Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Ponypoor]

An Old School 2fer

View attachment 4289752

Taken their first winter here.

I love this photo it’s like 2 old friends just hanging out relaxing

 

[Sylvester017]

Cleates for the icy ground, don’t wear them on tiles slippery!

Trudging through hip deep snow is exhausting!
It’s so exhausting putting all that clothes on and off - and then you have to piddle!

Oh you have to plan for that. Way too long to de-robe if you actually need to go!

Or wear diapers for "accidents" in the cold weather. Hey, I'm 81... I know these things!

Tx ~ been pretty cold even here in SoCalif... Silkies huddled between the garage wall & coop.

 

[Ponypoor]

Same, also in Texas. First thought when everything shuts down because of icy roads is that you'll have extra time, sit by the fire, read a book and eat stew. Then reality strikes - constant trips out there to ensure they have unfrozen water, they are entertained with fresh straw, the not as smart Polish is on the roost and not sitting in the open doorway - oh yeah and grabbing eggs before they freeze.
The first day of the ice storm DH felt bad for the chickens and we went out there and wrapped more. This involved some curse words because gloves had to come off to do it, as ice particles drifted on our heads. It's definitely more warm in the fully wrapped run than out in the open, though!
That said, we dodged a bullet this year - little snow, never lost power - just ice and cold.
I am not complaining. I know so many of you deal with this all the time.

I always feel bad for people (and animals) that are not used to dealing with the cold for extended periods of time (weeks, not just a few hrs). When I see places getting snow and cold for weeks on end that don’t normally receive that sort of weather I always worry for them.

Do they know to clear all the snow off their vehicles, so they even have a brush in the vehicle for this! And do they know how to drive in snow and ice

Do they know what to wear to protect hands and feet? Nose, ears, cheeks…. Frost bite happens so fast.

Are their pets/livestock protected? And how do the wildlife cope?

I need to stop this worrying!

 

[Ponypoor]

Frostbite is PAINFUL. Do not touch it. Do not spread ANYTHING on it. Let it heal on its own.

Castor oil has some wonderful properties to it but NOT FOR FROSTBITE!!!!

I can attest to frost bite being very painful - my cheeks fingers and toes all at various time have been affected.

FYI do not grab the metal barn door handle with wet bare hands (ya last night I was once again reminded of this - Kelly not so bright sometimes!).

 

[Ponypoor]

Sounds like your summer building project should involve increasing the amps to the barn and putting in a breaker box with multiple fuses.

Increasing the service to the barn is never going to happen. I already have a very old fuse box at the house, and it would be difficult to add to the barn’s service, and the power line to the barn likely would need to be re run, it’s buried.

A new breaker panel is my only option, and balancing the load. My big power drains are the water trough de-icer, I had a 750w I replaced with a 100w one. But it is running continuously in this freezing temps to keep water thawed. I am going to pop the 750w one back in and move some stuff around, that’s about 6 or 7 amps. Remember you can only run 80% of the total amps - so a 15 amp fuse can only take 12amps. That 750w de-icer is half the load there, so cannot keep the IR panels on that fuse.

There is also the water pump, which granted doesn’t run often, the hot water tank which I keep turned off (unplugged) unless I need hot water, and the radiator heater in the feedroom which I keep on low setting.

After that it’s the 4 IR heater panels all of them 200w. Those need to be moved as they are on the same fuse as the de-icer. Or the de-icer run on another fuse - which means running an extension cable from the other end of the barn. Easier to move the IR heaters. So the addition of the radiator heater of course blew the fuse as it’s way over the amps.

The lights are all about 8w apiece and I have removed all but 5 of them in the stalls. But that only draw around .07amps each so I am not worried about them.

My IT stuff (cameras, wireless bridge, etc) are an unknown for power draw.

So it’s going to be all about moving things around and a balancing act here.

Power tax

Wattles on a Wednesday

 

[Sylvester017]

Frostbite is PAINFUL. Do not touch it. Do not spread ANYTHING on it. Let it heal on its own.

Castor oil has some wonderful properties to it but NOT FOR FROSTBITE!!!!

Yes, TY for word correction ~ I was too brief & should have explained the E & castor oil are soothing for use/protection before actual frostbite cuz they are absorbed very quickly/beneficially into the skin & don't produce a greasy barrier that prohibits heat exchange like vaseline does. Yes, after frostbite it's too late to fiddle with it. But yes, the Vit E & castor oil really are good for use prior to frostbite. Practically all good skin products will contain E, castor oil, or both in them.

Our Silkies are troopers handling our cold snap... unusual for us... it's when cold rain hits that's bad for them. Little dabs of E on their little faces keeps them from drying out during our cold snap. We are loving not dealing w/ combs & wattles breeds this winter... we're having frost warning nights but by then the Silkies are all in the coop for the night.

 

[Ponypoor]

We gotta do something for poor Mr P!

He tells me he would like to go to Portugal, and then he can go wandering with his harem and leave the bad girls to that young twerp who keeps trying to “kick me in the butt”, or Spain if it’s warm enough.

He tells me as the Hooman it is my duty to make the weather behave.

Ya get in line buddy I tell him!

 

[Ponypoor]

This morning a guy in the alley asked me what breed of chickens I had? I told him it would be easier to tell their nationality. I told him Cok, cok, Caucasian! He just walked away as if insulted!
What?

What no joke about bread? And chickens?

 

[Ponypoor]

What do you mean not good for us?!

View attachment 4289926

Oh good heavens I forgot about Sydney and her bad habits too!

 

[Sylvester017]

We gotta do something for poor Mr P!

Maybe use a bandana?