For the first ten years I lived here, I hauled all my water and filled a cistern which fed water through an electric pressure pump to the house. I bought an inexpensive manual water pump, the old fashioned hand lever kind that operates off of elbow energy, and I would insert that with long pipe into my cistern and pump away. Elbow energy. Almost always works in a power failure. Water from the hot water heater can also be used by draining it out of the drain valve at the bottom.
Watching temps plummet deeper into the teens than expected yesterday afternoon, we reconsidered adding some form of heat.
Very similar narrative here. Went from upper 50s rain to four inches of snow Christmas eve night, high winds, and only got up to about 20 yesterday (and down to 11 last night). Like you, this weather is abnormal for us--and what had me anxious was the suddenness of the temp change.@buffy-the-eggpile-layer How did everyone do?
Not sure about SWVA, but in east TN, the weather was more severe than predicted. Christmas Eve was rainy & 50s until 3 p.m. Then came high wind, and by 5, an inch of snow on the ground. Ended up with about a foot and a high of 22°F yesterday. That's epic for here, where December days are often 60°.
Our coops also have no power. The chicken yard's a couple hundred feet from the house, and we chose cold-hardy breeds for situations exactly like this one, but it's our first full winter with chickens, so we're allowed some stress and uncertainty
After seeing them be surprisingly unphased as they went to roost, we decided not to heat because of how disruptive a new device in their coop would be. We prefer they get deep chickensleep than be stressed or awoken through the night while still contending with extremely cold weather--no small heat source would keep up with open coop windows and a low of 10°F.
Fortunately our flock took it in stride. One of the EEs met me at the pop door at dawn. She wasn't looking for unfrozen water but to unlock all the coops so she could trot to the one where she likes to lay. Never mind there are literally 6 nesting boxes in the coop where she and the flock slept last night. Chickens are awesome. I hope you had the same type of success. It sounded like you proofed your space well.
Did you figure out what to do with your little bumblefooter?
Love the photos--what a gorgeous, healthy-looking flock! I know the plight of chipping off frozen chicken poop, along with having that realization that I've 100% turned into a crazy chicken lady (I have that revelation daily... the things I do for these girls!). While our nights are still dipping into the 20s, I consider that over the hump because that's pretty normal around our area, and the girls have fared well countless 20-degree nights in the past. Today it's nearing 50 degrees and I'm praying for a quick melt of all the snow.Hooray! Yeah--you weren't alone in the hand wringing over this particular weather event. The temperature swing + wind + rain was eeeesh. They say to keep coops open for ventilation but draft-free. Seems like a tall order with 30 mph winds. Not to mention our nightly 99% humidity
I fretted over our cockerels' combs but didn't do the vaseline. I've read mixed reviews, like that vaseline can freeze, too? Also, our 2 fellas just have pea combs. We did serve the warm oatmeal and BOSS and put down dry shavings in the run, and had everybody roost together instead of splitting into separate coops like they usually do. The clean-legged EEs don't mind the snow, but in general, everybody spent a surprising amount of time in their bigger coop the past few days. It looks like a frat party in there. I like it clean so have been kicking off my boots and going in sock-footed to tidy up (a.k.a., chip away frozen poop with a trowel) 4x a day to not track in snow/excess moisture. I didn't expect to become the crazy chicken lady, but here we are.
Hopefully we're over this weather hump! Tonight's the last time it should dip to the low 20s here for at least the next week. Obviously there may be an encore, but winter weather this severe typically only happens every 2-3 years around here. That's great because the chickens seem to be over it. Our EEs in particular are sleeping in an actual pile on the roost. It's cute, but I'm not digging them having to do that. I think we'll upgrade with electricity this next year. We committed to the no-heat thing this year based on a lot of research, but my SO and I still both lost sleep over it, and if any birds have medical issues or are in a hard molt, stuff gets complicated fast.
Summer's surprisingly mild here. But we're on the side of a mountain not too far from the National Park. Of course, it still reaches the low 90s sometimes, and our Brahmas start panting at 80°. How do people keep these birds in Florida or Texas??
Continued good thoughts to SWVA. That's a pretty part of the world.
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They totally obliged though.
Hahaha. When I was getting quotes on sand for my run the guy I talked to was like, "that's a lot of sand. Can I ask you what you need it for?" I told him chickens. And he laughed in he was like they're just chickens. I asked what he uses and he said nothing they're chickens so they just like the dirt. He's right but I was like, "oh man, I cannot get into why I'm worried about the substrate quality or this guy will think I'm crazy." I haven't yet completed the switch to sand but my bunblefooted girl is the reason why I'm going that way. She's prone to it every winter, and the vet said part of her vulnerability is the fact that one of her feet is larger than the other. I try to make up for that any way I can with their environment.Is it possible to bring a friend into the house with her in the future? We had a situation where we almost brought in one of our EEs during a previous cold snap, but we were going to bring her BFF, too. Having 2 chickens in the house wasn't exactly appealing, but I figured that would ease re-integration and separation anxiety for both.
