fuzzi's Chicken Journal

[Mother of Chaos]

How are we all doing this morning? We still have power, and therefore heat, but wow, the paved walkway out to the coop,

 

[Mother of Chaos]

I saw a hack about keeping watering tubs from freezing as quickly. A cattle farmer I know confirmed it can work, but not when it gets much below 20°F. She said use 1/2 cup of salt in 3/4 gallon of water. My jugs are more like 1/2 cup salt in 1/2 gallon of water. I added fresh water in the tubs until the level matched the water level in the jug.
View attachment 4288114I'll let you know how it works.

I just now figured out what you were describing. That’s ingenious!

When we get back to “just plain cold” again, minus extreme cold and ice drama, I’m going to give this a try.

 

[fuzzi]

Power is still on, coffee brewed.

It's 28°F and misting. Everything is covered in a glaze of ice. It looks wet, but is ice.

I was able to pry up the stair treads to get down safely.

Feral cats fed, chickens fed, ice in watering tubs broken up, dog walked.

Esther was foraging with the others. I gave the flocks some BOSS for extra calories.

I'm staying in until the temperature rises enough to unfreeze the ice coating.

But then it's going to refreeze tonight.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

I bought a bag of sand yesterday at Lowe’s (wow, 50 pounds seems to weigh a lot more than it used to) for spreading on the walkway later when we get above freezing. I’ve also got several bags of shredded hardwood mulch in the shed that I’ll also try out in hopes of both adding a little traction and also absorbing some heat if the sun comes back out.

 

[Molpet]

Ice is the worst thing.
I have about 4 inches of snow, which is normal.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

Ice is the worst thing.
I have about 4 inches of snow, which is normal.

Earlier the forecasts called for 3-5” of snow, before the winds shifted. We got zero.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Ice, sleet and freezing rain. Everything is iced over, but so far we still have power. More to come, but time will tell how this all plays out.