Stop chicken water freezing?

[Broomsticklady]

What the titel says really. Is there anyjting I can add to their water to stop it freezing? I read somewhere - just once - that liquid glycerin can help, but haven't been able to find my original source and don't want to do them any harm obviously.

As an aside, I've just spent £120 squid on a Jungle Gym for them - perches, ramps ladders - looks lovely (!) and I want them to be around to enjoy it!!

http://www.flytesofancy.co.uk/chickenhouses/Chicke...

[madbadger]

Vodka?

[Munter]

How deep is the water bowl? Would some form of pond heater do the trick?

[sleep envy]

you need to keep the water running somehow, running water will not freeze

[Japveesix]

£125 on a jungle gym for chickens, blimey.....looks nice and all but you could make a whole load of perches, ladders and whatever else you fancied for a few quid from spare wood (that's what we did).

Anyway, it is hard to stop water freezing. We have one water container which basically drip feeds constantly for them. The container itself is inside the coop and insulated (bodged) as best as possible. It still freezes when it gets very cold.

Pour hot/warm water in in the morning, provide water inside where it'll stay unfrozen for longer, use bigger containers and put ping pong balls etc in the water to stop the surface freezing as easily.

[mr2mk1chick]

I'd heard of pingpong balls too to stop the surface ice.
thinking outside the box i wonderd if those hand warmer gel pads would be any good to put into the water last thing at night. they may just about retain enough heat to keep the water above freezing, and then can be microwaved and reused again the next night etc.