Winter brings many challenges for the backyard chicken-keeper, and frozen water is chief among them. You can make your own waterer heater for use with either metal or plastic waterers. It will cost less than $10, cost pennies to run and you can complete the project in under ten minutes! 
We had record-breaking, sub-zero temperatures for long periods of time in 2010 here in Connectictut and my waterers never iced over the way they used to without these heaters. It doesn’t seem as though a humble, 40 watt lightbulb should be able to produce enough warmth to keep the water in a plastic waterer from icing over, but remarkably, it does!
Supplies:
-
10″, metal cookie tin (available at most dollar & thrift stores & likely in your garage or basement)
-
lamp assembly kit (available oniline, at hardware & home improvement stores OR buy a thrift store/tag sale lamp and take it apart)0
- 40 watt, incandescent light bulb (in deep-freeze conditions, use a 60 watt bulb)(in light of the government phase-out, some users recommend 40 watt candelabra bulbs or CFL bulbs, but I have not, so I cannot vouch for their effectiveness)
- Drill with 3/8″ drill bit
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Drill a hole in the side of the cookie tin.
2. String the pre-threaded lamp stem assembly through the hole & tighten the screw on the stem.
3. Screw in the light bulb. Voila!
TO USE:
Put the top on the cookie tin and place the tin on a cinder block or another level surface in the chicken run. Plug into a GFI outlet. Place metal or plastic waterer on top of the water heater when freezing temperatures are anticipated. Disconnect when not in use or use a ThermoCube to turn the unit on when temperatures reache 35°F.
When I made my first cookie tin water heater, I found it difficult to believe that this device, which barely felt warm to the touch, could possibly do the intended job. I was only convinced the first frigid morning I went out into the run and found no ice ring to chip out of the waterer. You may have to try it to believe it too.
Kathy Shea Mormino
Affectionately known internationally as The Chicken Chick®, Kathy Shea Mormino shares a fun-loving, informative style to raising backyard chickens. …Read on
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Winter brings many challenges for the backyard chicken-keeper, and frozen water is chief among them. You can make your own waterer heater for use with either metal or plastic waterers. It will cost less than $10, cost pennies to run and you can complete the project in under ten minutes!
We had record-breaking, sub-zero temperatures for long periods of time in 2010 here in Connectictut and my waterers never iced over the way they used to without these heaters. It doesn’t seem as though a humble, 40 watt lightbulb should be able to produce enough warmth to keep the water in a plastic waterer from icing over, but remarkably, it does!
Supplies:
-
10″, metal cookie tin (available at most dollar & thrift stores & likely in your garage or basement)
-
lamp assembly kit (available oniline, at hardware & home improvement stores OR buy a thrift store/tag sale lamp and take it apart)0
- 40 watt, incandescent light bulb (in deep-freeze conditions, use a 60 watt bulb)(in light of the government phase-out, some users recommend 40 watt candelabra bulbs or CFL bulbs, but I have not, so I cannot vouch for their effectiveness)
- Drill with 3/8″ drill bit
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Drill a hole in the side of the cookie tin.
2. String the pre-threaded lamp stem assembly through the hole & tighten the screw on the stem.
3. Screw in the light bulb. Voila!
TO USE:
Put the top on the cookie tin and place the tin on a cinder block or another level surface in the chicken run. Plug into a GFI outlet. Place metal or plastic waterer on top of the water heater when freezing temperatures are anticipated. Disconnect when not in use or use a ThermoCube to turn the unit on when temperatures reache 35°F.
When I made my first cookie tin water heater, I found it difficult to believe that this device, which barely felt warm to the touch, could possibly do the intended job. I was only convinced the first frigid morning I went out into the run and found no ice ring to chip out of the waterer. You may have to try it to believe it too.
It does. I live in Minnesota. Just make sure you have a wide enough tin that covers the whole base of your waterer. The first one I made was too small and the outside rim where the chickens drink would freeze up. Now I've made a bigger one and it's -20 below and working.
I made one and it worked great until the temps dropped this week to -20. Now the outside rim where the chickens drink freezes. I just got another bigger tin and will try that. The other one fit on the inside of the waterer and didn't go all the way to the edge of the rim. I thought that would be enough! Not for -20 below Minnesota weather! The chickens were pretty huffy with me too!
I love it, thank you so much! We made one about 2 weeks ago and it is working beautifully, my husband even attached wooden brackets to the cookie tin to keep the waterer from sliding off – it was a fun and quick project. Now my girls are happily drinking anytime, and it's been pretty cold up here in the White Mtn's of NH! I've told so many people about it, what a great idea!
I'm in Michigan and this is working great!
I made one yesterday for the first time, and it was in fact, very easy. A whole lot easier than driving to three different places looking for heated waterers in the ice! The only comment I would add is please make it clear that you should thread the cord through the anchor into the tin, i.e., only drill one hole in the tin. It took me a minute to figure out that you don't need to thread the cord through the side since it's not a bottle lamp. Other online comments I found mentioned that if you drill a separate… Read more »