Rodents drowning in water trough

[one1horse]

I know this is an age old topic and I have reviewed many of the old posts that discuss this. I’m just hoping for some “next step” advice at this point.

We recently switched over to the big rubbermaid troughs with heaters for the winter. Once we did that, we’ve been finding chipmunks and squirrels drowned every few days. After the first finding, we immediately put some “squirrel string” in place, but the deaths have continued. This is obviously an issue especially when it comes to dumping the large trough, and we have to fill it by lugging buckets when the hose is frozen. Not a small task.

Have people had significantly more success using a thicker rope like a lead rope as opposed to baling twine? Or is a piece of wood the way to go? Has anyone used the frog log (https://froglog.us/) for a water tank and did it work? Any other options with a high success rate? I just really want the next step to be the one that “solves” the issue (I know noting is likely to be 100% effective).

Lastly… how imperative is it to dump, scrub and refill the tank after every death? Doing it multiple times a week is a big chore especially since there is only one horse drinking from it. Normally I would never question it, but it really sucks to fill a stock tank with 5 gallon buckets. Thanks everyone!

[Chall]

Bluey, paging bluey. She had a pic
of an “escape ramp” approved by a wildlife agency. Some designs apparently the animal would trap itself under, hers didn’t to that.
its a 3d ramp made of wire mesh.

[Simkie]

I’ve tried SO many different things in the tank to prevent this. Rope, sticks, lumber. Different sizes. Nothing worked.

What’s worked best is putting a shallow pan of water next to the tank. They drink there instead of swim. I don’t know how easy that is in winter…maybe a heated dog dish?

Are you finding swimmers when the tank is full? Mine were always when the tank was half full or lower. They can’t drink from the edge so wind up falling in. Keeping the tank FULL might help if you’re seeing the same thing.

To thaw the hose, dump it all into the heated tank. It won’t take long to thaw. Then drain it after you’re done with it.

For one horse, a 16 gallon heated tub might be easier to deal with, too. Things can still drown–I just pulled a rat out of one last night–but at least it’s not such a HUGE amount of water to waste.

[Bluey]

We have the NRCS approved bird ladder for troughs:

https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/F…2p2_041023.pdf

We have one in each smaller trough, several in the big ones, one every ten feet.
Ours is that figure #2, the expanded mesh type.

Go by your Farm Service Agency and ask them about those.
They sell them, or will tell you who sells them for their programs.

We used to just throw a chunk or two of wood, a 2x6 about 6" long will do in water troughs and that let critters get out of the water and as it would get to one or another edge with the water movement, jump or crawl out.

Some people use those plastic pieces with a cord attached that are used in swimming pools.

[ChocoMare]

I used an old hay net… tied it into 2 of the holes and floated it. It was enough for birds, squirrels, chipmunks etc to all safely escape

[clanter]

@Simkie

I’ve tried SO many different things in the tank to prevent this. Rope, sticks, lumber. Different sizes. Nothing worked.

What’s worked best is putting a shallow pan of water next to the tank. They drink there instead of swim. I don’t know how easy that is in winter…maybe a heated dog dish?
.

We rarely have freezing temps but periods of limited to no rain…

have been using the very small rubber feed tubs and… hollowed out a mud puddle area which is the crows favorite drinking place

the squirrels, those things drink out of the bird bath …which one of the miniature horses believes is his personal water trough

[trubandloki]

I know this does not answer the question you asked but I have to agree with @Simkie, the heated bucket that looks like a muck tub might be more appropriate for one horse and much less work for you when you have to dump and refill.

[WBmare]

The BM of one of the barns I was at built a little wooden ladder that hung over the trough. He said once he built them he stopped finding critters in the trough.

[one1horse]

@trubandloki

I know this does not answer the question you asked but I have to agree with @Simkie, the heated bucket that looks like a muck tub might be more appropriate for one horse and much less work for you when you have to dump and refill.

I agree, too. I even purchased one for my horse since the regular muck tubs are what we were using prior to the winter temps. Unfortunately this was “vetoed” by my farm owners due to fire concerns…

I will mention some of these other alternatives to them though, thanks everyone for your suggestions so far! I’m inclined to try the piece of wood as a ramp option, but we’ll see if that gets nixed for some other safety reason.

[trubandloki]

@one1horse

I agree, too. I even purchased one for my horse since the regular muck tubs are what we were using prior to the winter temps. Unfortunately this was “vetoed” by my farm owners due to fire concerns…

Why are they against those but not against the bit trough with a heater in it?

[one1horse]

@trubandloki

Why are they against those but not against the bit trough with a heater in it?

They are new farm owners (just purchased the property late summer this year), so I don’t think they truly “get” all the ins and outs of practical horse husbandry if that makes sense? Trying to word this in a PC way. They’re lovely and kind people but sometimes approaching them about issues like this with suggestions is a delicate process. They sometimes won’t consider that there is a better way of handling things than how they’re doing them.

[trubandloki]

In this case it might sell the idea of a small trough to point out that they will use less electricity to keep a small amount of water above freezing than keeping that huge trough unfrozen. Clearly a huge trough makes sense for a group of horses, but for one…

But I do understand what you are trying to say.

[danacat]

@Simkie

What’s worked best is putting a shallow pan of water next to the tank. They drink there instead of swim. … in winter…maybe a heated dog dish?

This ^^^^

No more drownings in my water trough ever.

[TCA_Arabians]

A dish next to the trough helps. You can just dump the ice and refill it from the water in the trough. You can also cut a piece of hog wire to fit the side as in the diagrams above. It’s not as flexible. Just be sure no rough points. I don’t bail out the water if a critter drowned in it. If there are a bunch of bits because a raven was washing off his dinner - then yes.

[Bluey]

In our pasture water throughs we put in an overflow, then ran a pipe some 20+ feet from it to a little shallow pond, so the quail and other assorted critters would have water at ground level.
Then we would let water overflow until those little ponds were full and keep filling them as needed.

We did that as part of our wildlife preserve management, long before there were bird ladders.

[Marla_100]

i have broken off tree limbs- 2-3" wide propped down into the water tanks and the upper end stuck through the no climb fence. Haven’t had any squirrel deaths since doing that. Takes a while for any silly, busybody horses to leave it alone.
I have one who used to decide it didn’t belong in her trough. Yes, you should empty out the water after a dead rodent
has been soaking in it. Botulism is a possibility otherwise.

[wildlifer]

A piece of wood can work, an old hay net is a good idea, you could also knot some hay strings together to make a mesh.

I now vaccinate my horses against botulism after learning the bacteria can live in soil for several years, if you don’t, then yes, always dump corpse water.

[tinah]

Going to upteenth the pan next to the water. The black rubber feed pans about 4 inches deep work awesome.

[ttldr1]

I drilled a hole big enough to thread a piece of paracord through in the top of the lip, tied the rope onto that, put knots in the rope about two inches apart and toss that into the trough. Works great have not had a drowning since. Also help with dumping the trough just grab the rope and pull the trough over.

[pony4me]

We have an old oven rack, sideways, in the trough. It’s held in place with some wire that goes over the to of the trough. We have not had any fatalities since installing it a few years ago.