New coop is finally done!

[flowerbug]

For winter I used this in Northwest Arkansas. It's a rubber bowl so if it freezes solid I banged it on the ground until I broke the ice out, then refilled it. If it is outside in the sun it stays thawed into the teens. Not all days are sunny and it obviously freezes overnight when it get cold enough. To keep the chickens from turning it over when they perched on the edge I cut a hole in a piece of plywood and used 2x4's to raise it a little. They will poop in it so you have to dump it daily. It's low-tech but it worked for me.

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If I were to try to heat water I'd do what Thistle does, a heated dog bowl. I ran electric cords to my brooder in the coop. Other than the normal things you concern yourself with electrical cords the only thing I worried about was them perching on a suspended cord and unplugging it so I secured the ends or strapped it to the walls.

that's a nice low tech way to take care of that!

for when i run cords that i think might be subject to being pulled apart i tie a very loose knot around the plugs with the cord (not tight enough to put any stress on the plugs).

 

[ducks4you]

Heated dog water bowls run about $12-15, and are well worth it. They kept my birds in water last winter, even down to -20, althought I had to hammer a hole in the one inch of ice for my girls when it was that cold. I like it so much that I bought a 2nd one and left the heated bowl out for water all summer. I have it on to of a cinder block, but they still walk through it. Should work, but it if dies that bowl will go inside the barn for the cats. Nice thing about chickens...they don't chew on the metal covered cord!

 

[ChickenMomma91]

For an update on the coop. We got a heated pipe wire, wrapped in yellow insulation and gorilla tape. The girls are loving the new coop and I’m getting plenty of eggs in the nest box. They love being able to forage instead of the dirt that they had.

 

[canesisters]

I use a birdbath heater in a rubber pan for winter. The kind I get looks like a flattened hockey puck. Works GREAT.

 

[henless]

I like your chicken coop!