First time viewer. Love you guys! One tip from someone who's been doing this crazy stuff for 26 years. Put your out buildings near each other. When you get to my age (58) you start wishing you hadn't put your shed 150 feet away hidden in the woods or your chicken coop 250 feet away from the house. My forever home will have the coop built right outside the barn, which will have plenty of electricity. The barn won't be far from the house. The barn will be down-wind of the prevailing winds from the house. We don't think of these things when we're young but 26 years later, trust me, you think of these things!
Hi there! Thank you for watching! That is fantastic advice! We have some future plans on the farm where your advice will come in handy. Thank you again!
Link was removed. We would recommend you use a larger solar aerator. You can find solar aerators with an online search. We also switched out the waterers with black rubber water bowls from our local feed store. We are working on another solution to build efficiency that is cost effective as well, here is a start to that idea along with how we are managing feed cost, finding shelter and working on the frozen waterer solution without electricity! ruclips.net/video/5Tr3DK571nE/видео.html 🐓Thank you for watching! -Ryan & Jamie
Nothing is more impressive than a man who loves and honors his wife the way you do. Congrats on your anniversary my brother! I've never used the watering cups or those nozzles they peck at, do you have any issues with those freezing up? My son had lots of problems in the summertime with algae plugging then. I use the other type of watering system that relies on gravity to fill the bottom, which eventually freezes up.
Thank you! We ended up switching out the waterers for exactly that reason. We did another video and shared an update on what we are using for the waterers. Here is the video if you want to check it out Managing Animal Feed Cost, Shelters, and Frozen Waterers ruclips.net/video/5Tr3DK571nE/видео.html thank you again! Take care
Great Video! Good Job. I did something similar last year and I will say it worked about 85% of the time. This year I got an inexpensive greenhouse I have attached to the chicken coop to give the ladies some extra protection from wind and snow when they are out in the mornings. I imagine this will also keep the waterer from freezing that other 15% of the time. (In Iowa)
Thank you so much! That is a fantastic idea with the greenhouse, we have some opportunities still with the waterer so we will give this a try too! Love hearing you are from Iowa!!
Thanks guys! We appreciate that! I’m interested to see how this works for you because we never tried it with the chicken nipplers. Yours are the larger bowl style, so my guess is that it would be ok. Our set up worked great using rubber bowls in15 degree weather for 8+ hours a day. It’s great for people that are at work or away from the farm and worry about their chickens not having access to water while they are away. Thanks again for the mention - wishing you all the best. Hope you had an awesome Anniversary❤️
We will keep you posted!! We really liked your video and it inspired us to look for a similar solution! Thank you again! We had an amazing anniversary!
Howdy from KC Kansas. Planning for winter.... Yep in July. Found your video and wanted to know if this worked for y'all. It seems like a great idea. Thanks
@@donapaulen8700 hello! We no longer have the link but talk more about what we are currently doing with the aerators in this video here and what we recommend ruclips.net/video/OLLkh6bXWkg/видео.htmlsi=1uygRczEX7jpLzwW
Great video! My husband and I are first generational farmers and this is an issue that we are approaching right now. Chipping away at ice has helped, but I would like a backup just in case. We also just started sharing our journey on RUclips, and I love finding channels just like yours. Love what you all are doing. I'll check out a larger size of the product you recommended. Thank you!
Hi there! So glad you found us! As first generational farmers we have found it is about jumping in and trying new things. Keep it going you guys! Living in Iowa the winters become challenging but not impossible. The aerators really help with buying time for us and we are diving in to more solar ideas. Reach out if you need anything!
Depending on the ground you have I'd suggest driving a few steel rods into the ground then placing your water container on top of them. The steel will conduct the heat from the ground up to the water. Helping to prevent freezing.
okay have an idea, you can get a tall metal pipe and affix the stuff to it so all you have to do is pull the pipe out of the ground and take it around the yard where ever you move it, maybe affix a piece of wood with a round clamp to hold it on the pole with a screw on each side and affix it all to the wood, then you bring your pole and water container and pools anywhere easily. those round clamp metal pieces that go around pipes to attach them to something in this case a piece of slab of woof and attach that to the pole.
I have seen this concept before and I will be interested to see if it works. I am working on the same problem, and my approach is going to be to try using an old coleman ice chest and add the water nipples to that and see if the insulation keeps it from freezing. I have also debated trying an aquarium heater in the tank but you would probably need to add a bigger solar panel and a battery to it. Thanks for sharing, happy anniversary.
Very informative. Thank you! We plan to raise animals after we finish building our house but never really did the animals thing so these types of videos are so appreciated!
super stoked over this idea! Thank you three times over. we too thought we would have to run hundreds of feet of extension from the shed to the coop. Can you please post a link or just tell us the brand of both your covered water buckets and your aerators.
Hi there! The aerators worked well for us! We did make a few modifications. The waterers with the couplers ended up freezing. We ended up replacing them with the black rubber farm feed buckets/bowls. Check your local farm fleet store they should have them. The black rubber seemed to help absorb the warmth during the day which helped the system. We are going to try a bigger aerator this year and a few other ideas we have for other solar options. We will do a lessons learned winter waterer video soon once we get things going. I would recommend an aerator that suits a larger pond so it is powerful enough to continue to circulate the water on very cold days. This was not full proof, we had days where the waterers froze. The rubber bucket made it easy to break the ice out of the waterer. These were a life saver! We also found the bigger the bowl the longer it took for the water to freeze and gave us a chance to break any ice forming before it became solid. Hope this helps!
