set-up and hope this helps!