Its not impossible to give every animal all the equipment they need: hay racks, heated buckets, food and mineral dispensers, but it sure gets expensive, so we trade things around depending on where things are needed most. Also the work involved. Sometimes hauling water on a cold day is a mess. I end up spilling it down my boot just about every time because I try to walk too fast. So we leave the heated bucket out and hope the regular plastic pail doesn't freeze overnight inside the middle of the barn. Things stay warm surprising longer there, but now that we are into the mid 20's its not going to make it till morning. Layla and the twins have the second electric bucket. With her nursing, she needs it most.
The chickens, cats - and sometimes the dog, have the little warmer in the first stall. Because they are close to the outside and the half door is open, their water freezes to a block as soon as its below 32 degrees. The cats have all their own feeders and bowls in the upper barn, but we haven't tried to keep up with the water in weeks. They figured out quickly, to come down to the heated buckets or catch the water at the kitchen door before it freezes.
( I say heated feeders instead of buckets in the video- its cold! Can't think. Can't you hear me sniffle?)
Notice Mia the cat has one eye on the chickens at all times. You never know when they are going claim territory.
That's snow blowing in. Severe weather alert for tonight and tomorrow I guess.
VIDEO AT THE WATER WARMER
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It's That Time of the Year
22 hours ago
2 comments:
Have you tried hanging water containers a bit off the floor? I'm curious because I've never seen horse water buckets freeze in a barn. They're usually hung in a corner and protected from the wind. Hmmm... now you have me thinking - is my memory bad.
The horse that boards here has his off the floor but it freezes eventually so he has his own electric bucket. Maybe your water flowed from somewhere? Maybe you had a tighter or insulated barn. Ours is very breezy - in a healthy barn way. We probably won't get any lung diseases in the animals.
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