Tending Livestock in [Freezing] Winter

[Okiepan]

I just do it , But the cold weather sucks !!!
Wind , snow Ice etc We all do it because we love the life of farming and ranching
Earlier this year I was chopping ice at least 4-6" inches totally was not fun but after the task was completed and the livestock had there water I was smiling.

 

[Mini Horses]

Her in coastal VA we generally have cold with little snow or extreme cold for any great length of time. Jan and Feb is our coldest. So I have heated water tubs, buckets, etc. And use if it's going to be several days....unusual. They are expensive to run. But sometimes needed. More often, it's breaking frozen top water, adding hot to it. Length of cold and actual temps guide my handling. If all day low temps that prevent thawing, I treat different than ice in morning. Some years I fill a heated tub and dip from it...some I carry a few jugs of hot from house. I have water and electric in most barns and underground water lines, with spigots covered. I did buy one of those flex, lightweight hoses a few yrs back. Easier to carry in and out if snow, extreme cold, to use at outer spigots...taking inside to keep thawed. No matter, cold is difficult for us and animals for water!

 

[Britesea]

I can't help thinking about 76 year old Agafia, the woman that lives alone in Siberia, going out every morning to chop a hole in the ice on the river to get buckets of water for herself and her livestock. Grateful to be living where I do. We usually fill a bucket with hot water once or twice a day from the inside sink for the chickens.

 

[Trying2keepitReal]

can't you stack some hay bales to create a wind-break and another layer of insulation around a chicken coop to keep more of the heat in?

i'd think that for birds as long as they are dry and out of the wind they can pretty much cope with a lot more than we can.

I think that a wind-break is a definite need for many animals but yes for chickens. we plastic up our run in the winter which makes it like an unheated greenhouse-but they seem to like it so far.

 

[Alaskan]

I always worry about using an aquarium heater...

1. They bust if they are run dry
2. They tend to keep the water at pretty warm temps, warmer than you need, so wasting electricity

A bird bath de-icer or stock tank de-icer is usually safer and uses less electricity.

 

[tortoise]

I dont know what I would do for livestock water without electricity!

 

[Trying2keepitReal]

I have a rat problem under my coop. Yikes. Otherwise, straw bales around would probably help a lot to keep the wind from drawing warmth away from the coop floor.

yuck on the rats--from what I hear they are hard to get rid of. Can you set some traps and then close up underneath to coop? hopefully they haven't made it into the coop...*shudder*

 

[tortoise]

yuck on the rats--from what I hear they are hard to get rid of. Can you set some traps and then close up underneath to coop? hopefully they haven't made it into the coop...*shudder*

We starved them out by moving chickens out for years. DH filled their burrows with water to chase them out. He poisoned them (and we are very anti-poison around here!). Couple months after having chickens in the coop, they returned. They chew through the exterior walls of the coop. I asked DH if he would line the coop with leftover metal siding. I don't think there's enough left to completely exclude rats, but anything helps

 

[Trying2keepitReal]

I don't heat the coops. I once, many years back had a heat lamp in the winter. I went into the coop and the gust of cold air that came in with me made the heat lamp shatter all through the bedding.

Never again heat lamps in winter, too dangerous.

this happened to my uncle too. We had a local farmer that had a fire from a heat lamp about 5 years ago too and lost all the poultry in the barn.

 

[flowerbug]

as something more like a heat lump instead of a heat lamp you could take a submerged aquarium heater of the appropriate wattage (don't set it too hot to boil the water) and put it in a bucket with a tight lid (also making sure that the heater won't melt the bucket). if you use a pretty heavy duty cord and make sure the connections are well wrapped with tape to keep the gunk out then this might last for several years.