Using an ice chest for water update

[MyMiniGal]

I wanted to pass this onto you all, as we talked about this a couple months ago. Anyway, I decided to use an ice chest we had, for Halo's water. It is the perfect size...holds about 15 gals, when completely filled up to the brim. We have gone down to below freezing temps, the past few nights and every morning, there has been approx. a 3/8 layer of ice over the top. So yesterday, I decided, since we are the ones taking care of Halo's water, we moved it to just under her shelter and filled it about 4" below the top, so the water would be down where it is insulated. It was luke warm when we left her around 5:15 p.m. last night. By this morning, the temps. outside were 25 degrees. Ice was on the car windows, so we know it got really cold. My husband goes and checks on her in the morning, for me, as I am usually at work, by 6:30 a.m. So he goes and feeds and adds to her water around 8 a.m.. He said this morning, her water was the only one there, that didn't have a layer of ice over it. All the other horses water troughs had ice. He said the water was really cold, but no ice at all. She had drank quite a bit, so he was able to add some hot water to it, for the day. And I plan on starting to have a bucket with me, as I do the evening feeding, and will just plan on adding some hot water, then too. Anyway, for at least last night, using the ice chest, filling it below the top and then having it slightly under her shelter, really helped. The past few days, there had been ice. So we had it filled too high for the insulation to even work. Anyway, I wanted to pass this onto you, as I know several were interested on how an ice chest would work.

Here's a picture, so you can see the ice chest, I am talking about.

 

[rabbitsfizz]

If you could put it up off the ground a little that would help too as it will be losing heat through the bottom. Water that is heated actually loses heat quicker than cold, air temperature, water, btw..... Brilliant idea, though!

 

[MyMiniGal]

Thank you, Jane. I know, I was looking at that last night, wondering what we could do for under it. Would putting shavings help, you think? Or setting it on wood boards?

 

[rabbitsfizz]

Set it up on boards, with at least a few inches between it and the ground, that should do it!

 

[MyMiniGal]

Ok, thank you, I'm sure we have some pieces around here, that would get it about an inch or two off the ground. Can't make it too high, or she won't be able to reach down into the water as much, since we aren't filling it. It was funny, when we cleaned it and moved it over to her shelter, the first thing she did, before we could get any water in it, was put both front legs in it and check it all out. LOL She has been using it since the beginning of October, so it wasn't new to her, just the spot we put it at. She is so funny!

I can't believe how much fur she has now. It is a good 2.5" thick now. When we got this cold spell, I was glad she got thick so fast!

 

[Minimor]

Boiled water freezes faster...otherwise heated water does not.

I can fill two tubs, one with cold and the other with hot-from-the-tap water (which is HOT as we have the tank turned up high) and leave them both sit out overnight on a -30 night and I can assure you Jane that the tub of cold water will be frozen a lot harder than the tub of hot water. Leave them sit for just two hours and the cold will be iced over, the hot will still be ice free.

You are fortunate that Halo keeps her feet out of that tub when it has water in it! I have quite a number of horses who would be standing in it; they would soon have it stomped to bits.

 

[MyMiniGal]

Nope, other than that one time, when it was empty, she never puts a hoof in it. So no issues with that. And when we add hot water, it is added to the cold that is already in it, so it just warms it up a bit. This is working great, so far, and I am pleased with it.

 

[alexb.]

hello, read your post and showed my daughter Halo's picture as she looks just like our Caspian boy. and he too has 2 inch thick hair. which brings a question as i type, does the hair length for winter have to do with region/temps/or bred? would ours be longer or shorter if it lived some were else next year colder or warmer. not really an important question, but knowledge is nice.

thanks, alex and sara

 

[BSharpRanch]

I live near Phoenix, AZ and my guys are wearing Alaskan parkas! 2 inch minimum and I have a couple with 3 inch wool!

 

[Jenny]

My boy's hair is probably 3 inches long now, and I'm expecting it to get even longer as I've seen pictures of him at his old home and he was VERY long, and the climate there is a lot milder than here. I live in a fairly cold climate, usually around -20ºC and 3 feet of snow on the ground all winter.

