Bought a $60 heated chicken waterer and my girls still broke the ice themselves

I got that fancy heated waterer off Amazon thinking it'd save me from chipping ice every morning this winter. Woke up last week to find my hens had pecked a hole in the side and were drinking from the frozen puddle underneath it instead. Now I'm back to using a rubber pan and a brick, cost me like $10 total and works way better. Has anyone else had their chickens reject a perfectly good gadget for the cheap option?

2 comments

2 Comments

hall.nora18d agoMost Upvoted

My neighbor had the same issue with those plug-in waterers, her ducks somehow drained the whole thing overnight and just drank from the dog bowl she forgot to bring in. Read somewhere that chickens sometimes prefer the colder water because it feels more natural to them, especially if the heated one makes the water taste a bit off from the plastic warming up. Might be worth trying just a simple black rubber pan, the sun helps keep it from freezing too badly on milder days.

michael_bennett1118d ago

Got a similar setup now after my heater unit shorted out and started humming like a dying fridge. My girls stood around it looking offended until I unplugged the thing, then they went right back to the old rubber pan with a brick in it. Must be something about that fancy plastic taste, my water out of the tap tastes fine but the heated one came out smelling like a hair dryer. Spent $60 to learn my chickens prefer the DIY route, at least the brick doubles as a paperweight in the summer.