Water Freezing - no electricity to coop- any ideas?

[chickendodoo]

i made this heated water with minamal effort for about forty buck sing a bird bath deicer pvc nipples and a bucket

 

[evysFarm]

Sorry, I forgot to mention my heated water heaters are suspended, not on the ground nor on the coop floor. The one in the chicken coop hangs under the house itself with the drinking tray about level with the chickens' backs per various suggestions in Storey's chicken raising books. The extension cord plug is fastened securely in place above the water heater. The water heater cord is therefore higher than the chickens could reach to damage. Likewise their food dispenser is suspended under the coop floor. We purposely raised the coop 3 feet above ground level to give our chix extra run room and give me enough room to fill the food dispenser and waterers. Since the prevailing winds are from the west, the west wall of the coop and run is solid. Ditto for the north side of the coop. This gives our flock cool shade in summer and wind protection in winter. The duck house is not elevated quite as much since we planned the north wing of the house as a water porch with a hanging food trough that can be easily lifted out and cleaned. I was so happy with the chicken's heated waterer that I purchased another for the dux and it is suspended from the duckhouse ceiling over the water porch drain. I cannot see how there could be any chance of fire with our setup.

 

[Mehjr10]

Still the OP said they did not have electrical service to the coop. Nor would they be running cords to the coop.

 

[redraindrop]

You could heat up stones( granite or basalt) in your oven and set the water on top of these or place them in the bottom of the water. If you get sunlight at all where they have access to you could build a little greenhouse to cover the water with maybe a flap door for the chickens to go in and out.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Using warm stones is a good idea. Just remember that a wet rock thrown into a campfire can explode after the water inside of it heats up.

 

[Pico de Gallo]

On warming stones:
Ditto on ^...wet rock + heat = Kablammo!

Especially vesicular rocks (anything w significant void spaces), such as basalt w airbubbles...double-Kablammo!

Otherwise it's a great idea. I'd just rotate through several batches of stones, allowing each batch to dry btwn heating, or use sun's thermal E instead of oven. Slow heating > fast heating, safety-wise.

On Solar panels:
Assuming of course that the OP's DH can hang w low voltage wiring, batteries, etc in/near the coop.

I've been running the famous Harbor Freight 45w kit for a couple of years now to illuminate my barn, charge various batteries, run a radio while I'm working, and to power a small, timer-controlled LED light (1.2 w/ 260 lumen) in the adjacent coop to stretch the Winter diurnal period. My 12v battery is a 105 aH marine battery, and I replaced the charge controller w a slightly more efficient/upgradeable model than the one from the kit.

I have never tried running an AC heating element for my water. Even a 40w aquarium heater would draw way too much power for my modest system to run for very long: 3-4 hours at most.

Heaters are hungry little beasts...I'd instead be looking into passive solar solutions. There's a ton of good ideas out there, you just need to get creative in adapting them to your particular situation. Next time you have a couple hours, google-fu "DIY passive solar batch heater" and take some notes!

 

[DeepFriedBacon]

Is your run loocated in the sun? Take an old car tire and fill the cavity with rocks. Place 5 gallon bucket inside the tire hole(or any other sized bucket that will fit into the hole somewhat snugly). The sun will warm the black tire, and the rocks inside will hold the heat and dissipate it slower, all keeping the water a lil warmer. Obviously cloudy days will diminish the efficiency.

Or, probably the cheapest, most likely scenario for you in your anti-electric dilemma is a good sturdy ole wagon. Fill wagon with full water buckets, and easily haul to where it's needed.

 

[themadchicken]

Is your run loocated in the sun? Take an old car tire and fill the cavity with rocks. Place 5 gallon bucket inside the tire hole(or any other sized bucket that will fit into the hole somewhat snugly). The sun will warm the black tire, and the rocks inside will hold the heat and dissipate it slower, all keeping the water a lil warmer. Obviously cloudy days will diminish the efficiency.

Great idea!!!

 

[NYREDS]

Now, I don't know about the OP but I'm not sure I want to run extension cords all the way from Walmart to my coop! That's over 35 miles!

Sorry...that just hit me funny....

FUNNY!!!

 

[pb2145]

Use cold water, warm water freezes faster. They should do fine drinking twice a day. Can you run a couple pipes on the roof? if you have some pipes you can make a simple loop to the roof and fill it with antifreeze water mix, make sure it does not leak. you only need a small part of pipe in the coop in the water container it will heat and heat the water some. Not a deep freeze idea but it works on cold days.