keeping water unfrozen

[jessmorris]

Its minus 12 here - I put warm water out for them am, otherwise they eat the snow for moisture. Brrr!

[Flummery]

Mine always have cider vinegar in but it doesn't stop it freezing up. They do, however, LOVE eating snow. They have a covered run but any that drifts in they love. They also eat it from my boots when I go in to feed them.

[Glutton4...]

Warm water freezes more quickly than cold.

I just go bash the icy surface. Makes me feel better!

[petal]

I use those rubber horse food trugs- the shallow ones - they don't crack. i take a watering can of hot water and a stick - bash the ice on the top- add the hot water- which quickly cools but keeps the water defrosted for a while.

[Hilary B]

Warm water has to go cold before it can freeze, but it takes as much cold to freeze water from just-not-frozen as to cool it from 80 degrees C, so the difference isn't great.
PURE water freezes easier than water which has something else in it, but that isn't likely to help much when it is for chooks to drink, as any 'addition' is perhaps not good for the chooks.
Putting balls etc in the water won't do much to prevent freezing (if something keeps the ball moving, that might help) but what it does do is reduce the risk that freezing damages the trough....

[Snadger]

Chipping away at frozen water containers can become a pain in the butt (if you'll pardon the expression)

[Glutton4...]

Chipping away at frozen water containers can become a pain in the butt (if you'll pardon the expression)

Nice one!

[walldanzig]

are there any battery powered water heaters or battery powered coop heaters its -14 where we are not good

[Mell]

Solar fountains unlikely to work unless with a huge panal tried them ! I use balls for my livestock troughs it helps a lot, big amounts of water are better than small. Geothermal heat is going to be the way to go IMHO, if winters keep going like this, long tube deep into the ground & the ground heat keeps the water warm the warmwater rises etc. They are used a lot in Canada , next yeara mini digger at the field.... there are pond heaters, gas, solar, battery for koi, but not found sensible priced ones yet, for now you could trey solar heating fountain on the heat rises principle, have to go & check all the livestock now but will try & post linkjs later

[Mell]

An idea for chickens that might work, parrafin greenhouse heater with a metal bowl above rather like a fondue arrangement, probably in a small roofed open thing to protect from snow, might work ? My waterfowl would splash too much but chicken are less splashy !

[Bigmallly]

Warm water freezes more quickly than cold

Can't see how that works my self but will take your word for it.......

[weekendwellies]

I don't keep chickens myself but this looks like it would do the job
Electric Heater for animal drinkers

(When you use the tea-lights or paraffin heater, do the chickens not knock it over ~ fire risk?? Like I say I don't have chickens but I would worry about using those if I did.)

[Mell]

Can't see how that works my self but will take your word for it.......

It was all the rage a while ago, but it needs specific circumstances...


A reviewer for Physics World writes, "Even if the Mpemba effect is real — if hot water can sometimes freeze more quickly than cold — it is not clear whether the explanation would be trivial or illuminating." He pointed out that investigations of the phenomenon need to control a large number of initial parameters (including type and initial temperature of the water, dissolved gas and other impurities, and size, shape and material of the container, and temperature of the refrigerator) and need to settle on a particular method of establishing the time of freezing, all of which might affect the presence or absence of the Mpemba effect. The required vast multidimensional array of experiments might explain why the effect is not yet understood

Basically it has to do (in our most commonly found situation in the field/garden etc) with the ice on top insulating the water under it (which is denser than the ice-an unusual thing), which is a completly usless situation when you need to water your livestock as you need to break the ice, regardless.

The relevent question is, for livestock, will exposed cold water or exposed hot water freeze fastest. Or you could ask given most animals do not like to drink chilled water, is it better to warm the water & let them take their fill of leave lots of cold water to not freeze which they won't drink & then they will consequently dehydrate ?

If the water is flowing from the ground source I don't tend to warm it with hot, but if I have static water I do as most livestock will take their fill, or dip their heads, at a comfort point as the water reaches it.

[Mell]

I don't keep chickens myself but this looks like it would do the job
Electric Heater for animal drinkers

(When you use the tea-lights or paraffin heater, do the chickens not knock it over ~ fire risk?? Like I say I don't have chickens but I would worry about using those if I did.)

I would too in a house with bedding, I'd only use it away from combustables

My worry with electrics is the risk of shock, most animals are more prone to it than us. There are heated buckets too. animal chews it, the livestock or mr ratty.... Stepped down to DC would be more reassuring

I liked the propogator idea where there is an electric supply nearby

[Hilary B]

The one reason I can see for hot water to freeze faster is that hot water normally contains less dissolved gas, and the dissolved gas might slow down the freezing, perhaps by making freezing point marginally lower?
Whether water with a layer of ice on top remains unfrozen longer than hot water is not a fair comparison anyway. Once there IS ice on top you aren't comparing like with like.