North Carolina

[Banriona]

I know for me, my day starts when I let chickens out and goes until they go to bed. In between, I'm checking for eggs, riding/exercising horses and working on the house. Horse exercise is paramount because we're likely moving to Washington state in a year. It may happen sooner, but hopefully not. I have to have the horses conditioned to make the trip. And I have to finish the house.....I'm tired just thinking about it. *sigh*

I grew up in the NW - and spent 11 years in Seattle before moving to SC in 2001. You will love it out there once you get used to the cold. It is beautiful country and the people are amazing. The eastern part of the state is pretty in it's own right, just not as green.

 

[jtbass2756]

I know you aren't asking me.. but we are also moving - in a while...  My hubby swears aren't moving ANY chickens.. I am not promising.  It depends on where I am with breeding projects and how much starting over will set me back or cost to replace. Until then I just smile and remain non-committal.

tammyfarms...!!! where are you all moving? DANG...everyone is on the move! How many chickens? What kind? I have a small coop but am looking to enlarge for more. Haven't gotten any certain kind in mind but when the time comes..let me know if I can help you out.

 

[Hollowoakfarm]

Oh

jtbass,

I've got Raynauds and a few other things, too.  Winters can be painful!  I think I have pictures of my water setup in my profile.  55 gallon pickle barrel of water in each henhouse.  I use dog auto waterers in the summer, but bowls in winter.  Fill them once a week, during the middle of the day when the hoses are thawed.  Mine don't freeze hard enough to make watering a big problem.  I do have one with the water outside, so have to break the ice off in the mornings.  I make sure that one is filled up in the evening.  occasionally I have to bring a small bucket of hot water out to pour into the water, but mostly not.  I keep double rabbit bottles and swap them out daily, bringing the frozen ones indoors to thaw.  Oh, on the hose...if you must leave it out, make sure it drains after each use, so there's is no water in there to freeze!

Also, look in the hunting section of Wal Mart or other store and get some chemical heat packs.  If you put them on your wrists (pulse point) your hand will still be usable.  You can put them inside mittens, but it's a bit bulky and limits your hand use somewhat.  They make them to fit in shoes, too.  I've never found them much help there, as they need oxygen to work and my shoes pretty much eliminate that getting to the packs.  And again, they take up too much room.  You'll want a hat with face mask if your face is involved in the Raynaud's, too.  And extra body protection.  (It affects pretty much all extremities on me; hands, feet, ears, nose, and breasts.  Not fun.  I hate winter.)

Oh...and yes, I've been busy!  But we are in finals week now, so soon I'll be around more.  Until next semester starts up!

You have no idea of the help and the ideas you have provided.....plus your time taken to respond...soooo appreciated. I have made sure to to the water during the middle of the day since then..as I said, it was my own fault to begin but I'm going to try to make sure it NEVER happens again.

, Shoot. Gloves. Get the thin knit ones, and then those yellow rubber kitchen gloves in a larger size over top to waterproof yourself. Not great in really cold weather, but works good to keep dry hands, and with heat packs on the wrists, it works. Dry is critically important in the cold.

 

[Banriona]

Where are you planning on moving in WA? We have long term plans to relocate when I retire... 3 to 7 years from now. Because we are planners, we are already looking at homes and land

Our plan is to move to the eastern side, about 3 hours north of Spokane.

BTW, I know it is a lot of work, but I am jealous of your days! I let the chickens out and then sit on my rear in front of a computer for 9 hours until I can come home, take care of the chickens, make diner, to go bed and do it all over again the next day.

Spokane is beautiful! Everything south of that is kinda blah, and everything west of their between Spokane and Ellensburg is pretty blah too. Can you tell I like mountains?? You'll get some nice snowfall there too. Pretty, but cold.

My two favorite places on the West coast are Bellingham, WA and Coos Bay, OR.

 

[chicken dad]

I'm doing good here in Nash Cty. Only problem I've had lately is with the watering hose which goes to the coop. I don't have running water out there so I've always used a hose.(this is my first winter) I am also handicapped and have raynaud's syndrome which effects my fingers/hands if they are exposed to cold. LOL Not a good combination when using cold water in cold weather. I worry the worse weather has yet to come. My hose froze up somewhere along the line. I didn't have any waterproof gloves! had to hand walk the hose,curling it, trying to break up the ice. My hands had gotten wet/cold...turned white from lack of circulation. I knew I had to get them water. My dear hubby came out and got a bucket and went in and got some water. I finally got the hose opened too. The waterer inside the pen has never even had any ice in it. I have it pretty well protected..LOL...but I have to get the water to them!! Been trying to figure out how to do it. I can't physically carry the water to and from. I did go to TSC and found some gloves by JohnDeere which have a rubberized portion on the front so they are going have to suffice for now. If anyone has a miracle design that might work..let me know. My coop is good, protected from the elements, ventilated..not heated but I do have 3 brooder lights underneath. No...not inside and not in contact with any wood area of the coop. We put our gifted coop underneath the front wing of our shed so I can put those lights out of the weather but against the loser wire of the coop. They are safe and yet providing a minimal source of heat.

