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Ashmeads Kernel

Frozen water drinkers

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How do folk cope with frozen water in drinkers? Mine are frozen up for the first time. I have a cube and are surprised there is no provision for attaching a drinker inside the coup, where it would be protected from frost.

 

I could make a bracket to hold the Eglu drinker, and glue it to the rear panel.

 

Thanks for any thoughts

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I think the general consensus is that water in the coop will just make a mess.

 

You can buy these heaters that you can add to the Glug. But you need to plug it in somewhere.

 

I decided that the christmas lighting I put up on the run (to give the ladies a bit more light, when I let them out in the morning) can also double as a water defroster. I can just loop a small part of the tube light through the Glug. It doesn't get very warm, but maybe enough to keep the water from freezing completely.

Have to still try this out. But it hasn't been that cold here yet.

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I give water in open containers in frosty weather, ice cream tubs, margarine tubs, foil takeaway trays etc are all saved, the very best are the tubs that the mini brownies/flapjacks etc come in at M&S (the two for £4 type of thing) in the bigger pens I use washing up bowls

 

Anything slightly narrower at the bottom means frozen water just slides out easily

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When I know it is going to Freeze overnight , I bring the glugs in and put fresh water out in the morning.

When winter really takes hold I use my spare glugs and put fresh water out through the day to avoid them freezing .

This year up to now despite frosty mornings the water hasn't frozen .

And I refuse to think of really frozen mornings until they arrive brrrrr.

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I've always had spare glugs which I have filled with fresh water each morning and swapped with the frozen ones. However recently I've had to be away overnight and have panicked about my chickens having no water. A friend kindly lent me a poultry lamp she had had for her cats when they were sleeping in an unheated outhouse. I tried it out and it works a treat - glugs outside were frozen solid whilst those inside were liquid.

 

I've included some photos here http://connectedpeasant.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/hen-brothel-in-my-garden.html. The lamp is for indoor use, so I've put it in the middle of the WIR well covered from the elements. The extension lead to which the lamp plugs in is housed in an eglu that is outside of the WIR to keep the connections good and dry (obviously the hens aren't using it). As an interim solution for freezing weather, it works well.

 

The lamp has the interesting side-effect of making the end of my garden look like a little chicken red-light district :lol:

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