Providing water during extremely cold winter

[aoxa]

23??????uummm eeewww thats cold

Whoops. I was looking at the "feels like" part of the forecast. It's really only going to be 30

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

 

[aoxa]

And this is why all the elderly people around here go to Florida for the winter

My grandparents are leaving very soon, as well as my in-laws.

 

[psue]

remind me to keep you upto date on our winter temps this year Celtic... we wont get AS cold as aoxa

 

[Iain Utah]

Aoxa, not sure if your temps get as cold as mine, as we range from -15 to 15F for lows in December/January, but I wonder how many hours of daylight you get those months? In those months, our sun sets at 5pm, which I do not like at all.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Aoxa, not sure if your temps get as cold as mine, as we range from -15 to 15F for lows in December/January, but I wonder how many hours of daylight you get those months? In those months, our sun sets at 5pm, which I do not like at all.

I just might have to build a fire in the wood stove if ya'll keep this up.

 

[Cottage Rose]

There are many types of heaters that can be utilized but I've never attemtped with my geese because they are such nibblers and gnawers and figured they'd
just mess with the cords and knock the buckets over.
I simply fill their stall buckets once a day with fresh water and since they didn't drink as much water in the winter that seems enough.
I use the hard plastic fortiflex buckets and highly recommend them since they take a beating and last for years. I don't use the black rubber buckets
because I wonder about chemical from the rubber leeching into the water. (I'm picky)
I fill their pools as much as possible but always make sure to empty them at night otherwise you about kill yourself trying to get a giant round icecube
out of the pools the next day. It takes about 100 feet of hose from my yard hydrant to my bird sheds which I drain the water out of over a low tree limb.
My daily exericise.
No getting around it, doing winter chorestin cold climates is not fun but once I get myself out the door the fresh air and communing with my geesies does me good.

 

[Iain Utah]

Cottage, thank you for your post. It has a lot of helpful information. I wondered about heaters with geese, as I cannot use a heater in my horses' trough because I have a couple of horses that can rival geese with their curious nibbling. I have noticed my geese's water consumption has already dropped considerably with the colder weather. I have also in the past strategically placed trough within 15 feet of water outlet and then I cut a hose to length. That way, I can bring the hose inside at night to thaw, although I have been known to just drape the hose on fence if sunny out.

 

[aoxa]

Aoxa, not sure if your temps get as cold as mine, as we range from -15 to 15F for lows in December/January, but I wonder how many hours of daylight you get those months?  In those months, our sun sets at 5pm, which I do not like at all.

It gets about the same I would say. We do get really cold wind chill advisories. Last year the coldest was around -40 with wind chill at night. Our days are usually around the 0*F mark. Our days are over before I get home from work at 4:45 - so I know how you feel. I hate the short days. I can deal with the cold, I just hate doing chores in the dark.

I am not looking forward to winter chores.

 

[aoxa]

Cottage, thank you for your post.  It has a lot of helpful information.  I wondered about heaters with geese, as I cannot use a heater in my horses' trough because I have a couple of horses that can rival geese with their curious nibbling.  I have noticed my geese's water consumption has already dropped considerably with the colder weather.  I have also in the past strategically placed trough within 15 feet of water outlet and then I cut a hose to length.  That way, I can bring the hose inside at night to thaw, although I have been known to just drape the hose on fence if sunny out. 

My hose has already frozen solid on Friday night. Good news is, I have a heater attached to my water outlet in the barn. That's a big plus. However, I doubt my geese/ducks will want to swim in the winter.. The pool will freeze during the day. Last winter the ducks didn't even attempt to swim, but this year I have calls, and they can't get enough of the pool.