JT, do you have electricity in your coop? I made a cookie tin heater for my water. So far it has worked pretty good. I have a 3 gallon waterer and set it on top of the cookie tin. To make the heater i just took an old cookie tin, light socket and cord. Drilled a hole in the side of the tin just big enough for the base of the light socket to go through. I ran the cord through the hole, hooked it up to the socket and then tightened the nut down to hold the cord and socket tight against the tin. I used a 40 watt bulb. Plugged it in and put the lid on the tin then set the waterer on top of that. Like I said, so far so good. Haven't really seen any thick ice, just some very thin ice at the most. Mine sits out in the run which is covered. Hope this gives you another idea.

 

[Tikkijane]

Tikkijane...thanks for the contact. I used to live in Enfield. Moved away about 30 yrs ago but still know a lot of people over there. Do you farm in the area? I do have gloves but I'm looking for waterproof and its difficult to find in a woman's size so I can manipulate my fingers.

We have a Whitakers address but an Enfield phone number. Go figure, lol.

I've had some frozen water two times here. If it's really frozen, I'll take out another waterer full of hot water. By the time I get out there, it's only warm, but will not freeze in time for the others to thaw.

Lowe's has packs of these rubber grip gloves. The palms and tips are rubberized/waterproof, and while not thermal, they do enough for the water/icky tasks.

 

[Tikkijane]

How many horses do you have? Why in the world are you moving to the NW? Do you have family up there? Do you have other animals besides horses and chickens? Are you going to move them also

We have 6 horses (all rescues). When moved here, I swore I'd die here, lol. Apparently, God had other plans. We're moving for work; going back to the dair industry. The horses are going; I'm hoping to move my flock (14 bantams, 40 lf; 12 guineas) less the guineas, which I don't want to listen to for 2880 miles. No family there, but inlaws are in Az and have some extended family in Or.

We also have 5 dogs, 6 cats, and 4 kids. Hunny is taking the oldest (17) ans at least one of the dogs when he heads out after Christmas. Meh.

Will keep trying to get the pic to upload.

 

[Tikkijane]

Where are you planning on moving in WA?  We have long term plans to relocate when I retire... 3 to 7 years from now.  Because we are planners, we are already looking at homes and land  Our plan is to move to the eastern side, about 3 hours north of Spokane.

BTW, I know it is a lot of work, but I am jealous of your days!  I let the chickens out and then sit on my rear in front of a computer for 9 hours until I can come home, take care of the chickens, make diner, to go bed and do it all over again the next day.

Oh, this is the ugly part of Wa-south central; lower valley. In the midst of the horse slaughter feedlots and pipeline.

We lived in the NM high desert for 17 years and I *hated* the climate and the brown. This location gets 3 inches less rain a year than where we were. 7 inches of precip is not my ideal climate. Right HERE is. :/

While you can see the mountains in any direction, this area is very blah, like the central valley in Ca.

Because the company really wants him in Seattle eventually, we might not sell here until they want him at the corporate office. We really don't know yet. Seattle is way better but a lot more spendy, and we have to have useable acreage for the horses.

I absolutely love it here, to say the least. There are times I'd love to sleep in or just take a day off, but it really is exactly what we wanted. Boo.

 

[Tikkijane]

I grew up in the NW - and spent 11 years in Seattle before moving to SC in 2001.  You will love it out there once you get used to the cold.  It is beautiful country and the people are amazing.  The eastern part of the state is pretty in it's own right, just not as green.

I'm from Michigan, so the cold doesn't bother me. And the desert gets cold, too. The single positive is that it doesn't get real hot. -4 for a low this week.

I do think the desert has its own unique beauty. Even the tri-cities area is prettier than this place. If we move to that part of the state, I'm going to shoot for the upper valley/Yakima area. Going due north is the toxic nuclear site. :/

I haven't quite gotten to the appreciative part of this yet. We might try to hang onto what we have here and come back when we retire in 20 years. We really do not want to let go.....

 

[Tikkijane]

I know you aren't asking me.. but we are also moving - in a while...  My hubby swears aren't moving ANY chickens.. I am not promising.  It depends on where I am with breeding projects and how much starting over will set me back or cost to replace. Until then I just smile and remain non-committal.