# winter watering



## circle*s*acres (Dec 19, 2009)

LOL. Well my high tech hillbilly heater is an old ice chest bottom. If you take out warm or even hot water you would be surprised at how long it take it to refreeze. Also once it snows you just pack snow around it for extra insulation. We check them twice a day. Works well for us here in PA. A few times it gets cold enough to freeze solid at night, then it is put on a sled in hauled to the basement to sit by the wood stove to thaw. Another one is then put in its place. I think it would work even better if in was in a building, under a roof of some sort, or at least had a wind block of some kind. 

Just a making do with what we have,

Liza

PS: I took the time to write this up to answer a question on the yahoo pack group. However, it would not let me post.( It says I'm signed in, however, I can neither post or move about the site.) lol So I decided to at least share it here as I did take the time to write it. Hope someone finds it helpful.


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## jross (Dec 20, 2008)

That sounds like a good solution to a major problem. 

I have a couple of sturdy 3 gal plastic buckets that I bought at the feed store. They hang on the livestock panel fence with S hooks. This keeps them up off the ground so the chickens don't drown in them. In the evening I just dump them out near the trees. They would just freeze solid overnight anyway. Nearby is a freeze proof yard hydrant with a short hose attached. In the morning I fill the buckets up, adding some hot water from the old coffee pot on the wood stove in the house. The boys get a day's worth of fresh water every morning, and I don't have to deal with ice. It helps that the days warm up to the 50's or so, and their water doesn't freeze during the day. I only do this in really cold weather (Dec-Feb). If I lived in a colder climate this probably wouldn't work.


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