Texas

[electrycmonk]

I've got a friend from Michigan and all he's been doing is bit/complaining about how unprepared we are here in Texas. Heck, I don't even own a heavy coat! I keep trying to tell him to get his head out of his heiney and teach us some things we could learn about how to deal with this cold, but he's lost in the political morass. ::sigh:: If you could point me towards a website or any information about how they prep pipes in the north/midwest-north, I'd appreciate it. It may be overkill for down here, but if it means I never have another busted/frozen pipe, I'll be happy.

Gladly. And without any bitterness your friend is spraying.

In fact, I can do ya one better. Document my fiasco with plenty of pics here,... Ermmm. I'll make a fresh thread and make sure you get to see/read all the data.....

I was rasied to educate all and raise everyone up with me... So as I gain wisdom - I share it freely so as many other as possible can also grow from it.

Fair enough?

 

[electrycmonk]

But, on the other hand, all my birds (94 of them), have weathered this cold just fine. No one went out at all on Monday - Tuesday. Just the turkeys and the youngest chickens on Wednesday-Thursday. Today, everyone was out ranging (except for the oldies (5-10 year olds), but they never go out much anyway).
I've had buckets under every roof the last two days, so I've caught a lot of melt water off the roofs. Should keep the animals in water until my well guy can show up.

Learn everything you can from them too! Everything! I took tones of notes when we bought this house from the well guy we had do the inspection and minor repairs before we could move in.... Our "well guy & wife" really appreciate me as I call with questions and they give answers because of the track record. They know *if* I call I have a darn good reason.

 

[Derangedplanet]

Pretty sure our neighbor lost all their chickens between Saturday and Sunday nights. We were in the negatives with almost a -30 windchill and I haven't heard a single call since

 

[NickyPick]

Thanks guys. I do want to learn what I can. This is my first house. I moved back to my parents after college (92) because they had property (4 acres) and I had horses (12!!) and with that, I could afford my herd and live close enough to Houston to work. Since then, we've slowly transitioned from me living with them, to them living with me. This is my first house, so there's a learning curve. Especially since my dad's memory has been failing, I can't depend on him for house repair advise.
I've been raising chickens for 12 years now and my flock has gone from 15 to 100. My coop is now 24x24 with 10-20 ft elevation. All I did for this freeze was wrap the many windows to keep out the drafts, The birds were fine. Not a single heat lamp needed. I'm deathly afraid of a burning barn and with the power outage, any heat I had supplied would have been gone, and the birds would have been worse if they had depended on it before.

 

[pertnear09]

Thanks guys. I do want to learn what I can. This is my first house. I moved back to my parents after college (92) because they had property (4 acres) and I had horses (12!!) and with that, I could afford my herd and live close enough to Houston to work. Since then, we've slowly transitioned from me living with them, to them living with me. This is my first house, so there's a learning curve. Especially since my dad's memory has been failing, I can't depend on him for house repair advise.
I've been raising chickens for 12 years now and my flock has gone from 15 to 100. My coop is now 24x24 with 10-20 ft elevation. All I did for this freeze was wrap the many windows to keep out the drafts, The birds were fine. Not a single heat lamp needed. I'm deathly afraid of a burning barn and with the power outage, any heat I had supplied would have been gone, and the birds would have been worse if they had depended on it before.

Heard many a tale of coop fires started by heat lamps but I'm sure lots of people trust them.

 

[electrycmonk]

Heard many a tale of coop fires started by heat lamps but I'm sure lots of people trust them.

I have a healthy respect for energy. I use them when needed. From my POV. I have a very safe & solid track record with heat lamps. And almost everything electrically speaking. This time around I used it to mellow.out the drastic thermal variable that the waterers went through.... And the Momma silkie in full Broody mode.... It helped her to some degree (pun intended).... Alas someone kept knocking her clutch outta the nest.... This was a first as last year's tax team had no issue....so I guess my next round will start up in a week or so... I don't know yet...

Back to the stories of heat lamps.... The biggest problem.i have always seen.... The situations almost always seemed to be of short sightedness, carelessness or outright crap-tastic behavior...

 

[Derangedplanet]

I have a healthy respect for energy. I use them when needed. From my POV. I have a very safe & solid track record with heat lamps. And almost everything electrically speaking. This time around I used it to mellow.out the drastic thermal variable that the waterers went through.... And the Momma silkie in full Broody mode.... It helped her to some degree (pun intended).... Alas someone kept knocking her clutch outta the nest.... This was a first as last year's tax team had no issue....so I guess my next round will start up in a week or so... I don't know yet...

Back to the stories of heat lamps.... The biggest problem.i have always seen.... The situations almost always seemed to be of short sightedness, carelessness or outright crap-tastic behavior...

I can't help but agree. Having used heat lamps HEAVILY for reptiles for like 7 years now and my tortoise who while indoors has a steady supply of hay and dried grass and never once have had a situation even close to causing a house fire. However I've seen quite a bit of how lack of education surroundinf proper heat lamp care can get people awfully close. I think respecting electricity and heat lamps for what they are makes a ginormous difference in how likely it is

 

[electrycmonk]

I can't help but agree. Having used heat lamps HEAVILY for reptiles for like 7 years now and my tortoise who while indoors has a steady supply of hay and dried grass and never once have had a situation even close to causing a house fire. However I've seen quite a bit of how lack of education surroundinf proper heat lamp care can get people awfully close. I think respecting electricity and heat lamps for what they are makes a ginormous difference in how likely it is

It's more that just "heat lamps"... You see I got really involved in the physics Dept while working on my Tech theatre degree at UNT, so optics(taught astronomy labs & theatre lighting design) friction(gearheaded g33k), centripetal and centrifugal forces(unicycles and motorcycles), and most directly... electricity(lightning) have all played prominently in my life.

As for coop design here in Texas, I guess mine has handled this cold snap rather well. Everyone's alive and non-the-worse-for-wear at this point.

Headed out to top off their water one last time for the night.

 

[electrycmonk]

Oh and btw, @NickyPick may I share a saying you may have heard before and the addition I added to it while in the Navy back around 90/91... It seems your friend is suffering from a case of rectal-cranial inversion.

My addendum:
It appears to be a severe case too, what with all that ring-necked the collar.

The wording is rarely the exact same but, the message rarely misses the mark.

 

[muddy75]

It may not be appropriate for everyone in this thread but mr muddy rewrote a karaoke song today.....
“All my exes froze to death in Texas”
That’s your little bit of muddy humor for the day!!!!! all you guys and gals!!! So sorry you’re having to go through this!!!