This past winter, I thought that the 'bitter' cold, meaning below zero temps, came earlier than it usually does. I'm glad that we are past that-I hope!!
During the 'bitter cold' there always seems to be challenges that come up; usually keeping pipes from freezing or dealing with those that did. There is also the challenge of making sure that all of the critters can keep warm and avoid frostbite and of course making sure that they can all keep hydrated!!!
Thankfully when it comes to watering the chickens, goats, dogs, cats and horses, this is 'easy' with the heaters, de-icers and heat lamps. This just leaves the rabbits that I have to water a couple times a day. Sounds like a great plan.......right? It is until you discover that the outlets that are down by the horses, that worked all summer long are no longer working!!!! Okay, this has happened before, just go check the breaker-easy fix.
Well, that didn't work and after a couple hours of checking outlets, wiring and replacing outlets we come to the conclusion that the problem is with the wires, which are a few feet under the very frozen ground. So we tried to use extension cords to run the de-icers-this didn't work due to the volume of power that they would 'suck'-we ended up frying 2 cords!!!
That left us with the 'old fashion' way of making sure the horses had water!! The sledge hammer-a couple times a day plus putting water in frequently which would melt some of the ice before it froze again. Draining hoses is a lot of fun too!!!
At this point, you can probably guess whats on the to-do list this year BEFORE it gets cold again!!!
During the 'bitter cold' there always seems to be challenges that come up; usually keeping pipes from freezing or dealing with those that did. There is also the challenge of making sure that all of the critters can keep warm and avoid frostbite and of course making sure that they can all keep hydrated!!! 
Thankfully when it comes to watering the chickens, goats, dogs, cats and horses, this is 'easy' with the heaters, de-icers and heat lamps. This just leaves the rabbits that I have to water a couple times a day. Sounds like a great plan.......right? It is until you discover that the outlets that are down by the horses, that worked all summer long are no longer working!!!! Okay, this has happened before, just go check the breaker-easy fix. 
Well, that didn't work and after a couple hours of checking outlets, wiring and replacing outlets we come to the conclusion that the problem is with the wires, which are a few feet under the very frozen ground. So we tried to use extension cords to run the de-icers-this didn't work due to the volume of power that they would 'suck'-we ended up frying 2 cords!!! 
That left us with the 'old fashion' way of making sure the horses had water!! The sledge hammer-a couple times a day plus putting water in frequently which would melt some of the ice before it froze again. Draining hoses is a lot of fun too!!! 
At this point, you can probably guess whats on the to-do list this year BEFORE it gets cold again!!! 
No comments:
Post a Comment