Cold!

[CrealCritter]

Supposed to get down to 10F/~ -12C tonight here in southern IL I grew tired of hauling water out to the chickens already, because there's were frozen. So I sprung $30 for a 5 gallon steel fount electric 120 watt heater base. I already have one for the Turkey pen and it seems to work well enough.

I also laid down a fresh bed of barn lime over their deep bedding and added 2 fresh garbage cans full of wood shavings from the shop.

Well let's hope the chickens amd.turkey will be ok overnight.

 

[treerooted]

My hair froze this morning. Enough said.

 

[treerooted]

Oh, can I get in on the cold competition too? lol

Was a beautiful -16C (3 F) today at the warmest, had a lovely x-country ski in the woods today. Van wouldn't start this morning though after the -30 c (-22 f) night. Going to be like this all week as well. We won't talk about what happens to those temperatures when the wind is whipping across the fields. I don't blame the chickens for not stepping outside their coop.

We are under an "extreme cold warning"

Wishing some warmth to all my fellow cold homesteaders!

 

[CrealCritter]

It helps to share body heat in time like these. I purposely sweep up a big ole pile of sawdust in the shop for my outdoor guard dog and cat named pumpkin. Honestly it's not because i'm lazy or anything.

My left shoulder is hurting bad, happens every time it gets cold like this. Not to mention frost bite on my hands and toes come back from the days of my youth to remind me just how stupid I was when I was 8 years old but I won the snow ball war

I agree the cold is nice... Fresh air, clear skies, great for star gazing for short amounts of time.

 

[Mini Horses]

This was the ENTIRE snow for 2015-16 winter....end of day, we got no more and it melted the next day! Taken 1-17-16 - not more than an inch. Only some flurries year before.

This year 10" of snow on 1-4-18. & a week of freezing weather. Could be worse. Just extreme for my area.


I AM thankful to the good Lord that I am still able to haul the
30-40 gal of hot water each day (in 25 mph winds today!)

It's all good -- just inconvenient as can be. AND COLD
Monday we will be back to "normal" temps 45-50 days, 35 nights. I'm ready for that.

 

[Britesea]

Reading all this, I can't help but remember reading about 70 year old Agafia Lykov chopping through the river ice every morning to get water for herself, her animals, and the crippled old man that lives near her (she explained that he can't get the water because he has a wooden peg leg that makes walking on the ice treacherous). Her parents turned their backs on city life and disappeared into the forests of Siberia back in the 30's. They lived like the peasants of the 19th century. She was born there, and is the last living member of her family. As of May last year, she was still alive and kicking.

Count your blessings, people! lol

 

[FarmerJamie]

Not currently, but back in the day...

 

[Beekissed]

This winter can be a curse or a blessing, whichever way one wants to look at it. As a blessing, it can show one where there are gaps in their livestock systems that need filled before another such winter as this. As a curse, one can just see it as misery and not much else.

Back in the day we didn't have electricity and our water was carried from a spring that was a little distance from the house. We had to break ice each time and carry water to the house via buckets and milk jugs, then a couple of 5 gal. buckets another 200 yds to the pigs and chickens. That was the job of my sister and I before we went to school and again when we came home again...I was 10, she was 12. That was a cold business and you couldn't avoid getting your hands wet when dipping from a spring.

The pigs got water in their slop/feed, so we knew they were getting enough water with their food. We didn't try to give them extra water beyond that. Seemed to work...they ate it all before it froze and all the water was gone also.

The chickens seemed to get enough water before theirs froze up each day, so we didn't worry about them either. Water and feed twice a day and that was it.

Back in the day, folks would serve the livestock some warm gruel or mash when temps got this bad, so they got their water and feed in one meal. Seems like a good idea to me.

I feed wet feed to the chickens all winter long, so even though they have a heated dog bowl of water in the coop, they rarely take the levels down at all. I keep it from freezing by feeding it on the earthen floor in the middle of the coop, after I've raked back the DL there. Keeps it from freezing before they can eat it all...they get fed once a day in this manner and they seem to be getting all the feed~they are fat and sassy.

Lately I've been carrying hot water up there to pour over the dog's food, stir it up to make a gravy and feed it to them that way. I've noticed a lot less water use in their heated bucket since I started that, so I'll continue that for these really cold temps.

What a luxury those heated buckets and bowls are, though. Takes a lot of the work and worry about winter water out of the equation, so I highly recommend them. Used to have one for my sheep too. When the power goes out, they aren't much help, though, so feeding water and feed together can sometimes get the animals their daily water needs when water is hard to keep liquid.

 

[treerooted]

This is a pretty popular meme around these parts :

 

[treerooted]

Oh noooooooo... That really stinks!

Indeed, water was actually stopped, I was just seeing what was left in the pipes.
But DH came home, found the frozen intake, and it thawed out in not too much time.
So hurrah! Now we know to be more cautious in these temps.