Ice water is great in the summer, not so great in the winter. We’ve had another cold front bringing sub-freezing temps (again, this is not normal for Texas). During the last freeze the chicken waterer outside froze, but the inside waterer was OK. Not this time. After breaking out the ice twice in an hour I headed to the farm store for a solution.

I found a heated dog water dish for about $20! (There was a chicken set up, but the warmer and the metal waterer together was over $80.) I was again very thankful that my husband installed power in the coop, and put outlets on three walls, inside and out. The outside outlet is in a perfect place to plug in the water dish.

I’m still quite good at freaking out the chickens, like by carrying a ladder around a corner. But I am improving because I noticed the freak out, stopped, waited for them to stop bouncing off the poultry wire and put themselves away in the coop before I took the big scary ladder in the run. The heated water dish fit where the hanging waterer was, so I moved the hanging waterer over a bit (which is why I needed the ladder).

The bowl had a thermostat that only heats the water if it is cold enough to freeze. The next morning showed that it worked! And I witnessed a chicken drinking from the new bowl. Phew!