Keep your poultry warm over the winter

 You are taking your flock into winter and you have a serious problem based on three inevitable facts.

When the temperature drops below freezing, the water turns to ice.
Chickens need water to stay alive and healthy.
Chickens do not eat ice.

As a child, as winter progressed, the water continued to get colder and eventually ice would form. It was then that we activated the tank heater; a large steel device that was submerged in a tank of water. Imagine an impervious wood stove with a chimney sticking out of the water at one end and a damper and door at the other, and you get the idea. We would use worn out fence posts and a couple of old boxwoods cut down the year before, or any other random pieces of wood wound into the pile, add some corn cobs which burned amazingly hot, then we would add a couple of old paper bags to light them, throw matches and eventually the heater would smoke, melt the ice and heat the water. It was a bit rough and labour intensive, but it worked well.

I was six or seven years old when my father installed chicken water heater. I really felt we had joined the jet set. It is connected directly to the well via an underground pipe and the water level is automatically regulated by a float valve, so it is always full and there is no need to drag a hose. Best of all, it had a thermostatically controlled electric heater, so the water never froze.

From my childhood memories, the automatic water dispenser was a huge milestone in progress and modernity, so much so that a few years ago, those trendy "lifestyle" websites. The accompanying picture shows our old water tank and tank heater. OK, it's not the same - it's all new and sleek and there are people hanging out in the cow tank. But it's the exact same setup.

The way this write-up product works, the way it prevents the animals' water from freezing during the day, and the way it did for generations of farmers before us, is to keep the water temperature above the freezing point.

Oh. But what's the best way to heat it? What if there is no easy way for you to heat it. I think there are a few things to discuss. So, let's do this.

If you have electricity in your coop
Practicality and safety dictate that we use electricity, as it is not safe to have an open fire around combustible chicken manure. If you have the means to electrify your coop, then keeping your chickens' water supply thawed is simple. Simply choose from a wide range of electric heating options.

Using a chicken waterer heated base is one of the most cost effective ways to do this. With a stainless steel design for the heating base, the poultry waterer transfers heat more efficiently and does not rust. 10ft power cords make full use of the sockets in the coop. Plug it in and you're ready to go. The heat coils in these units are activated by a thermostat that keeps the water above freezing so it doesn't get too hot. Operating at just 30W, heated poultry drinker base save electricity and can be used with plastic or metal water dispensers, making them very safe to use. As technology has developed, farmhouses have become more easily and fully equipped.

https://www.amazon.com/lifestyles-Poultry-Drinker-Heater-Chicken/dp/B08SWKH2BJ/ref=sr_1_8?crid=2LMQWGAJ1APBO&keywords=heated+poultry+drinker&qid=1662021063&sprefix=heated+poultry+drinker%2Caps%2C862&sr=8-8