@@MadAcreFarms Hey, thanks for your reply! Appreciate you taking the time to share you knowledge and experience for beginners like me. I will be buying the black rubber bowl and using a tire to help insulate and stabilize it. Also ordered a large solar aerator. Will come back with results once the snow starts to fly. Pretty much resigned to making a couple trips out to the coop to break ice and refill bowls, but this will help, I'm sure.
Just to add a boost to your system , have you heard of sun tanks for horses. A much smaller version with a chicken adapted float for beaks, the airators and passive solar heating I think would m as ke for a system you only have to add water to. Maybe a sort of wind shelter for the
Check out the video from Enjoying Northwoods youtube channel. He uses geothermal power from the ground to keep his chickens water from freezing. Basically digs a hole, sticks a large diameter pipe in it. insulates around it, builds a box to house more insulation and the water dish. And then this is also put into the ground, over the pipe. Looks like it takes ~2 hours to do and isn't relying on anything but geothermal to do it's job. You can also heat a chicken coop this way in the winter. This is something to consider when building one. It'd be kind of hard to retrofit it.
Happy 16th. Don't take in too much of that 'Tennessee Whiskey.' I got drunk and taken advantage of by a beautiful redhead and she dragged me away from my Tennessee home and into the cold state of Maine. I haven't drank a drop since. LOL I love the way y'all live.
We've been fortunate to have an unusual warm winter this year. Last year we had several days/weeks of negative temps and aerator slowed the freezing process giving us and our animals additional time between watering. You will have some freezing but the aerator keeps the water from freezing entirely. Here is a couple of follow up videos we did: ruclips.net/video/OLLkh6bXWkg/видео.htmlsi=_34eXN0ABNguZ1mb ruclips.net/video/ZdxQg1eAggo/видео.htmlsi=Poie0V00Eelqq7K8 What type of livestock do you have?
Haha yeah watering in the winter is a challenge for sure. Glad you found something that works better!!!! It’s such a relief to have that problem solved! New friends here! -Erinn
Check out the video from Enjoying Northwoods youtube channel. He uses geothermal power from the ground to keep his chickens water from freezing. Basically digs a hole, sticks a large diameter pipe in it. insulates around it, builds a box to house more insulation and the water dish. And then this is also put into the ground, over the pipe. Looks like it takes ~2 hours to do and isn't relying on anything but geothermal to do it's job. You can also heat a chicken coop this way in the winter. This is something to consider when building one. It'd be kind of hard to retrofit it.
Man you are awesome! I only wish I could ever make videos like you!! What a great idea… and also I shot you a reply from my channel , but I found it on my own thanks a ton buddy!! And happy anniversary!
I have my bobwhite coveys in the woods behind out property. I bought 100W solar panels and hope to use a deep cycle battery to run a 500w (sub °40 temp controlled) 5 gallon bucket heaters and circulation pump to connect our foam wrapped drinker nipple cartridges within the coop portion of their large johnny box's. The 100w solar panel is $85, the battery is $100+/_ $50. Harbor freight has a system that comes with the charge controller. Good is everything is 12v or you can buy an inverter to run the 110v portion. This should be powerful enough to handle a full day or two, is expandable and can be used elsewhere in the summer (think brooder heater, lighting, incubator backup, etc)
Would like to know how low the temperature can go with the aerator still preventing freezing. I am from New Brunswick, Canada. Low low temperatures in winter.
Hi there! The honest answer is it varies. We learn more each year we use them. We are experiencing sub 0 temperatures with extreme windchill currently. We had it out in our chicken coop and just a thin layer of ice formed after 8 hrs… still allowing the chickens water. The difference was it was in a black rubber waterer inside a run with greenhouse plastic surrounding it. Hope this helps! We just did a short on our coop waterer this week. if you do try them please keep us updated.
Great video! Thank you very much for posting this. I made a 50 gallon watering system for my chickens and ducks. Do you know anyway to keep 50 gallons from freezing without electric installed. I could use an extension cord but would prefer solar. Again, thanks for sharing this video.
Hi there! We are trying something this season that we will share here really soon that may work! Definitely an experiment for us but it does involve solar. More to come!
I love this system; I was just thinking there has got to be a way to keep the water moving so it is less likely to freeze up, I live in Maine & its 20 degrees out right now & i know all my chickens water feeders are frozen & so I'm about to fill my extra water feeders to replace the frozen ones again! So, i will be looking into this system to resolve the issue TY
That is great! It definitely helps! We are currently experiencing the same temps and still using the aerators while we experiment with more solutions. One of our pig waterers we have wrapped with a tire and use this single aerator and it hasn’t formed any ice during the day. We think also part of the solution will be insulation and natural heat absorption ideas too! Let us know if the system works for you. Thank you!
@@MadAcreFarms I was reading your comment section & notice you was upgrading & utilizing other Tekneek's as well to help, I recently was watching a video & they was using an insulated tire which they said helped a lot & maybe in combination with aerator & a water bottle with salt inside would completely resolve frozen water feeders
Oh my goodness my mind cannot even comprehend why this would be a problem only because this situation doesn’t exist in my world and I’m pretty sure that my body would not work in these cold cold temperatures. Oh my goodness guys stay warm and thank you so much for keeping your animals comfortable because my mind doesn’t work that way , I would freeze and so would my animals 🥶 Omg guys 15 years married and 22 years together ❤️ so beautiful, it was so nice to hear your little but huge love words ~ super cute ~ I probably should be a lot nicer to Dan but ppppffft we are only at 12 years so maybe by the time we are at 22 years we will have our loveshit together 😂 😂 cheeky A Good onya guys , you are pretty cool cats 😎 Blessings and happy new year from The Whitsundays, Queensland 🇦🇺 Kellie xoxoxo.
