Cold snap on its way!!!

[LadyToysDream]

It's been a colder than normal winter here so far. School closed today and probably tomorrow also, due
to the cold temps. May not even hit 0 tomorrow. Plus it is non stop snow right now.
The hubby called at noon and said he had to keep plowing. His route and another guy's route,
because they had a plow down sick. No clue when they would get done today. They have to
be in at 4 am to start the highway plow routes. They work 5 eights in the winter but
have to be on call 24/7 . They have had some 16 hr days already. Not good. More OT than usual.
I do a lot of quiet activities during the evening, so grumpy can play catch up on his sleep.

You know it's cold here when we have to have a heat lamp on in the chicken coop.
Yesterday all day. And then bring in water dishes so they can thaw.

 

[Dalmatian90]

I do a lot of quiet activities during the evening, so grumpy can play catch up on his sleep.

You know it's cold here when we have to have a heat lamp on in the chicken coop.

First part made me chuckle.

And there's a local farm I follow on Facebook...took a tour this fall and they emphasized how they had heritage breeds of chickens and didn't use heaters in the winter for them. They posted today with the possibility of -15 to -20ºF (they're a bit north and higher up then me)...they set up a couple heat lamps and all the girls can scambling over and nestled in under them.

I think -12ºF is lowest I've seen in my own town, ever.

 

[theswampthing]

Wondering how my hens are gonna handle the sub zero temps. Looking at -7 Monday night, and it's only January. Coldest I remember recently was a few winters ago. Think it was -15 for 3 nights in a row. Nothing like the Northerners definition of cold, but still. I'll bet we'll see those temps again this winter. My wood pile is shrinking just a little slower than I'm stacking it. haha

 

[A.S.Woodchucker]

when it is that cold outside I imagine it doesn't take long to get a 12 pack cold!

 

[Vermonster]

when it is that cold outside I imagine it doesn't take long to get a 12 pack cold!

Doesn't take long to freeze solid either.

 

[Whitespider]

I think -12ºF is lowest I've seen in my own town, ever.

January 16, 2009... officially -34°F, which tied the all-time record for us (my digital thermometer said -36.6°F).
1996 was a cold one also, we went 6 consecutive days without seeing any temperatures above negative numbers... February 3 was the coldest, with a low of -32°F and high of -26°F‼

Heck, beer don't even taste good when it's that friggin' cold‼
*

 

[cantoo]

Spidy, ever think of checking the birth stats for October 16, 2010? Might be interesting jump in the average numbers.

 

[reaperman]

My fancy a$$ home weather station calculated the average outside temperature for December at 2.2 degrees.

 

[zogger]

Wondering how my hens are gonna handle the sub zero temps. Looking at -7 Monday night, and it's only January. Coldest I remember recently was a few winters ago. Think it was -15 for 3 nights in a row. Nothing like the Northerners definition of cold, but still. I'll bet we'll see those temps again this winter. My wood pile is shrinking just a little slower than I'm stacking it. haha

In out of the wind, with some extra chow, they should do fine. Body temp like 108, something like that, plus feathers.

Never gets that cold here, but when I lived in maine I had some RIRs and they cruised through the coldest temps OK. They'd be out at daylight, trying to scratch to something on the ground.

 

[Vermonster]

It's -16F right now and dropping.
Friday night it will be -20 to -30F, without any wind chill. That will be most unpleasant. A night to stay inside and wale on the two stoves,....and drink some beer.

 

[stihly dan]

Yup, damn cold. spent the day outside in real feel of -11 which wouldn't be bad if I had known about working outside today. Or if it wasn't 9 hr's on my knee's in one spot on a 4 story roof. Now a blizzard is coming through with much colder temps. Think I will turn the furnace up to medium for the next few days. Nice not looking at the cold and cringing on the thought of how much the heat is costing.

 

[dave_dj1]

I think the cold front is here! Outside temp was -1 this morning and right now it's zero out.
dave

 

[theswampthing]

In out of the wind, with some extra chow, they should do fine. Body temp like 108, something like that, plus feathers.

Never gets that cold here, but when I lived in maine I had some RIRs and they cruised through the coldest temps OK. They'd be out at daylight, trying to scratch to something on the ground.

Yea, I figured. I guess if the grouse, turkeys and pheasants can survive, the chickens will be fine. Thanks!

 

[Raintree]

Yea, I figured. I guess if the grouse, turkeys and pheasants can survive, the chickens will be fine. Thanks!

I use these opportunities to off a few old unproductive girls the kids have named & drawn a liken to.

 

[philoshop]

A bunch of us get together for a picnic every New Years day and yesterday we had a guest. A young guy from Australia who thought that our 20* daytime temp was a little cold. When he explained that it was 104* at his place just two days earlier I had to sympathize.
I let him borrow my Carhart jacket with a hood which cheered everybody up because he's 6'-5" and I'm about 5'-6". It fit him through the shoulders ok so he was just fine with it. Oh, and I loaned him a drinkin' glove too.
Tonight's low is gonna be around 0* with a high tomorrow of 5*. I'm thinking he'll be inside somewhere.

 

[Chris-PA]

Yup, it will actually get cold here for a day. It might even go negative for an hour or two one night. It was never as cold as Maine or Iowa, but it used to get a lot colder than this for a lot longer around here, and I wish it would again - it might help keep down all these invasive plants and bugs.

Both stoves running nice, got fuel for the generator and I fired it up yesterday - we're on a little road and we're First Energy customers. Some of my neighbors on the PPL system were talking about they get phone calls warning them to expect that power might go out. I just laughed, because a First Energy customer always expects that.

 

[theswampthing]

I use these opportunities to off a few old unproductive girls the kids have named & drawn a liken to.

Hahaha, it is a good time to do it. All my hens were hatched in the spring, so no soup for me.

 

[zogger]

Yea, I figured. I guess if the grouse, turkeys and pheasants can survive, the chickens will be fine. Thanks!

No probs man...if you tend to noodle a lot, throw that stuff in their coop, they love it!

 

[flotek]

-2 for our high on Tuesday

 

[LadyToysDream]

Well so far, they got the heat lamp during the day only 1x so far this winter....
And it was the 2 roosters who took turns under it....
the 60 hens no .....

I sell eggs and sometimes in the winter, I have to keep the eggs from freezing till I can get back
out there to get them. And it's often I check. That and we have to keep their water dishes
thawed out. I don't use a heater for their water dish. So we resort to the heat lamp maybe 3x
during the winter. The hens are quite hardy.

And I guessed right. They ended up with 16 hours of plowing today. A long day....