• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • Garden Life
    • Flowers
    • Herbs
    • Veggies
    • Birds & Bees
    • Riley & Roxie
    • Sips & Snacks
  • Garden Style
    • DIY | Projects
    • Fun Finds | Decor
  • Chickens
  • Greenhouse
  • This & That
    • Idaho
    • Travel
    • Just Sayin’
    • Seasons
  • About
    • Holly
    • Mr. Denim

Dirt & Denim - Garden Lifestyle

Garden lifestyle

  • Garden Life
    • Flowers
    • Herbs
    • Veggies
    • Birds & Bees
    • Riley & Roxie
    • Sips & Snacks
  • Garden Style
    • DIY | Projects
    • Fun Finds | Decor
  • Chickens
  • Greenhouse
  • This & That
    • Idaho
    • Travel
    • Just Sayin’
    • Seasons
  • About
    • Holly
    • Mr. Denim
    • Email
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • YouTube

THE BEST HEATED CHICKEN WATERER

January 30, 2019 By Holly 8 Comments

This post was written by Mr. Denim…

he just had to give you his 2 cents worth about one of his biggest frustrations!

These girls…

{don’t forget to see the happy hen video at the end of the post!}

buff orpington

For eight years I have dreaded dealing with chicken water in the winter.

The first couple of years we had the standard heated chicken waterer.

chicken water container

It NEVER worked well. Temps slightly below freezing or a cold wind and you’d get ice even with a built-in heater. If you keep this type of waterer inside the coop you have a potential huge mess to deal with.

I also tired of cleaning out slimy, dirty water every day because as you know the girls are messy.

 I got smart and transitioned to a water bucket with nipples. It only took the girls about 5 minutes to learn to use the them. Sometimes they’ll amaze you with their IQ, but not very often 😉

chicken water with nipples

That was the best thing I ever did!  Now they had clean water without dirt, straw and poop.  For winter I purchased a heater and set it in the bucket.  The heater had a  built in thermostat so I thought the problem was solved.

heater element for chicken water

It worked well until temps dropped below 20 degrees or we had windy conditions

. (Note: I keep chicken water out of coop to prevent spills and keep inside humidity down in winter. You never  want humid conditions with temps dropping well below freezing. It’s bad for chicken health)

The main problem is that the heater kept the water warm in the bucket but it didn’t take much for the nipples to freeze. Frozen water nipples = thirsty chickens.

SOLUTION –  this poultry drinker (below)

chicken drinker

Notice the side mounted nipples.

poultry drinker

The nipples are imbedded in the bucket near the heater to prevent freezing.

There is a small lip under the nipple to catch water drips. If I want to, I can now keep this in the coop and the area under the bucket remains dry. You can hang this or set it on the ground.

The built-in heater automatically turns on when temp falls below 35. The manufacturer says that this unit is recommended for operational use to -10F! The key is to protect it from wind. Several reviews on Amazon say that they have had no problems with temps well below -10F.

This is the only chicken waterer I would place inside a coop in the winter, but I still keep mine in the enclosed chicken run.

chicken waterer

This 2 gallon waterer will handle 15 chickens, even with only 3 nipples. I’ll admit I was skeptical at first but we’ve have had no problems with our 12 girls.

 I only refill it every 4-5 days. Just remove the lid and pour water in with a pitcher.  I only need to clean the inside out about once every 4-6 weeks.

If you have any questions I’ll be happy to answer them. After 8 years of chicken water issues, it’s one less thing to think about!

Now back to one of my gazillion honey-dos 😉

 

WOWSA…that was pretty good, Mr. Denim.  

I think I’ll have you back for more guest posts!


You Might Also Like

  • MORE FEATHERS THAN EGGSMORE FEATHERS THAN EGGS
  • WHAT HAPPENED TO WINTER?WHAT HAPPENED TO WINTER?
  • THIS & THATTHIS & THAT
  • LAUGHING AT YOURSELFLAUGHING AT YOURSELF

Filed Under: Chickens, Garden Life Tagged With: chicken water, chickens, coop, poultry drinker, winter

Reader Interactions

Thoughts? I am listening

  1. Carol Berg says

    April 25, 2019 at 11:48 pm

    Hey there, Mr. Denim,

    Well now, I would say that was more like 10 cents worth. It would have been worth only 2 cents if you had not solved the problem!!

    Reply
    • Holly says

      April 26, 2019 at 10:00 am

      Hey, Carol! That waterer worked perfectly through some pretty ugly cold nights below zero and killer wind chills. Almost the best thing since sliced bread 🙂

      Reply
      • Carol Berg says

        April 26, 2019 at 11:59 pm

        I guess that means Mr. Denim is a keeper?