We have found it works well with the larger black rubber animal waterers. When it starts dipping down below 0 the aerator just buys a little time. May be able to stretch it with multiple aerators in one waterer. They have worked pretty well for us here in Iowa. Good luck to you!
Thanks for sharing this idea. I'm interested. Did it work all winter? I saw your follow up video but that was also November upload. I know batteries can stop working when it drops below zero. We had a mild winter over 2021-22. In Madison, WI usually we get a week where the highs are single digits F and that's when you need this to work the most. I'm thinking leave the unit inside and maybe the water also. Plus could insulate the bucket with Reflectix. And maybe there's a way to hook a thermostat so that it only bubbles when it's cold at night but keeps charging all day.
Hey Matt! You are absolutely right about the battery. We ended up bringing in the bubbler at night to charge. We had some pretty cold days and it seemed to work better in the larger waterers. If we could get our hands on a bigger one I think it would last the length of the day. I will say though when we got those winter wind chills it was difficult to keep up with so some type of wind block for the waterers is something we will have to look into. Hope this helps!
Hello! We no longer have the link but here is another video where we share more about updates we did with information on the aerators we use. Hope it helps! How to Keep Your Animal Waterers From Freezing Without ELECTRICITY!! Q&A ruclips.net/video/OLLkh6bXWkg/видео.html
I can see where the aerator keeps the water container from freezing but what about the cups? My chicken waterer is a 5 gallon bucket (with lid) and 4 cups. The cups will freeze solid but the water in the bucket will have a skim of ice on the surface. The cups freezing are the problem where I live, central North Carolina.
You are exactly right! We did an update video you should check it out. We switched our waterers to rubber buckets and still use the aerators. Those 5 gallon buckets work great in our summer but winter was a whole different story! Thank you for watching!
Thank you for your speedy reply! Having chickens manifests a host of problems as you well know. The reason I went to water cups was to hopefully give the chickens a clean water supply. Even though I put the water bucket with cups on a raised platform above the bedding, they manage to make mud pies out of the cups. Who would have guessedI? I will check for your updated video! Thanks again! Karen@@MadAcreFarms
Hi there! We are going to be doing a video here soon for a lessons learned. We definitely need bigger aerators and we switched out the waterers with the black rubber waterers from our local feed store. We are working on something now to provide better insulation for our cold winds. Overall the system makes sense and helped us quite a bit in the winter but we definitely need to make some adjustments. We will share those ideas in a video here soon!
We have electricity in our barn and coop so we thought we were set. Last year we had a power outage that lasted all day at below freezing temps. We were starting to panic because water started to freeze and we had no water since power was out and well runs on power. I am now preparing for coming winter to make sure this does not happen again. I will try these Aerators. What temp will they work at? I am in NW Montana. We usually have mild winters but last few years have been colder. I also need a solution for my horses. They have a Lil fountain auto water but again no water when no power. I am planning on filling a water trough for back up. I wonder if these would work? Any suggestions would be appreciated :)
Sorry for the late response! We use them in sub-zero temps but they can’t really stand up against the wind. They truly just buy you time to get out and break up the ice before it freezes through. We used them for our pigs and they worked amazing! We barely had a complete freeze through except on those extreme cold days with high winds. We would recommend the double aerator keeps more air flowing. We have similar fears with no electricity and looking into installing a generator this year as our back up electricity plan. We would love to get something a little more permanent for solar options and are researching cost effective options. On these solar aerators we did bring them in at night to charge them as a just in case option. Be sure to get the aerators that allow a charging option. Good luck!
It actually worked better than we thought it would! However when it reached the negative temps with wind chills we still froze. We are going to give the greenhouse method a try for next winter and see how well that goes!
@@MadAcreFarms I have seen that method used A bit more warmth, protection from the wind and enrich the soil. The moisture can freeze to the inside plastic but when you knock it off, the chicken will probably eat the ice flakes that fall. :)
Great question! It was helpful even in the bitter cold it bought us time to get out and break up the waterers before they were completely solid but we are trying another method this season that we will be sharing a video on soon we will also touch on this system as well!
Hi there! Amazon pulled our affiliate link because we were only pushing products we we’re actually using. Search online for a double solar aerators there are quite a few out there. The ones we are currently using are under $50
I couldnt find the link to amazon. I found the animal waterer video and the other videos. I enjoyed your saucy description of your wife on your wonderul day.
Hi there! Thank you for watching! We ended up removing the link due to issues with it. I just looked on Amazon and searched solar aerator and quite a few good options came up! We are going to try the solar aerators again this year but thinking we are going to try a little bit bigger one. They worked really well for us but when our temps dropped and the wind picked up we struggled a bit with the waterers! Hope this helps!
You would likely need a bigger aerator. Or multiple small ones. Not sure what area you are in but here in Iowa this does help with keeping the water from freezing but on extreme cold days it still freezes. This works pretty well on above 0 days! Hope this helps!
Fingers crossed! It gets pretty cold here in the Midwest so we still have some kinks to work out! Thank you so much for watching and supporting our channel!
We ended up adding the aerators to the rubber feed containers and they drink from those. We did it for our goats as well. We are actually working on another solution for our animals on the farm we will be sharing soon!
