The Middle Tennessee Thread

[chknoodles]

OK enough is enough.... My 55 gallon waterer has NEVER frozen. we have heat tape on it and IT FROZE. One side has some water the other side nothing. We are going to try to SHIELD it for the next batch of cold but don't think it is going to work in those prolonged temps. ALL my other 55 gallon barrels are frozen too... could not crack it with a hammer. I had to TOTE water from the shop sink. Tomorrow MAYBE it will thaw some. If it does over the next couple of days we are going to drain them so they don't freeze the pipes more.

Glad this is only going to be a few days at a time and NOT 3 weeks in the deep freeze. ...... right??? there is not LONG TERM cold weather coming is there?????

I can maybe work Dickson in somewhere.....

Donna...Monday is supposed to be single digits down here by the River. We have the 9 pens and Michael put out all new waters (thawed ones) and by the time I got home from work, they all had iced...then he went to Holly & Jonathan's..where there are more than 30 pens..all frozen waterers...LOL. Should have seen their ducks ice skating on the pond a couple weeks ago!!! Sure they will be skating again tomorrow.

 

[DMRippy]

I saw this on FB

http://www.motherearthnews.com/diy/solar-stock-tank-zmaz10onzraw.aspx

 

[Penny Hen]

I saw this on FB

http://www.motherearthnews.com/diy/solar-stock-tank-zmaz10onzraw.aspx

You may be able to get some solar effect on you tanks if you wrap them in black plastic. That is if the sun hits them.

 

[DMRippy]

Quote:
They are all over. One is inside a barn so no sun. One on each side of the big shop.... some sun. The ones out back one is in full sun one is not. Hubby wanted to built little sheds for the ones outback. We would have used a candle to help put some heat in there to keep the fixtures from busting.

DIDN'T HAPPEN

 

[Penny Hen]

They are all over. One is inside a barn so no sun. One on each side of the big shop.... some sun. The ones out back one is in full sun one is not. Hubby wanted to built little sheds for the ones outback. We would have used a candle to help put some heat in there to keep the fixtures from busting.

DIDN'T HAPPEN

When we last had a deep cold like this I wasn't raising chickens just sheep, goats and horses. I collected some red brick that was laying around and cleaned it and heated them in the oven and went out and dropped them on the frozen water tanks to thaw them out. I did a lot of relaying bricks that winter, 1997 or 1998 that was. In retrospect tie a bit of dog chain around them so you don't have to reach in the water to pull the cooled ones out. I didn't figure that on out until the winter was nearly over.

You can get the black foam insulation that can cover the pipelines from the hardware store. I have used them on my hose to keep it from freezing in the winter so I am sure it will help with water lines.

You can also make a solar heat collector out of soda coke cans that are caulked together (with the bottoms punched out) and lain in parralel rows and painted black and framed in a box with a plexiglass cover. The heated air rises through the cans. It was originally built to heat a mancave trailer so some creative modification of the design may be necessary to get it to be effective on water tanks.

 

[DMRippy]

I have that tape on the front pipes.... the chickens eat it though. I have heat tape on those pipes. Still froze. I have all the water drained from the pipes in the back so not worried about the pipe back there, just the fittings with water in them.

 

[Penny Hen]

I have that tape on the front pipes.... the chickens eat it though. I have heat tape on those pipes. Still froze. I have all the water drained from the pipes in the back so not worried about the pipe back there, just the fittings with water in them.

Not heat tape. This stuff looks like the water noodles kids use at the swimming pool. It has a slit in it so it can pop around the pipes. I use a short piece on my outside fawcets on my house between the stopcock and the wall.

 

[DMRippy]

I have the black foam OVER the heat tape.

 

[Penny Hen]

I have the black foam OVER the heat tape.

OH man!

 

[Countrypunk92]

So, I made several drinkers for my pens with the chicken water nipples...I took bottles laying around and installed the nipple in the cap, if it was a bigger bottle or jug, I put two... Well I noticed it was not flowing out of the pins when pushed like they should be... If I pressed on the side of the bottle, even a little bit, a nice stream of water came out when pushed... One of my bigger jugs, has two nipples on the bottom of the jug and the cap on top. well, I couldnt get the water to come out right, then I decided to try something and I opened the top slightly so air could go in, and WALA, a nice stream came out..

The only ones that seemed to take interest to them was the Chocolates, but after no water came out, they ignored it, I havent been out yet since I fixed the issue.

But I had found 40 nipples for 10 bucks on ebay.. sweet deal