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.
Has anyone tried making one and using a garden tractor battery for overnight power? My coop is about 500 feet away from the nearest power source and I wouldn't feel safe running that many extension cords. Of course I could recharge the battery daily.
You can get plastic automotive style cable wrap for a couple bucks, and slide it over the cord. I expect ti would make it harder for the birds to damage the cord if they decided to peck it.
try running the cord through PVC pipe/tubing available at Home Depot. My chickens must think that orange cord is a carrot because they went right for it.
I did this and it works for me here in GA. Nightly temps in the winter can be below 32 very often. It kept the water from freezing this past winter. I'm sure it'll be used again this coming winter!
I do not. Sorry. I only use The Chicken Fountain in the winter and I have detailed how to keep that system liquid in the winter, but it's not applicable to other systems.