Yes that is what we did and did not have any issues with them at all eating the hose. Our pigs on the other hand would pull the hose out every now and then but the goats didn’t seem to bother it much. We are trying another solution this winter that we are working on now and will share it soon!
In Finland our winter is -30 celcius . I have chickens, two lambs, roosters and geese. I have proper shelter for them but not a lot of electric outlets cuz they are old farm buildings. Also in Finland electricity is so so expensive cuz of the war with russia and ukraine. I really hope this will work but idk
Yes it gets very cold here too! We are still using these aerators but working on another solar option. I have found with our pig waters having their water sit snug in a tire keeping it off of the cold ground and blocking cold wind with using the aerator keeps it from freezing longer. We will be adding a double bubbler in hopes it helps even more. We will post another video with more updates soon on the other solar idea we are trying.
@@MadAcreFarms okay thanks for telling me this. I will try to use some of that info. And i am now a subscriber so i will be waiting gladly for the new vid😁😇
Hi Connie! We have had some pretty cold days. We have found with the larger waterers and the dual aerators help during the day if you can protect it from the wind. It gives a few hours more but not a full proof for freezing. Adding the solar box helped tremendously in these cold temps! If you have the ability to add solar that is the way to go along with pairing it with the aerators. We brought them in at night and put them back out in the morning. Hope this helps!
You correct! We were speaking in conventional sense of on-grid (which ties into the electrical system) versus off-grid (stand alone). Thank you for watching. What kind of system do you use?
Hey there! We appreciate the love and support! They work well and we still use them. We did upgrade to some larger units. We also have a different solar off grid system we are trying for our goats and pigs that incorporate the aerator too. So far it has worked well! We talk more about it in our Managing animal feed cost, shelter and frozen waterers video. We will continue to share our experiences with our frozen water challenges!
Hi there! Amazon pulled our affiliate link because we were only pushing products we we’re actually using. Search online for a double solar aerators there are quite a few out there. The ones we are currently using are under $50.
I thought he said it lasts about 18 hrs w solar charging ? At our new house i befriended the local "development deer." Trying to find a way to keep the small water trough from freezing this winter. If these work at least HALF the time I'll be happy, lol.
First time viewer. Love you guys! One tip from someone who's been doing this crazy stuff for 26 years. Put your out buildings near each other. When you get to my age (58) you start wishing you hadn't put your shed 150 feet away hidden in the woods or your chicken coop 250 feet away from the house. My forever home will have the coop built right outside the barn, which will have plenty of electricity. The barn won't be far from the house. The barn will be down-wind of the prevailing winds from the house. We don't think of these things when we're young but 26 years later, trust me, you think of these things!
Hi there! Thank you for watching! That is fantastic advice! We have some future plans on the farm where your advice will come in handy. Thank you again!
This is genius. Going to use a solar panel to a small 12v atv battery to power an aerator and door light. Thank you!
Link was removed. We would recommend you use a larger solar aerator. You can find solar aerators with an online search. We also switched out the waterers with black rubber water bowls from our local feed store. We are working on another solution to build efficiency that is cost effective as well, here is a start to that idea along with how we are managing feed cost, finding shelter and working on the frozen waterer solution without electricity! ruclips.net/video/5Tr3DK571nE/видео.html 🐓Thank you for watching! -Ryan & Jamie
Thumbs up for the ❤ devotion ❤ to your wife 👍 I pray that your love has only deepened between you two 🙏
Nothing is more impressive than a man who loves and honors his wife the way you do. Congrats on your anniversary my brother! I've never used the watering cups or those nozzles they peck at, do you have any issues with those freezing up? My son had lots of problems in the summertime with algae plugging then. I use the other type of watering system that relies on gravity to fill the bottom, which eventually freezes up.
Thank you! We ended up switching out the waterers for exactly that reason. We did another video and shared an update on what we are using for the waterers. Here is the video if you want to check it out Managing Animal Feed Cost, Shelters, and Frozen Waterers
ruclips.net/video/5Tr3DK571nE/видео.html thank you again! Take care
Use a couple of. Copper wires and no algae just put them in water containers
Or paint water containers black to keep algae from growing
Great suggestion!
Great Video! Good Job. I did something similar last year and I will say it worked about 85% of the time. This year I got an inexpensive greenhouse I have attached to the chicken coop to give the ladies some extra protection from wind and snow when they are out in the mornings. I imagine this will also keep the waterer from freezing that other 15% of the time. (In Iowa)
Thank you so much! That is a fantastic idea with the greenhouse, we have some opportunities still with the waterer so we will give this a try too! Love hearing you are from Iowa!!
Did it work?
Thanks guys! We appreciate that! I’m interested to see how this works for you because we never tried it with the chicken nipplers. Yours are the larger bowl style, so my guess is that it would be ok.
Our set up worked great using rubber bowls in15 degree weather for 8+ hours a day.
It’s great for people that are at work or away from the farm and worry about their chickens not having access to water while they are away.
Thanks again for the mention - wishing you all the best. Hope you had an awesome Anniversary❤️
We will keep you posted!! We really liked your video and it inspired us to look for a similar solution! Thank you again! We had an amazing anniversary!
@@MadAcreFarms we appreciate that! Thank you!
Howdy from KC Kansas. Planning for winter.... Yep in July. Found your video and wanted to know if this worked for y'all. It seems like a great idea.
Thanks
@@MadAcreFarms Where are the Amazon links to the product please?