        Reply
        • Holly says

          April 27, 2019 at 11:00 am

          Ahhh, Carol…a keeper he is ;)! Have a super weekend!

          Reply
  2. AIMEE says

    October 27, 2020 at 8:22 am

    I am needing a similar water solution for our chickens. I am wondering if IN the 1.5 yEARS AFTER THIS POST YOU ARE STILL HAPPY WITH THIS HEATED DRINKER?

    Reply
    • Mike says

      October 27, 2020 at 8:50 am

      Yes very happy! I cannot find a better solution.

      Reply
  3. PHIL says

    December 21, 2020 at 10:55 am

    Thank you for sharing this Mr. Denim! Will be ordering the water nipples. What kind of heater do you use?

    Reply
    • Mike says

      December 23, 2020 at 11:11 am

      Hi Phil
      I use the 2 gallon poultry drinker shown above. There is a built in heater.

      Reply

Leave a reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Welcome to my blog!

Never Miss a Thing

Get new Dirt & Denim posts in your inbox!

Thanks for signing up!

There was an error submitting your subscription. Please try again.

Affiliates

Some posts contain affiliate links to products I like and recommend. If you make a purchase after clicking on my link, I will receive a small commission (at no additional charge to you). Thanks for supporting this blog!

Currently Pinning

  • Climbing vines and neutral outdoor surfaces make this charming house seem like it's been there for ages. THe brick-red trim color (similar to Sherwin Williams's Rockwood Red) pairs well with nature.
  • Gabriel Ash Rosemoor Greenhouse
  • Cedar-Built Greenhouses- cedar greenhouse benches
  • Cedar-Built Greenhouses- cedar greenhouse benches
  • 52 Trendy garden shed house tiny homes #house #garden
  • Americanflat Motivated Type ''Be Happy'' Framed Wall Art

Sandpoint Online

Sandpoint Online

Archives

Categories

Footer

  • Email
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • YouTube

In the Garden

  • Garden Life
  • Garden Style
  • Greenhouse

Our Life

  • Chickens
  • This & That
Gardenista | Painter | Merlot Lover | Find me Outside!
What 32 hours of slow snow looks like 😍! #sandp What 32 hours of slow snow looks like 😍! #sandpoint #sandpointsnow #northidahowinter #newyearseve2029 #happydogs #snowdogs #sandpointwinter
Heat wave today 🥵...42 degrees! This is Decembe Heat wave today 🥵...42 degrees! This is December ?!? #sandpoint #whereisthesnow #happydogs #northidaho
Oh the beauty of a winter sunset 😊...I love you Oh the beauty of a winter sunset 😊...I love you 😍 Idaho! #sandpoint #northidaho #idahowinter #wintersunset #nofilter
A bit of self indulgence....my birthday today 🥳 A bit of self indulgence....my birthday today 🥳. Cheers to another year with an awesome husband. He makes life FUN! #forever39 #happybirthday #41south
27 degrees ....says the car....as we cross Long Br 27 degrees ....says the car....as we cross Long Bridge tonite. Stunningly beautiful day here in Sandpoint even tho 🥶. I’ll take it 🤗. #sandpoint #lakependoreille #idahowinter
Sleep tight garden 😴...see ya in the Spring 🌻🌱🌺! Six hours of gentle snow ❄️ and so far it looks like this. #idahosnow #hellowwinter #hellosnow #sandpoint #wintergarden
I wish I would have planted more mini pumpkins...l I wish I would have planted more mini pumpkins...live and learn...next year for sure! #pumpkins #minipumpkins #idahogarden #northidahogarden
TGIF! Fall is beautiful! #northidaho #fall2020 #s TGIF! Fall is beautiful! #northidaho #fall2020 #sandpoint #virginiacreeper #tgif
Miss Virginia Creeper has decided it feels like Fa Miss Virginia Creeper has decided it feels like Fall, y’all! I love her red leaves! Too bad the sky is still filled with smoke 🙃 #fall2020 #virginiacreeper #northidahogarden #sandpoint #winterscoming #idahogardener #fallinidaho #idahofall
Mother Nature not happy at all today. Fires in oth Mother Nature not happy at all today. Fires in other states...thankfully not close here in Idaho (yet?) ...but smoke arrived with a vengeance this morning. Tough to handle and unhappy to see and breathe. Life. It is what it is. But have NEVER seen it this bad 😢. #northidaho #sandpoint #smokeyskies #life #idaholife

Copyright © 2022 · Dirt and Denim · Blog Design by Little Blue Deer
Privacy Policy