The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: harry on December 21, 2009, 04:39:01 pm
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ime now going to try a parifin heater single wick type for greenhouses (ebay item 110362097334) going to surrond it with bricks inside the shed and place a galvanised drinker on top. i got it for £1 at car boot sale i was going to use it for a chick brooder in the chick shed. it claims 14 days one fill up.
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I used to have that very model from B&Q, probably mid-90s, rusted away now but was great while I had it. 14 days is possible if you keep the wick really short, but that may not generate quite enough heat for your needs.
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i will turn it up a bit for 10 days, that will be better than trying to use drinkers full of solid ice
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I think I'm going mad as I'm sure I read somewhere recently about a 'tonic' that you can add to chickens water that helps it stops freezing and is also good for them - can't for the life of me remember where I read it though! Wish I could as I'm having to deal with frozen water every mornning.
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I have read elsewhere that a small amount of glycerine (available at chemists or the home baking section at the supermarket) added to the water stops it from freezing.
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Hmmm, might be worth a try.
If we're going down that route though, a 10% concentration of ethanol in water is good down to -4degC. By my calculations then, this would be equivalent to a mixture of roughly four parts water to six parts of Harvey's Bristol Cream ;).
Guaranteed to give your hens a Merry Christmas!! ;D.
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I added wine vinegar and it seems to work. Also giving them citricidal so maybe it's that that stops it freezing. Fr&^ging cold here in Clacks today and my bl88dy car wouldn't start1 Off to check the charge now
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You could try placing the drinker full of luke warm water ontop of a terracotta plant pot, which covers 3 - 4 tealights. it saves having to fight through the late shoppers and weather to get to the chemist
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You could try placing the drinker full of luke warm water ontop of a terracotta plant pot, which covers 3 - 4 tealights. it saves having to fight through the late shoppers and weather to get to the chemist
Brilliant idea, CAmeron. I can do that - got loads of tea lights and just need to turf a half dead plant out of it's pot.
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I added wine vinegar and it seems to work.
This one seemed too good to be true, so I ran a controlled experiment - two tin cans, one just tap water, and the other about 10% cider vinegar.
The experiment was slightly ruined by a light covering of snow ;D, but the vinegar can did seem to take a bit longer to freeze than the other one. However, it did eventually freeze solid, and is still like that, despite having spent all day sitting on the porch windowsill!
When it eventually thaws, I'll try again and see if I can get some more conclusive results.
By the way, I have insulated our chicken coop a wee bit by pinning a layer of dense foam packing material around the inside of the walls and ceiling. Stuck my hand in there just now, and it definitely seems to be warmer inside than it was last night. Could be worth a thought if this cold snap continues. If you don't have any suitable foam to hand (be careful it's stuff that they can't peck bits off and eat), then I reckon a layer of corrugated cardboard would be almost as good. Poor wee things - they don't know what to make of all this white stuff!!
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Roxy said
I put glycerine in the feeders, or white wine vinegar is good too.
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10% :o .. it may not freeze.. but you will have a job getting the chooks to drink it.. i normally use it at a ratio of 2 tablespoons to 3 litres :)..
gary
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Our 6 egglaying birds, [we have meat birds in the summer but they are all long gone to the big freezer by now], eat/drink snow in the winter. We put a fresh bowl in each day and they prefer it to water once they are used to it. Put in a bowl of each side by side and they take the snow every time.
We feed them cut up lumps of animal fat each day left over from various butcherings. They love this and it helps to keep them warm.
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10% :o .. it may not freeze..
Exactly, but since even that froze very quickly......
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I'll try the glycerine tomorrow, tired of running out with hot water 5 times a day!
I feel so sorry for my poor ducks, just sitting there and shivering...at least they are eating! I wondered if fat was good, thanks!, as we do feed the wild birds fat as well. :&>
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its all in the mind, i thought it was cold everything frozen but where were my indian runners and geese, in the stream swimming quiet happy, they dont feel the cold like us since most of us lost our hairy coating, , my hens are still perching outside every night, thats what they choose, adult birds dont seem to need heat. i have a brooder lamp on in my youngsters shed but i leave the door open and they are outside most of the time
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I,ve had freezing problems. my solution is to cut the bottoms of plastic milk cartons and use theses as temporary drinkers cost nothing and if one breaks when dunted to get frozen water out easy to raplace. My chooks eat snow even when water is available.
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i posted this on 21/12/09.... i filled the heater up with 2 ltrs of parrifin, checked it today and it has about another 2 days left in it, thats about 18 days, its outside surrounded by bricks to support the galvanised drinker, perfect no frozen water, if i see another one at a car boot i will get it.
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On another forum, I read on a thread about those cool bag freezer blocks being used to stop the water from freezing. You know the sort of iceblock you freeze up, then place in the bottom of your picnic hamper to keep things chilled on a hot summers day picnic (What planet am I on? -13 last night).
Anyway, they defrosted the block, heated up in simmering water, then used this block, wrapped in a towel under the chicken water. They said it worked for them, not tried myself.
DJ Chook
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lamp worked good last night, its outside, very cold and freezing.. watched my geese eating snow, but i thought when water freezes most of the time theres no snow to eat.
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cider vinegar in the water stopped it freezing complety then went out with a kettle to defrost frozen water.bloomin plastic drinkers cracked in my hands though. have to get metal ones,but can you put cider vinegar in them? im sure i read somewhere not to.,
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Not quite in keeping but I went in a big store in Grimsby yesterday and quite honestly had a shock really a rip off. Not two words I usually use.Paraffin in 1ltr plastic bottles £2:00p each.and here I am moaning about petrol at 110p a ltr;talk about making hay while the sun shines.I can remember when Lunn's used to call and fill Mothers 5 gallon drum with 5 gallons of Alladin Pink for 7 shillings (35p thats 19 ltr near enough) One shouldn't backward remember but £38 for a 5gallon drum?Its only just over £20 for petrol.LPG is £29 in 13 kg and £57 in 47 kg(refill) here in town.£2:00 a litre Oh me Oh my Wally used to say :farmer:
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I don't let my chickens out as early (10 am some days!). I have two drinkers. Each one is big enough to last my brood for a full day. I put luke warm water in and this lasts until bedtime. I rotate my drinkers so there is always one inside defrosting ready for the next day. This seems to work well for my girls (and george!)
When the snow has come down hard the girls use their common and go inside. We have had it bad here now since defore Christmas!! I didn't think my ex-batts would cope well with the prolonged freezing temperatures but they've been fine. Still getting 1 egg a day (from 3 ex-batts!)
Hope this helps.
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we do exactly the same as you janette...i have tried adding cider vinegar but the water still froze, so we gave up trying to prevent the freezing and just got a second water container ( i use the omlet glugs and can't think of a way to warm those without risking the plastic melting but if anyone has any suggestions i'd love to hear them!)
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i posted this on 21 12 09.... the 4ltr parrifin bottle ran out today,28/01/10 didnt freeze at all, its outside, it was frozen this morning, i happy with that.