@@donapaulen8700 hello! We no longer have the link but talk more about what we are currently doing with the aerators in this video here and what we recommend ruclips.net/video/OLLkh6bXWkg/видео.htmlsi=1uygRczEX7jpLzwW
Love ...Love it...When you said sweet as strawberry wine!
Glad you caught that! Thank you for watching and commenting! We appreciate your support!
Great video! My husband and I are first generational farmers and this is an issue that we are approaching right now. Chipping away at ice has helped, but I would like a backup just in case. We also just started sharing our journey on RUclips, and I love finding channels just like yours. Love what you all are doing. I'll check out a larger size of the product you recommended. Thank you!
Hi there! So glad you found us! As first generational farmers we have found it is about jumping in and trying new things. Keep it going you guys! Living in Iowa the winters become challenging but not impossible. The aerators really help with buying time for us and we are diving in to more solar ideas. Reach out if you need anything!
@@MadAcreFarms Thank you so much for your encouragement and offer of help! I am getting onto my hubby about that aerator, so that's a start. 😂💙🙏
Depending on the ground you have I'd suggest driving a few steel rods into the ground then placing your water container on top of them. The steel will conduct the heat from the ground up to the water. Helping to prevent freezing.
Thank you for the suggestion, our ground is frozen solid with 6 feet snow drifts. We will have to to try this next year.
I need to test this lol
@@TheNotoriousNemo The more and the longer/deeper drived the rod are the better it will work. Where I am it is @ 50-55 deg F @ 5' deep.
Seem like a wholesome guy, thanks for the tips.
Appreciate that! Thank you for watching!
Exactly what I was looking for! So excited to see if this will work :) happy anniversary!
Thank you so much! We appreciate your support!!
okay have an idea, you can get a tall metal pipe and affix the stuff to it so all you have to do is pull the pipe out of the ground and take it around the yard where ever you move it, maybe affix a piece of wood with a round clamp to hold it on the pole with a screw on each side and affix it all to the wood, then you bring your pole and water container and pools anywhere easily. those round clamp metal pieces that go around pipes to attach them to something in this case a piece of slab of woof and attach that to the pole.
I have seen this concept before and I will be interested to see if it works. I am working on the same problem, and my approach is going to be to try using an old coleman ice chest and add the water nipples to that and see if the insulation keeps it from freezing. I have also debated trying an aquarium heater in the tank but you would probably need to add a bigger solar panel and a battery to it. Thanks for sharing, happy anniversary.
Hello we are going our 3rd season of using the solar aerator all though they are a complete solution they do buy us some much needed time.
Ha Ha Ha... Tennessee Whiskey! Congratulations on your anniversary!
Nice informative video!
Extra points for the Happy Anniversary plug!
Thank you! We are just newbies trying to figure this new adventure of ours out!!
Very informative. Thank you! We plan to raise animals after we finish building our house but never really did the animals thing so these types of videos are so appreciated!
That is awesome! We are learning as we go! Trial and error!! Good luck on the house build!! ♥️✌🏼Jamie
I enjoyed watching this. Cpuld not locate the Amazon link. Please provide. Thanks
Sorry we deleted all the affiliates links. Any solar aerator should work. Feel free to reach out to us directly if you have any questions.
This is what I needed to know existed. Thank you!!
I never thought about this! Thank you. Ill be trying this out this winter!
It has worked well for us.
super stoked over this idea! Thank you three times over. we too thought we would have to run hundreds of feet of extension from the shed to the coop. Can you please post a link or just tell us the brand of both your covered water buckets and your aerators.
Hi there! The aerators worked well for us! We did make a few modifications. The waterers with the couplers ended up freezing. We ended up replacing them with the black rubber farm feed buckets/bowls. Check your local farm fleet store they should have them. The black rubber seemed to help absorb the warmth during the day which helped the system. We are going to try a bigger aerator this year and a few other ideas we have for other solar options. We will do a lessons learned winter waterer video soon once we get things going. I would recommend an aerator that suits a larger pond so it is powerful enough to continue to circulate the water on very cold days. This was not full proof, we had days where the waterers froze. The rubber bucket made it easy to break the ice out of the waterer. These were a life saver! We also found the bigger the bowl the longer it took for the water to freeze and gave us a chance to break any ice forming before it became solid. Hope this helps!
@@MadAcreFarms Hey, thanks for your reply! Appreciate you taking the time to share you knowledge and experience for beginners like me. I will be buying the black rubber bowl and using a tire to help insulate and stabilize it. Also ordered a large solar aerator. Will come back with results once the snow starts to fly. Pretty much resigned to making a couple trips out to the coop to break ice and refill bowls, but this will help, I'm sure.
Great ideas! Looking forward to see how it goes this winter. Take care!
@@MadAcreFarms Your great ideas!
Found you on another channel! THIS is a GREAT idea! NEW FRIEND HERE!
Thank you so much!
Ok so this right here is a great idea ! Thank you so very much !!
Just to add a boost to your system , have you heard of sun tanks for horses. A much smaller version with a chicken adapted float for beaks, the airators and passive solar heating I think would m as ke for a system you only have to add water to. Maybe a sort of wind shelter for the
Check out the video from Enjoying Northwoods youtube channel. He uses geothermal power from the ground to keep his chickens water from freezing.
Basically digs a hole, sticks a large diameter pipe in it. insulates around it, builds a box to house more insulation and the water dish. And then this is also put into the ground, over the pipe. Looks like it takes ~2 hours to do and isn't relying on anything but geothermal to do it's job.
You can also heat a chicken coop this way in the winter. This is something to consider when building one. It'd be kind of hard to retrofit it.
