Winter for the birds

The temperature in west Michigan has been dipping down into single digits this weekend making this winter difficult for man and beast as well as our feathered friends. We keep the feeders full and offer fresh drinking water for the birds via a heated birdbath. In the summer time the dogs have a water faucet outside, but in the winter they must wait until inside to drink out of their buckets. Treasure has decided that the birdbath works as an elevated fountain and she has been drinking out of it...Of course being the smart and curious puppy that she is, she wanted to figure out how it worked (I assume) so she pulled the heating element out of it and left it on the deck floor. With the temperatures so low it didn't take long for the water in the bath to freeze. Mike put the heater back on the bird bath last night and poured hot water over it. This morning when I checked I found it was still frozen. So I spent the last 1/2 hour trying to get the bird bath working. Seems pouring hot water on top is not enough. I think the heating element needs to be fully submerged to work. I tried boiling water on the stove and pouring it on over and over to no avail. So then I got a hammer and large screw driver out of the drawer and chipped away and alternately poured hot water on it until I got enough water to submerge the heater. I'm hoping that will work. My wrists hurt needless to say, but at least the birds have some water to drink for a little while. We shall see how it works now. I guess Miss Treasure will have to change her ways!