# Does anybody else tend to overcomplicate the simplest things?



## 8hensalaying (Jun 5, 2015)

I just had an A-HA moment yesterday. My second thought is what a stupid idiot I had been. We have probably had about 7 days total this winter where it got below freezing in the night. As most of you know I have a small flock. I use a bucket with poultry nipples as a waterer. So on the cold mornings I truck out gallon jugs of hot water, pour out the freezing water, pour in hot water make sure the nipples are thawed and water flowing before I open up the henhouse to the run so they can get water. So last night as I was shutting up the coop it hit me. The girls have no access to water in the night ANYWAY. Why the heck am I even leaving the bucket out to freeze? "facepalm" UGH. So yeah I may be slower than a sloth through peanut butter mentally sometimes eventually I will "get" it lol


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## rosco47 (Jul 6, 2015)

i dont think you are suppose to share those things....


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## 8hensalaying (Jun 5, 2015)

rosco47 said:


> i dont think you are suppose to share those things....


Lol well if I can't share here where can I? Certainly don't want the general public knowing these things


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## chickenmommy (Apr 30, 2013)

I think it's a mommy thing lol. So much of our thinking goes into our kids sometimes we don't take the time to rationalize other things. Sometimes when I watch my sisters kids I get over whelmed with 4 kids running around my common sense goes out the window a little too often lol


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

Four kids is alot. Got to think of things to keep them busy. Things do get overwhelming. Everything is overwhelming to me so people think I'm odd and I prefer not to tell them why, lol.


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## 8hensalaying (Jun 5, 2015)

seminolewind said:


> Four kids is alot. Got to think of things to keep them busy. Things do get overwhelming. Everything is overwhelming to me so people think I'm odd and I prefer not to tell them why, lol.


one persons odd is another persons interesting...just sayin'


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## chickenmommy (Apr 30, 2013)

Yea there's a reason I got my tubes tied after two. Lol Too many little voices at once drives me crazy. I enjoy the quiet


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Of course I've done it and I don't realize there is a simpler way for a lot longer than you figured yours out.

My old coop allowed me to keep extra waterers in the coop. The extras were in a bin and in the AM I would swap out the frozen for the non. I'd line the frozen waterers up in the sun to thaw then in the bin they went to be swapped the next morning.


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## Feline (Nov 8, 2015)

I bought an electric warm wire thingy last winter to keep the drinker defrosted. The chickens get up before me, and have an automatic pop hole opener, so I had to sort something out really


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

20 years of hauling 5-10 gallons a day in the winter for 1-4 horses. and an ax to break the ice.


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## nannypattyrn (Aug 23, 2015)

We found a 300 plus gallon "tank" that soap from a car wash comes in with a heavy aluminum frame for our water supply. (For the coop and back end of the garden ). We found it for $50 and cleaned it out. It worked well until the drain cracked. We will find a little smaller one this year.


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## zamora (May 26, 2015)

seminolewind said:


> 20 years of hauling 5-10 gallons a day in the winter for 1-4 horses. and an ax to break the ice.


One of my most favoritest (yes it's a word in my book) Christmas gifts EVER was a de-icer. It totally made my winters bearable.


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## 8hensalaying (Jun 5, 2015)

Well back to hauling out pitchers of hot water. We are having a bit of a cold snap and it isn't getting above freezing today. So checking every couple of hours, not sure how long it will take to freeze. We are hovering around 30f.


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

De iced is good. I uncomplicated my life with keeping the hose empty after using it.


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## jn4 (Jun 21, 2012)

I have tried a new method for watering and it seems to work. 

I took a small kiddie pool that was the grand kids , you know the kind,..plastic and about 3 to 4 ft in diameter. Anyway to that I added a barrel Deicer that I picked up from TS, Its 1500 watts 110volt has a 5 ft cord. I placed this in the center of the pool and then just fill'er up. The heater sensor kicks in at 30 and back off at 40 degrees and is of course Thermostatically controlled so that it doesn't run constantly and suck up electricity.
It cost $29.99 and it's made for cattle barrels and such but works extremely well for this too. It's like a BIG aquarium or Koi Pond heater except its heavy duty and is factory preset so you don't have to fiddle with temp. adjustments.
It works great..

Thought maybe somebody would find this useful


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## WeeLittleChicken (Aug 31, 2012)

We bought a large electric dog bowl.... I'm telling you it works so much better than anything else we've tried! The ducks like to dump it almost immediately though so I still have buckets of water I refresh a few times a day. I only recently realized I should be dumping the buckets at night and bringing them into the house so whatever ice is on the edges dethaws... replace it in the morning and they got a whole bucket of water with no ice that takes longer to freeze!  Also does anyone know where I can invest in bucket stocks? I have enough to own a small bucket store by now....


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## Nm156 (May 16, 2015)

Last year i did the dog bowl.I put a gallon container in the middle to keep them from perching on the edges.Never froze even at -15.
This year with a total of 35 chickens i got the big bulky heated 3 gallon poultry fount.


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## jn4 (Jun 21, 2012)

Nm156 said:


> Last year i did the dog bowl.I put a gallon container in the middle to keep them from perching on the edges.Never froze even at -15.
> This year with a total of 35 chickens i got the big bulky heated 3 gallon poultry fount.


On a "DIY" forum I saw where a guy made one much like yours. He took a smallish plastic barrel and split it length wise added a spigot drain on the bung end and then placed a small fountain pump in the center. Placed it on a frame but cinder blocks could be used just as well to set it on.
It was pretty slick...kept the water aerated and reduced stagnation...it would be easy to add a heater for winter use as well.
It's kinda where I got the idea for y "Kiddie Pool Water'r "

ps; The spigot was for drain and clean-out


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## sswanee17 (May 17, 2015)

I have a 3 gallon plastic water and I set it on a DIY heater I made. Cookie can, 40 W lightbulb and the plug for the lightbulb. Cost me about six dollars.






I have one in my shed right now under my waterer and it works great. I thinkthey have the instructions on YouTube and the chicken chick also talks about them.


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## jn4 (Jun 21, 2012)

pure innovation! I like it


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## SamT (Oct 15, 2015)

Water is very important. My 37 birds have a three gallon metal waterer in the coop with a pipe warming tape around it. Outside they have a 10 - 15 gallon through under an eave on the south side of a white wall and a 3 gallon rubber tub under a spigot. When the trough is frozen, I deal with the rubber tub as needed.

The inside waterer lasts about a week and when it's not freezing all the time, I empty and refill the trough more or less once a week.


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

That sounds like a good idea. I think with a lightbulb you can probably put quite a few things together-with imagination.


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