Thank you for sharing! We will have to look into it.
Happy 16th. Don't take in too much of that 'Tennessee Whiskey.' I got drunk and taken advantage of by a beautiful redhead and she dragged me away from my Tennessee home and into the cold state of Maine. I haven't drank a drop since. LOL
I love the way y'all live.
Lol! Thank you!
More companies need to start making solar coop products..with detailed directions!
Couldn’t agree more!
Great video. Have you seen any freezing after this? In Massachusetts we frequently get below zero overnight...
We've been fortunate to have an unusual warm winter this year. Last year we had several days/weeks of negative temps and aerator slowed the freezing process giving us and our animals additional time between watering. You will have some freezing but the aerator keeps the water from freezing entirely. Here is a couple of follow up videos we did:
ruclips.net/video/OLLkh6bXWkg/видео.htmlsi=_34eXN0ABNguZ1mb
ruclips.net/video/ZdxQg1eAggo/видео.htmlsi=Poie0V00Eelqq7K8
What type of livestock do you have?
You’ve got a nice piece of property and buildings .. love the farms
Thank you very much!
Haha yeah watering in the winter is a challenge for sure. Glad you found something that works better!!!! It’s such a relief to have that problem solved! New friends here! -Erinn
It definitely is a challenge! Still some obstacles we need to figure out but we are getting closer 😀
Check out the video from Enjoying Northwoods youtube channel. He uses geothermal power from the ground to keep his chickens water from freezing.
Basically digs a hole, sticks a large diameter pipe in it. insulates around it, builds a box to house more insulation and the water dish. And then this is also put into the ground, over the pipe. Looks like it takes ~2 hours to do and isn't relying on anything but geothermal to do it's job.
You can also heat a chicken coop this way in the winter. This is something to consider when building one. It'd be kind of hard to retrofit it.
Man you are awesome! I only wish I could ever make videos like you!! What a great idea… and also I shot you a reply from my channel , but I found it on my own thanks a ton buddy!! And happy anniversary!
Right back at you! Thank you for watching we appreciate you!!
I have my bobwhite coveys in the woods behind out property. I bought 100W solar panels and hope to use a deep cycle battery to run a 500w (sub °40 temp controlled) 5 gallon bucket heaters and circulation pump to connect our foam wrapped drinker nipple cartridges within the coop portion of their large johnny box's. The 100w solar panel is $85, the battery is $100+/_ $50. Harbor freight has a system that comes with the charge controller. Good is everything is 12v or you can buy an inverter to run the 110v portion.
This should be powerful enough to handle a full day or two, is expandable and can be used elsewhere in the summer (think brooder heater, lighting, incubator backup, etc)
Yes!! Awesome suggestions! We are working on a few ideas and something similar to your suggestions. Fantastic information thank you!
Thanks Ryan and Jamie
Thank you!
Would like to know how low the temperature can go with the aerator still preventing freezing. I am from New Brunswick, Canada. Low low temperatures in winter.
Hi there! The honest answer is it varies. We learn more each year we use them. We are experiencing sub 0 temperatures with extreme windchill currently. We had it out in our chicken coop and just a thin layer of ice formed after 8 hrs… still allowing the chickens water. The difference was it was in a black rubber waterer inside a run with greenhouse plastic surrounding it. Hope this helps! We just did a short on our coop waterer this week. if you do try them please keep us updated.
That’s a sweet solar solution love it gunna have to try it out 🤙🏻
It has helped us quite a bit this winter!! Thank you for watching!
Great video. I look forward to seeing updates on how it works!
Great video! Thank you very much for posting this. I made a 50 gallon watering system for my chickens and ducks. Do you know anyway to keep 50 gallons from freezing without electric installed. I could use an extension cord but would prefer solar.
Again, thanks for sharing this video.
Hi there! We are trying something this season that we will share here really soon that may work! Definitely an experiment for us but it does involve solar. More to come!
@@MadAcreFarms thank you for the quick response. I’m looking forward to seeing how you solve the issues with freezing water.
I love this system; I was just thinking there has got to be a way to keep the water moving so it is less likely to freeze up, I live in Maine & its 20 degrees out right now & i know all my chickens water feeders are frozen & so I'm about to fill my extra water feeders to replace the frozen ones again! So, i will be looking into this system to resolve the issue TY
That is great! It definitely helps! We are currently experiencing the same temps and still using the aerators while we experiment with more solutions. One of our pig waterers we have wrapped with a tire and use this single aerator and it hasn’t formed any ice during the day. We think also part of the solution will be insulation and natural heat absorption ideas too! Let us know if the system works for you. Thank you!
@@MadAcreFarms I was reading your comment section & notice you was upgrading & utilizing other Tekneek's as well to help, I recently was watching a video & they was using an insulated tire which they said helped a lot & maybe in combination with aerator & a water bottle with salt inside would completely resolve frozen water feeders
Great ideas! Nothing is off the table! There has to be a cost effective solution that works! Thank you!
I would be interested in hearing how many people has actually tried this and if it worked for them.
Oh my goodness my mind cannot even comprehend why this would be a problem only because this situation doesn’t exist in my world and I’m pretty sure that my body would not work in these cold cold temperatures. Oh my goodness guys stay warm and thank you so much for keeping your animals comfortable
because my mind doesn’t work that way , I would freeze and so would my animals 🥶
Omg guys 15 years married and 22 years together ❤️ so beautiful, it was so nice to hear your little but huge love words ~ super cute ~ I probably should be a lot nicer to Dan but ppppffft we are only at 12 years so maybe by the time we are at 22 years we will have our loveshit together 😂 😂 cheeky A
Good onya guys , you are pretty cool cats 😎
Blessings and happy new year from The Whitsundays, Queensland 🇦🇺
Kellie xoxoxo.
