Live in a Very Cold Winter area? Post link to your personal page here!

[LynneP]

Great photos, Catalina!

I hear you folks are sending us another Arctic blast later this week? Ahem.

Please stop that.

 

[luvmygirlsinAK]

Hear ye, hear ye!!! It's only _11 F. right now!!!! Ohhhhhh, we are basking in the warmth!!!! It literally feels like a heat wave!!!

And I was all set to go to Hawaii!!! (The chickens were all packed too!)

I'm going to have to break the news to them gently!!!

 

[Catalina]

Quote:
Really makes you excited for spring, huh?! Ever looked to see what can grow in zone 1?!

That's why we are building an attached year round greenhouse.

Can't wait to put our "dwarf" banana tree and coconut palm tree in it when it is done!!!!

Even more, I can't wait to get those little bananas from it when it is finished maturing. They are supposed to be like the little Apple bananas that we ate when we were in Hawaii last. They are soooooo good!!

Hey! You're not supposed to be able to grow bananas and coconuts! You live in Alaska!
No fair! J/K

Post pics when you get done - that sounds really nice.

I wanna greenhouse toooooooo!

 

[Alaskan]

I ran out of steam, and didn't finish reading through the entire thread.... Sp GIANT apologies if this was covered already...



Does anyone have any pointers for getting one of the standard metal chicken waterers to stay thawed?

I have the electric heated base to sit it on, but it just doesn't work when the temps go below 10F.

I have it in a 3 walled roofed shelter. It is sitting on some plywood, then blue foam insulation, then the heater, then the waterer.

I don't really want to put it in the coop due to space and mess reasons...I also am not so sure that the coop is any warmer.

I started this winter with that chicken waterer as well as 2 heated dog bowl waterers. The dog bowls are GREAT, but my son busted one by kicking it when part was frozen in the snow.

Anyway, hints or tips?

The chickens and ducks seem fine.

The eggs are OFTEN found frozen though, even though we check 3 times a day. Luckily they cook up great after being frozen.

Thanks!

 

[Mrs MIA]

Hmmm... my heater base worked really well all the way to -35F... I wonder if it's working properly? I don't know that it's meant to be used outside. I have mine in the corner of the coop, next to a pop door, and the only time I had ice was when the water was almost gone.
But...those heated dog bowls DO work well, don't they?

 

[jhm47]

It's now -15 degrees here at 11pm. Supposed to get to -25 by morning. My question is this: Whatever happened to global warming? This has been one of the coldest winters in a decade, and our summer was quite cool also. We also have had a lot more snow than usual, and the wind has been continual.

Would any of you be willing to help bring back global warming? If everyone would just burn some plastic to increase air pollution, and possibly breathe a little faster to increase the CO2 content of the air, we might be able to resurrect the nice warm winters of old. Ahhhh for the good old days. Just kidding!

 

[Alaskan]

Mrs. AK-Bird-Brain :

Hmmm... my heater base worked really well all the way to -35F... I wonder if it's working properly? I don't know that it's meant to be used outside. I have mine in the corner of the coop, next to a pop door, and the only time I had ice was when the water was almost gone.
But...those heated dog bowls DO work well, don't they?

It isn't meant to be outside, but it is in a corner of that attached shelter. Even totally full it gets ice in the water lip part as well as inside.

We have finally given up on it, and the son in charge of poultry decided he didn't want to even try to move it into the coop on the off chance that that would help....instead he refills the one dog water bowl 3 times a day.

That thing is great by the way. There will be ice on the outside of the bowl, but the inside is completely liquid!​

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
Two things to try: First, make sure it is sitting on WOOD (not on snow, or the ground, or bricks, or cinderblocks - WOOD). I know that putting heated water tubs for horses on 4" of styrofoam considerably improves their performance; while you can't safely put a heated base on styrofoam, wood should be ok (esp. since you're outdoors) and would give some of the same insulating qualities.

Second, have you tried upending an empty bucket of suitable size over top of the waterer? Not covering the whole thing, obviously

but over the main, reservoir part. you would have to fool around iwth containers til you found one that was roughly the right diameter and short enough to stop severl inches above the water level so's not to interfere with drinking. This would add some not-huge but not-trivial insulation.

In principle you would also want to surround the trough part with insulation, and possibly even cover part of it with insulation leaving gaps for drinking from... but I can't offhand think of anything that would do any good, easily conform to the curve, *and* be safe for use on the heated base.

Good luck,

Pat, getting ready for a few nights of forecast -30 C later this week (which we usually run 5-10 degrees C colder than, at our property)

 

[chica-z]

Hey morelcabin, how's that open coop working?? I'm really curious to see how your girls do. Please keep us posted! I'm assuming you have food out 24/7, right? Any extra heat lamp or light?

 

[Mrs MIA]

Quote:
It isn't meant to be outside, but it is in a corner of that attached shelter. Even totally full it gets ice in the water lip part as well as inside.

We have finally given up on it, and the son in charge of poultry decided he didn't want to even try to move it into the coop on the off chance that that would help....instead he refills the one dog water bowl 3 times a day.

That thing is great by the way. There will be ice on the outside of the bowl, but the inside is completely liquid!

It will probably work if he puts it in the coop on a wood base. Mine's just sitting on the plywood floor. But then, I'm used to putting out fresh water for a lot of the other animals 3-4 times a day, too. I think it's great that he's not choosing the easy road.