Fortunately it ended up not being necessary in that case, but it sounded like a good idea for your bumble gal to avoid a frozen foot! Sorry you're dealing with that. We haven't had bumblefoot to date, but I'm always on the lookout, particularly with the LF Brahmas and Langshans. Actually, when we ordered our big coop, I asked them to give the ramp and roost bars an extra sanding. The sales guy thought I was nuts. Our order form said, "Their chickens have soft and tender feet."
Once, our most loner Langshan had to live inside to get over a close call with roundworms (one of our recurrent issues, ugh). While she seemed happy indoors, as soon as she went back outside, she did that purring thing, too, for days.
Are you seeing where there may be more weather drama on 1/3-1/4? Around here, some folks say we're done with big snows based on the number of fogs in August, and the almanac agrees. Others say the woolly worms predicted harsh weather all winter
Should be rain here, too. Is your region de-iced? I'm betting your winter temps are cooler than ours. It's been 50s here but some roads are still closed: the rugged mountain "roads" a few wicked GPS devices send tourists down. For some reason, instead of taking 30 seconds to find any of the abundant alternate routes to Gatlinburg, people drove around cones and slid off the road. We're talking 60+ cars in creeks, down mountains, stranded on Christmas...we needed signs that said, "Hey, if locals say the road is bad, believe that." Because the locals are like mountain goats in cars. They never close roads.
Hahaha. When I was getting quotes on sand for my run the guy I talked to was like, "that's a lot of sand. Can I ask you what you need it for?" I told him chickens. And he laughed in he was like they're just chickens. I asked what he uses and he said nothing they're chickens so they just like the dirt. He's right but I was like, "oh man, I cannot get into why I'm worried about the substrate quality or this guy will think I'm crazy." I haven't yet completed the switch to sand but my bunblefooted girl is the reason why I'm going that way. She's prone to it every winter, and the vet said part of her vulnerability is the fact that one of her feet is larger than the other. I try to make up for that any way I can with their environment.Is it possible to bring a friend into the house with her in the future? We had a situation where we almost brought in one of our EEs during a previous cold snap, but we were going to bring her BFF, too. Having 2 chickens in the house wasn't exactly appealing, but I figured that would ease re-integration and separation anxiety for both.
Fortunately it ended up not being necessary in that case, but it sounded like a good idea for your bumble gal to avoid a frozen foot! Sorry you're dealing with that. We haven't had bumblefoot to date, but I'm always on the lookout, particularly with the LF Brahmas and Langshans. Actually, when we ordered our big coop, I asked them to give the ramp and roost bars an extra sanding. The sales guy thought I was nuts. Our order form said, "Their chickens have soft and tender feet."
Once, our most loner Langshan had to live inside to get over a close call with roundworms (one of our recurrent issues, ugh). While she seemed happy indoors, as soon as she went back outside, she did that purring thing, too, for days.
Are you seeing where there may be more weather drama on 1/3-1/4? Around here, some folks say we're done with big snows based on the number of fogs in August, and the almanac agrees. Others say the woolly worms predicted harsh weather all winter
What a beautiful property! That is one good lucking and very lucky flock. Thank you for sharing! We are only on an acre but I dream of more property and a bigger flock one day (though the latter might be over my husband's dead body). I'll have to pin your photos to my dream board lol.Soooo, I scoop multiple times a day, too. I use a dustpan and a trowel left over from when we built our barndominium, not only in their runs but around their 2K square-foot yard. Keeping their ground clean is my Zen, like Luanne's swimming pool in King of the Hill.
Where did you get sand quotes from? Local quarries or landscaping companies? That's great about your hen being on the mend again! It'd be interesting to hear if sand helps her big foot. At the very least, the drainage should be an upgrade during the wet season.
On the roundworms: I haven't actually seen a worm in poop. Yay because ick, but it is a little confusing. We got the diagnosis both times via poop analysis at a vet's. It wasn't a surprise. They eat lots of creatures from the dirt. In both instances, the vet provided 2 doses of Panacur for their water to be administered 10 days apart. In the 2nd instance, that treatment evidently saved the Langshan (she finally turned around 12 hours after taking in a good dose). Not seeing the worms is confusing. It's possible they weren't the visible kind...I'm just not sure, and like you am doubtful those jokers were eradicated. Or that they'll ever be fully gone.
Going forward, I've been considering starting with quarterly testing, and if they keep coming up positive, I may jump to quarterly worming, rotating treatments to reduce resistance. We generally take a biodynamic approach, which in this case would translate to prophylactic remedies (like garlic and pumpkin seeds) instead of chemical wormers until they achieve balance with the worms or die...but our flock is small and treasured. I'd rather medicate than stick to those principals in this case.
According to the forecast, it looks like the reports of "a repeat of 1993" were clickbait
On our end, we miraculously didn't lose power, and all the animals had a good time--even our bees were flying yesterday--so we'll count it as an amazing holiday despite being away from the family and friends we usually spend it with. Photos for kicks. I'll miss sledding down to the chicken yard every morning, ha.
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