LOL! Just saw this comment Kellie! You make me laugh!! We appreciate you!
Happy Anniversary !!! I love "Love". 😉
Thank you very much!
Congratulations on your anniversary
Thank you!
Sweet idea, thanks for the information 👍
Thank you!
That'[s a great idea! How cold can it manage? Gonna be negative 12 in a few days, do you think it could work with that?
We have found it works well with the larger black rubber animal waterers. When it starts dipping down below 0 the aerator just buys a little time. May be able to stretch it with multiple aerators in one waterer. They have worked pretty well for us here in Iowa. Good luck to you!
Thanks, this is exactly what I had in mind.
We are happy to share things we are learning along our journey. Thank you for watching!.
Thanks for sharing this idea. I'm interested. Did it work all winter? I saw your follow up video but that was also November upload. I know batteries can stop working when it drops below zero. We had a mild winter over 2021-22. In Madison, WI usually we get a week where the highs are single digits F and that's when you need this to work the most. I'm thinking leave the unit inside and maybe the water also. Plus could insulate the bucket with Reflectix. And maybe there's a way to hook a thermostat so that it only bubbles when it's cold at night but keeps charging all day.
Hey Matt! You are absolutely right about the battery. We ended up bringing in the bubbler at night to charge. We had some pretty cold days and it seemed to work better in the larger waterers. If we could get our hands on a bigger one I think it would last the length of the day. I will say though when we got those winter wind chills it was difficult to keep up with so some type of wind block for the waterers is something we will have to look into. Hope this helps!
I like the water in motion idea to stop waterer from freezing, but won't the air bubbles increase algae growth?
Thanks! We fortunately have not had any issues with algae using this method for the last 2 years.
Great video. Looking to build a solar green house with fans cameras lights n doors. Going to use a solar fountain pump to keep the water moving
That sounds awesome! We might have to check out that solar fountain pump! Thank you for watching!
Please can you add the link to the product?
Hello! We no longer have the link but here is another video where we share more about updates we did with information on the aerators we use. Hope it helps! How to Keep Your Animal Waterers From Freezing Without ELECTRICITY!! Q&A
ruclips.net/video/OLLkh6bXWkg/видео.html
I can see where the aerator keeps the water container from freezing but what about the cups? My chicken waterer is a 5 gallon bucket (with lid) and 4 cups. The cups will freeze solid but the water in the bucket will have a skim of ice on the surface. The cups freezing are the problem where I live, central North Carolina.
You are exactly right! We did an update video you should check it out. We switched our waterers to rubber buckets and still use the aerators. Those 5 gallon buckets work great in our summer but winter was a whole different story! Thank you for watching!
Thank you for your speedy reply! Having chickens manifests a host of problems as you well know. The reason I went to water cups was to hopefully give the chickens a clean water supply. Even though I put the water bucket with cups on a raised platform above the bedding, they manage to make mud pies out of the cups. Who would have guessedI? I will check for your updated video! Thanks again! Karen@@MadAcreFarms
Any follow up after your first cold season?
Just bought a horse property and trying to incorporate a similar system to yours.
Hi there! We are going to be doing a video here soon for a lessons learned. We definitely need bigger aerators and we switched out the waterers with the black rubber waterers from our local feed store. We are working on something now to provide better insulation for our cold winds. Overall the system makes sense and helped us quite a bit in the winter but we definitely need to make some adjustments. We will share those ideas in a video here soon!
@@MadAcreFarms awesome. Guess I should subscribe to learn more. 👀
Im gonna do this with a 250 gal tank i hope it works. Thanks for the great ideal
Hi there! It works ok but we ran into issues on cloudy days. Just make sure your pump is bigger and account for those cloudy days! Good luck!
Just curious if you tried it with the 250 gal tank and how it worked?
well I like when he says it's a win win that means maybe I can try it too then.
Great video. Thanks for sharing
Thank you very much!
Keep up the good work 👍
Thank you!
We have electricity in our barn and coop so we thought we were set. Last year we had a power outage that lasted all day at below freezing temps. We were starting to panic because water started to freeze and we had no water since power was out and well runs on power. I am now preparing for coming winter to make sure this does not happen again. I will try these Aerators. What temp will they work at? I am in NW Montana. We usually have mild winters but last few years have been colder. I also need a solution for my horses. They have a Lil fountain auto water but again no water when no power. I am planning on filling a water trough for back up. I wonder if these would work? Any suggestions would be appreciated :)
Sorry for the late response! We use them in sub-zero temps but they can’t really stand up against the wind. They truly just buy you time to get out and break up the ice before it freezes through. We used them for our pigs and they worked amazing! We barely had a complete freeze through except on those extreme cold days with high winds. We would recommend the double aerator keeps more air flowing. We have similar fears with no electricity and looking into installing a generator this year as our back up electricity plan. We would love to get something a little more permanent for solar options and are researching cost effective options. On these solar aerators we did bring them in at night to charge them as a just in case option. Be sure to get the aerators that allow a charging option. Good luck!
Since you used this through the past winter, how well did it work out for you?
It actually worked better than we thought it would! However when it reached the negative temps with wind chills we still froze. We are going to give the greenhouse method a try for next winter and see how well that goes!
