Everyone needs water. People need to hydrate regularly. Cats and dogs should always have free access to a water bowl. Horses and cows need troughs refilled regularly. Chickens need water as much as any other species. But what happens when winter comes with cold north winds and freezes their normal water supply? We live in Minnesota, and the winters here get cold!
Making trip after trip to the coop with gallon buckets isn’t fun, nor is it practical. For many animals, ice will hydrate in a pinch, but not for chickens. They need an adequate and continuous supply of liquid water.
DIY Ways to Keep Water from Freezing
First, keep in mind chickens come back to roost at night, and once they’ve found a perch, they stay there. It’s during the day when they search for food, and they will likewise want water, so using the heat of the winter sun can work to your advantage.
There are many different waterers available for chickens, made of various materials. Some of these will allow the water to freeze faster than others. For example, galvanized steel is thin and subject to temperature changes. Water in a steel container will freeze faster than any other type.
Plastic containers are also thin-walled and can encourage freezing. They can also be problematic in other ways. Plastic containers can build up algae, and other contaminants, so you have to be attentive if you want to make sure your water is clean and healthy.
If you prefer to keep the food and water outside of the coop to help keep the coop clean and tidy, then start with a thick, black rubber tub. The rubber and the color black will make it absorbent to the sun’s warmth and help to keep the water from freezing during the daytime unless the temperatures go really low.
To increase the absorbency of the black rubber, find an old tire and stuff it with bubble wrap, the kind of stuff you use as packing material when shipping breakable things. This will act as an insulator. Set some scrap wood on the ground in the middle of the tire and get a black rubber bucket that fits into the interior of the tire and set it in a place that gets full sun. Your chickens can sit on the tire to drink, and the insulation and heat gathering will help keep the water from icing over.
You can also set a few Ping-Pong balls on the surface of the water. Whenever there is a breeze, or one of the chickens makes a ripple in the water, the balls will circulate and help prevent ice from forming.
Feeling handy? If you have a couple of old windows or plexiglass, you can create a small greenhouse over the tub to help keep the winter winds off of the water and focus the warmth from the sun over the waterer.
Remember, the larger the amount of water, the longer it takes for it to freeze. Three gallons will stay liquid longer than a single gallon will.
You may have heard about floating a bottle of saltwater in a tank. Sadly, this won’t prevent the water from freezing, and if you have a leak, the saltwater will contaminate the fresh water, and your chickens will dehydrate. Too much can be lethal.
There are step-by-step instructions on the internet for other kinds of non-electric ways to keep their water from freezing, including using camping coolers and insulated bait buckets. Just remember chickens will peck at Styrofoam, so it’s not a great option. Our chickens have pecked Styrfoam and its messy!
The easiest way to keep fresh water in the winter is the simplest one: bring a pail of water to your birds every few hours. Before you panic and think you have to quit your job to tend your birds, consider chickens are not fish. They don’t require a constant amount of water at all times. When they’re thirsty, they drink. If there is no water, they return later and drink then. They really don’t need water every minute of every day, so a couple of hours without won’t hurt them any.
To keep an optimal supply of water, you can bring them fresh water before you go to work and again when you return. This, along with one more trip out to the coop in the evening, should be sufficient. When you bring them water in the morning, if there is a layer of ice on the water, simply remove it and either throw it into the snow or bring it into a warm room in the bucket and let it thaw for later.
Some Electrical Solutions
If you don’t want to DIY it, one easy solution is a dog bowl warmer. These are bowls that have an electrical component that warms the water to keep it from freezing. These work on thermostats, so it won’t run all the time, thus easing your electric bill.
They are also safe but keep them off of the ground and, if possible, away from flammable materials such as shavings or other bedding. These are made for dogs, so they’re low to the ground. You might want to raise them, so the birds don’t kick bedding or trash into the water. There are also several heated waterers explicitly created for chickens. These include buckets and delivery methods of all types.
If you’re creating your own waterer using instructions from the internet, be careful of the directions. Some DIY instructions will incorrectly measure the nipples, and you’ll wind up with a leak. Others require closer attention to the sort of insulation you need to use, so the chickens don’t try to tear into something which isn’t good for them.
There are heating cords which are used for pipes in RV’s. These can be wrapped around a bucket with nipples, which is then placed into another insulated bucket to keep the cord and insulation away from the flock.
There are also waterers made in the same way as dog water heaters. They hold about three gallons and use about the same amount of power as a 100-watt bulb meaning there’s not a lot of impact on your electric bill. They have thermostats so you can set the temperature of the water to what you want it to be.
High-Tech Solutions
Maybe it’s not exactly high-tech, but it is more complicated. Some waterers connect to a water line. The water runs to the nipples for the chickens and refills as needed. As long as the pipes remain unfrozen, it takes the effort out of watering the birds. While this involves a lot of set up, this method pays off in convenience, especially if you have a lot of birds.
Some of these also have built-in heaters to help keep the pipes from freezing, which also means the water at the nipples stays liquid.
You can also try a small submersible pump to keep the water moving. Moving water is less susceptible to freezing.
A DIY Project
If you want to try something as a project, find a small camping cooler, one with insulation, and use a jigsaw to cut a hole in the lid, about two or three inches in diameter, just large enough for a chicken to reach in and drink.
Fill with warm water and close the lid. The insulation will keep the water from freezing for hours, depending on the cooler.
As mentioned above, a Styrofoam bait bucket will do wonders for little money, but you will need to cover the lid, so they don’t peck away at the Styrofoam. Also, Styrofoam will eventually allow water to seep through the porous material, so you might want to put it in a larger bucket (also protecting the Styrofoam on the sides) and put a plastic bag between them.
It really can be that simple.
Conclusion
Keeping animals through the winter isn’t easy. Traditionally, feed animals were slaughtered before the cold weather set in for this very reason. However, with a little ingenuity and some clever use of materials, it’s not too difficult to have your layers year-round.
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