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I've always used open waterers in the winter, heated and unheated, and never had an issue with wattles in the water getting frosted. Not sure why so many folks have this problem....could be due to the fact I elevate my watering dish so that they aren't bending down to drink but reaching up and...

How about skipping the whole circulating idea and just use a heated dog bowl with a lid on top that has a cut out for drinking? Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.

Sure do. This entire 10x12 coop cost around $300 to make, as most of the wood was scrap~free!~and was just pieced in like a puzzle, all different kinds and types of wood, different thicknesses and lengths. This is the front inside, with the winter tarp on...it's a clear tarp to let in the...

Blooie lives in WY.

Could you show us a pic? I'm thinking we are talking about two different things here, as a hoop coop is pretty strong under a snow load because of it's arched design and even that can be reinforced with a wooden framework if you get more than 2 panels in your design. Usually two panels are...

Heard about an old farmer that made an automatic door with a wind up alarm clock. When he collected his eggs he'd wind the clock, already had it set for a certain time of the morning...when the alarm went off, a piece of twine wound around the key as it turned and lifted the pop door as it did so.

I had a JD from the 80s too and loved it tremendously! We bought it used, 11 yrs old, and we used it for another 8 yrs past that and it was still running strong when I sold it...and moved. Wish now I hadn't sold it...the JD mowers nowadays couldn't put a scratch on that old one. We bought a...

Just a mid-sized Troy Bilt mower, the Bronco, from Lowe's...no big thing but Mom sure likes it...she does most of the mowing around here, as she just loves to mow. A bit too loud, though...you'd think they could put a better muffler on those things.

Placed a diversion tunnel on the back pop door today to keep out the new pup...been stealing all my eggs. Used the top half of an large, old cat carrier and reduced the pop door hole as well. I'll extend the tunnel or place another corner in it if this doesn't work....he'll have to...

We've used those before!!! But, no, mostly gas powered push mowers. No superior genes here, just homesteading on the cheap and a lot of kids to keep busy.

I remember a time when we used to mow 6 acres of lawn with push mowers. They were cheaper and there were lots of youngin's to push them around. Then it was just Mom and Dad and they still mowed with push mowers. Those folks with riding mowers "had more money than sense and they were missing...

Not derailed at all...plenty of DIY converse still going on! DIY comedy, DIY role adjustments, DIY vacuum tweaking, etc.

Funny, Ron! My dad had 9 children and never fed or diapered a one. Never even wiped a mouth or a butt. He just worked and worked hard. And that's okay...that was his job. Older sibs helped Mom with the younger and life goes on. Nobody got hurt by all those lovely and well defined gender...

Some of us live where gender roles are less...shall we say...grey? I can understand Miss Blooie's perspective more because I live in such a place and was raised in such a home. Now, the women could do all the men type work~except drive the tractor or run the chainsaw not because we couldn't...

I didn't measure with exact calibrations but I know my usual fill line on the buckets and it wasn't going down. This isn't my first rodeo when it comes to chickens and I know about their behavior when it comes to food and water, so I'm pretty certain they weren't getting their usual amounts...

It did...but the horizontal nipples didn't. The chickens couldn't seem to learn to drink from them...didn't seem to be enough water showing in the lip of them to encourage further levering for more.... and they were really needing to drink freely. When I switched back to the open waterer of...

I keep a cardboard box filled with deep hay, which I separate into different "nests" in the box for the designated eggs...usually shape it into a bowl just like a chicken would. Then I mark on the box, over each nest, the eggs in that nest and from which breeder. I then leave that box up...

Quote: Oh, the irony!! You are right, I never try to help others on this site....never have. Just ask your Zen master, Leah's Mom, she of the worlds of experience in chickens. Never helped her or anyone else on here even once. Just negative posts for the past 6 yrs. Shame on me for...

They do shake their wattles to clear them of liquid. Usually frostbite of wattles and combs are a result of too high of humidity in the roosting area of a coop, not moisture picked up in the daytime and easily cleared with a shake of the head or a swipe on the ground.

It always amazes me how frail chickens have become in the past 40 yrs. I've never had one with frost bitten feet or wattles from open watering~never even heard of such a thing until I read on BYC, so it ain't that common out here in the hills~ but maybe the new strains and lines of birds have...