Here's my favourite picture of Breaker at his old place:

 

[jeanniecogan]

What a great idea. i have heated buckets , but i will file that for emergencies.

 

[MyMiniGal]

See, I would of thought how thick their winter woolies are would be for what area they are living in. Interesting.

If we had a plug in we could use, I would use a heated bucket. But we don't, so we will just have to use what we can. We brought boards to put under last night, but my husband cut them way too small, so the whole thing tipped. So, we will have to cut new ones, when he gets the chance.

 

[MyMiniGal]

There still was no ice, on her water, this morning and it was 26 degrees this morning, and we hadn't put in any hot water last night. So, this is definitely helping keep her water from icing up. We very rarely go below 20, but once in awhile we do. I would expect to find a layer of ice then, but only time will tell on that.

 

[Silver City Heritage Farmstead]

Thank you for this idea! Since this part of NC doesn't have really hard winters, I'll be trying this if Santa brings the new mini I've.....ahem...."asked" for! ;-)

 

[susanne]

I'm going to do this -- hoping I can pick up a couple of ice chests at Goodwill.

Boiled water may freeze faster, but it is a whole lot easier for melting existing ice. Short-sighted, perhaps, but at 3am I'll still choose to melt the ice with our quick boiling electric kettle rather than scoop out ice and then have to refill.

 

[MyMiniGal]

So far, we aren't having to break any ice. It got down to 22 the other night. Woke up to lots of frost and ice in our bird bath, but no ice on Halo's ice chest. When we add hot water, we are just topping off, what is in there. Just trying to make it a little warmer to keep her drinking it. But right after we top off with super hot water, all of the water, still feels cool to the touch, but not so cold it hurts your hand. This was an old ice chest, we have had for years, and hadn't used for years. It is a 15 gal. one, I think, and with us filling it up 4" lower than the top, there is probably about 10 gals. still in it.

 

[chandab]

I need to get a couple ice chests to try in my stallion pens, although Topper might think its a toy and wreck it (he loves his Jolly Apple and Nose-It).

 

[MyMiniGal]

Yeah, we are lucky she doesn't play with it, but even if she did, I don't know what we could do. No matter what, there has to be a bucket or something on the ground. We won't use this in summer, as I want to try and keep it lasting for several winters. So will use a big bucket in summer. The sun would damage the chest, I think.

 

[eagles ring farm]

Great idea....we have heaters in 3 of our tubs except 1 stallion pen so we may try this do you put the lid on at night if she is in at night?

 

[MyMiniGal]

No, this is her only water source. We board, so she is in this same paddock, with the shelter at night too, so the lid, we totally took off. Unscrewed it. We also took off the handles. We didn't want anything she could get her face or hoof caught in. There is a spiget (sp), you know, a way to drain an ice chest, but we just went and bought a cork and jammed it in it, from the inside, as it is is all the way down at the bottom. We have extra ones of those, for when it goes bad, we are prepared to put in another one. No leakage has happened from it and not all ice chest have those. Once a week we, pour out all the water, in another area, as we don't want under her shelter muddy, and we brush and clean the thing, then refill it, with luke warm tap water. Have to bucket it, right now, as the place has put the hose away for winter. Thank goodness they have a utility sink, in the barn, with what feels like one of those hot water heaters that make the water hot, immediately. We just do a few buckets, to get it up again, then like I said, twice daily, top it off. She is drinking really well this way. We are figuring we are putting in about 2-3 gals. of water daily, on top of we wet her feed with warm water too. So, far, I feel very good on the amount she is drinking and hope she continues to do so, this winter. We can tell how much she is drinking, as I put a strip of duct tape, inside it, and we fill it to right at it. So we can tell if she drank or not. And everyday, twice a day, it is down about an inch and a half, and my husband and I have two gallon buckets, and we don't have to fill them all the way, to top it off.