@@MadAcreFarms I have seen that method used A bit more warmth, protection from the wind and enrich the soil. The moisture can freeze to the inside plastic but when you knock it off, the chicken will probably eat the ice flakes that fall. :)
Great video.!!
Great! where do I find this ?
Hello! You can find solar aerators on Amazon. Would recommend you go with a larger aerator than what we used. Take care!
So how did it hold up in the bitter winter?
Great question! It was helpful even in the bitter cold it bought us time to get out and break up the waterers before they were completely solid but we are trying another method this season that we will be sharing a video on soon we will also touch on this system as well!
Do you have a link to the solar panel you used?
Hi there! Amazon pulled our affiliate link because we were only pushing products we we’re actually using. Search online for a double solar aerators there are quite a few out there. The ones we are currently using are under $50
I couldnt find the link to amazon. I found the animal waterer video and the other videos. I enjoyed your saucy description of your wife on your wonderul day.
Hi there! Thank you for watching! We ended up removing the link due to issues with it. I just looked on Amazon and searched solar aerator and quite a few good options came up! We are going to try the solar aerators again this year but thinking we are going to try a little bit bigger one. They worked really well for us but when our temps dropped and the wind picked up we struggled a bit with the waterers! Hope this helps!
Would this work for a 55 gallon drum set up
You would likely need a bigger aerator. Or multiple small ones. Not sure what area you are in but here in Iowa this does help with keeping the water from freezing but on extreme cold days it still freezes. This works pretty well on above 0 days! Hope this helps!
Does this keep the cups or nipples from freezing though ?
Woww i wanna use it on my van :o
G'day guys.
That is so simple. Good on you and I hope it works out. it certainly looks that way in the shorter video.
All the best.
Daz.
Fingers crossed! It gets pretty cold here in the Midwest so we still have some kinks to work out! Thank you so much for watching and supporting our channel!
How do the animals actually drink the water? Trying to find a solution for my goats.
We ended up adding the aerators to the rubber feed containers and they drink from those. We did it for our goats as well. We are actually working on another solution for our animals on the farm we will be sharing soon!
So just a rubber container and put it in there and they didn’t try to eat the rubber hose from the aerator?
Yes that is what we did and did not have any issues with them at all eating the hose. Our pigs on the other hand would pull the hose out every now and then but the goats didn’t seem to bother it much. We are trying another solution this winter that we are working on now and will share it soon!
What keeps the cup from freezing
@pamsalinas3235 Hello Pam, we did a follow-up video. We switch the poultry waters out for rubber bowls.
Thank you for watching!!!
Does it work if it’s covered with snow?
The solar system is helpful to have but isn’t full proof so we do bring the aerator in at night to charge for that reason during the winter.
In Finland our winter is -30 celcius . I have chickens, two lambs, roosters and geese. I have proper shelter for them but not a lot of electric outlets cuz they are old farm buildings. Also in Finland electricity is so so expensive cuz of the war with russia and ukraine. I really hope this will work but idk
Cuz the water will freeze.
Yes it gets very cold here too! We are still using these aerators but working on another solar option. I have found with our pig waters having their water sit snug in a tire keeping it off of the cold ground and blocking cold wind with using the aerator keeps it from freezing longer. We will be adding a double bubbler in hopes it helps even more. We will post another video with more updates soon on the other solar idea we are trying.
@@MadAcreFarms okay thanks for telling me this. I will try to use some of that info. And i am now a subscriber so i will be waiting gladly for the new vid😁😇
@@Familyguyfan10-k6z we appreciate that! We are going to keep trying until we figure it out. Take care!
What a wonderful ideal .... KUDOS
Thank you!! Still perfecting this but has helped!! ♥️✌🏼Jamie
Hi will it work in -40 we are in ontario, Canada
Hi Connie! We have had some pretty cold days. We have found with the larger waterers and the dual aerators help during the day if you can protect it from the wind. It gives a few hours more but not a full proof for freezing. Adding the solar box helped tremendously in these cold temps! If you have the ability to add solar that is the way to go along with pairing it with the aerators. We brought them in at night and put them back out in the morning. Hope this helps!
Makes sense
Good music dude
What if the water freezes during the night? 😉
Great question! We would only use during the day. Using the rubber buckets let us break out the frozen water pretty easy and refill in the morning.
FYI Using a solar panel is using electricity.
You correct! We were speaking in conventional sense of on-grid (which ties into the electrical system) versus off-grid (stand alone). Thank you for watching. What kind of system do you use?
Happy Anniversary
Thank you very much!!
3:54. Shade?
We haven’t had any issues with the placement it has worked pretty well. Let us know if this didn’t answer your question. Thanks!
congrats.
Thank you!
One year later, how did it work? My Alberta Off-grid group just posted your video.
Hey there! We appreciate the love and support! They work well and we still use them. We did upgrade to some larger units. We also have a different solar off grid system we are trying for our goats and pigs that incorporate the aerator too. So far it has worked well! We talk more about it in our Managing animal feed cost, shelter and frozen waterers video. We will continue to share our experiences with our frozen water challenges!
I don't see your link
Hi there! Amazon pulled our affiliate link because we were only pushing products we we’re actually using. Search online for a double solar aerators there are quite a few out there. The ones we are currently using are under $50.
I think your aerator uses ELECTRICITY!!!!!
I thought he said it lasts about 18 hrs w solar charging ?
At our new house i befriended the local "development deer." Trying to find a way to keep the small water trough from freezing this winter. If these work at least HALF the time I'll be happy, lol.
watchng
Thank you for watching!