help me with my chickens

can anybody tell me how to keep water to the chickens in this cold weather, without electricty...keep water from freezing...we got 6 red peeps last easter, and they are tough little birds i get 5 nice eggs every day...mistake...6 eggs daily... got the idea to take pitcher of hot water out and pour it in their water container,it melts the ice and they gobble it up..sure do pity the3m in this cold weather...if i had my way i would bring them in the basement till this single digit stuff ends hell they could hang around the hitzer,BUT the wifey aint going for that idea...thats why i need help/ideas

Without electricity...no.
But I will say that I used to run an extension cord out to the hen house during the winter. It not only permitted me to keep the water from freezing but the additional "daylight" increased their egg production.
If you don't have laying hens then I guess it wouldn't make any difference.

Bring em in or run a cord like CL suggested---- Orrrrrr cook em up & put them in the freezer mine were always free range & had the creek--how much do you & momma like eggs-- they're still laying???????

yes fred those tough little birds are giving 100% every day thats 42 eggs a week... i take a dozen or two down to the neighbors every week,as they have it hard (times)..out here neighbors help each other and nobody bitches much...thats the nice part of living out of eyesight of people they are 4/10 mile away...this old city boy loves it..

buffalo bob wrote:take pitcher of hot water out and pour it in their water container

That's what we do.
We put a 100 watt light in the coop also. I have a thermometer in there and it is about 15 degrees warmer than outside when the coop is closed up with the light on.

If you put a temporary light in there, be sure it's secured so if one of the birds freaks out for some reason it won't get knocked down starting a fire.

coalnewbie wrote:Used to get eggs from down the road. The chickens were protected in the winter inside an old RV but they were still broody even with a cock that kept me awake in the early morning - then the foxes got most of them. Eventually they all died and the cost per dozen eggs was probably about $1000. Go to Shoprite and take a cruise with the money you saved.

thanks for the advice but the last cruise i took was a 22 day cruise on the usns gaffy, ipromised my self 46 years ago no mo boats....havent had trouble with foxes yet but did have to dispatch a bob cat last summer, also had a hawk try to get in the pen, it flew away before i could dispatch it...guess i been lucky so far..

Bob,

Most of the stoves dont take any electricity. Can ya teach a chicken to tend a fire?

waldo

CoaLen wrote:... I used to run an extension cord out to the hen house during the winter. It not only permitted me to keep the water from freezing but the additional "daylight" increased their egg production.
If you don't have laying hens then I guess it wouldn't make any difference.

That's what I do. In the winter I run an extension cord out to the coop and I use a one gallon heated dog bowl for water. I also give my laying hens a light on a timer so they get 14 hours of light daily.

there ya go....coal stove in the hen house!

somebody on here had a small stove in their sheep barn...

I think it was a Chubby....

but I didn't want to say they had a chubby in with their sheep

...this is a family forum ya know!

I have a heated water bowl and run an extension cord out to the coop from the shed. It was either that, or refill the bowl once before work and once after work. If you want to get fancy, put some Harbor Freight solar panels on the roof of the coop, wire them up, batteries, inverter and what ever else, the thought was in my mind but never made the purchases. Heated bowl, lights, wireless video streamed to the router, ideas are endless.

Been there, done that. Had a stock tank heater in the water container. Heat lamp hanging off the rafters. They required electricity though. Worked great until a weasel got them all in one night. The next batch I decided to keep in the barn. Had a couple of pigs too. That's when I learned that pigs and chickens don't mix. Those 2 pigs killed 25 of them and ate most of them in one sitting.

I buy my eggs at Tops now. A lot cheaper.

Joe

t
hanks all for the suggestions some were really funny...but to these poor chickens its no laughing matter lol
as far as teaching the chickens to tend the stove hell yea i taught the mother hen how to do it but i have to check on her now and then..lol..

I insulated my coop.

It is not closed up all winter, just on the nights like tonight that dip below 0 degrees, because ventilation is important. I also bought one of those indoor outdoor thermometers and put the sensor inside the chicken coop, so from the comfort of my home, I can tell you right now it is 8 degrees outside and 36 degrees inside the coop. That is nice because I do not have to run out and check the birds.

Because of all that, I don't have a problem with water freezing, but the insulation is an investment. But the Return on investment is quick; when it gets cold the birds eat a lot more grain, and at $15.00 a bag, it is about the same as a roll of insulation, and it only took a few rolls to completely insulate the coop, so by Spring I will have recooped my insulation investment...pun intended...just from the savings on grain.

My egg count dropped off when it got cold too, which is not a problem you have I know, but now that it is 40 degrees in there, and with a light on a timer for 14 hours, the ducks/chickens do not know it is not Spring so they have been pumping out the eggs. Those extra eggs also makes up for the cost of the insulation.

It takes a sharp pencil to farm today, but I always try and justify what I do with solid numbers. The cost of insulation divided over the age of the hen house is actually very low in comparison to extra labor, increased grain consumption and lower productivity.