Frozen Winter Water?

[Schifference]

This is my first year with Rabbits. In non freezing months I have an automatic water system hooked up to a garden hose but for obvious reasons that would not work in winter. I purchased a hutch with rabbits and 8 cages this summer. It came with water bottles and heated electric winter bottles. The cords are very short and one would need lots of extension cords and have to fill them up constantly. I decided to make an automatic water system utilizing the brass nipples that I used all summer. I purchased 50' of reinforced nitrile rubber fuel hose, a bird bath heater and used a recirulating pump that I already had and a cooler that had broken hinges. The bird bath heater comes on at 35* & shuts off at 45*. The water kept circulating even when very cold outside. The Problem was that the short piece of hose & the nipple kept freezing. Once it was realized that the nipples kept freezing we would go out and pour some warm water over them and they would work again but, a few minutes later they would be frozen again. I was hoping for a more permanent hassle free solution. I could not find one on the internet so I had to utilize some ingenuity. I purchased a couple of feet of self regulating outdoor heat tape. I cut them long enough to cover the short piece of hose and nipple. It took a while to splice all those pieces. The heat tape only draws 8 watts per foot and I only used less than 2 feet total for all the cages. It was 9* last night and water still flowing at the nipples. To keep the rabbits from chewing the end of the heat tape I put a small piece of aluminum over it. Not super pretty but efficient and cuts down on the labor associated with care.[URL=http://s1348.photobucket.com/u...ums/p730/wdr61/IMG_7132_zpse9ff09f4.jpg[/img]/url]
[URL=http://s1348.photobucket.com/u...ums/p730/wdr61/IMG_7133_zpsaec44b44.jpg[/img]/url][URL=http://s1348.photobucket.com/u...ums/p730/wdr61/IMG_7135_zps0395e9b3.jpg[/img]/url][URL=http://s1348.photobucket.com/u...ums/p730/wdr61/IMG_7137_zps4f48b811.jpg[/img]/url][URL=http://s1348.photobucket.com/u...ums/p730/wdr61/IMG_7139_zps86413312.jpg[/img]/url]

 

[Mary Ann's Rabbitry]

I like your set up.. I like seeing rabbits outside.. I also like your chickens.