I agree ... when I got up yesterday it was minus 5 F .. I don't remember seeing a minus number in a long time. Usually we have minus wind chills, but not actual degrees.

It was interesting when I went into the barn, I don't have a thermometer in there, but it definitely wasn't as cold.

Now I am really curious as to how much heat my 3 mini-donks actually generate. They didn't seem at all fazed that is was -5 F degrees.

Yup, our outside water source froze, now we have to haul water out to the coop from the kitchen sink. Our birds are doing pretty well, we have mostly heavy breeds though. I make sure to shovel areas for them when the venture out midday. Today it was down right balmy at 20 degrees! heat wave.

Hey Velvet, I bet you don't envy us :)

Sheila

I don't seem to have any problems with these extremely cold temps either..The hens have a heat lamp in their house and on cold days they just stay in there,the heat lamp is over their water so it doesn't freeze.
my 2 mini goats are as wide as they are long and have the thickest coats for the winter! So they don't need a heat source in their house,,but I do have a heated bucket for them..their bed is all straw too,so thats warm.
Is it necesary to clean their house(stall) often in the winter? I feel like it freezes,but then acts as insulation..so i don't clean it out as I do in the warmer seasons. I seems to mix in with the shavings and the thicker the better..Is that right?

I really dislike the cold temps. Above freezing is bearable, but when we get below it's miserable for everyone.
Yes, beeliz, it's called deep litter method....or something like that. Just keep putting the shavings over the dirty areas.

My litter is about 6-8" deep now. I put the shredded paper on top to cover the poop every couple of days to keep it clean for them since they are inside most of the time now. I mix it up when it is thawed enough on the odd warmer day. I do shovel it out from time to time, about once every couple of months. It doesn't take long to get deep again. I'm hoping the composting paper will generate some warmth too.

Shredded paper is free and there's an unlimited supply of it, so I use a lot on the floor.

We have been above zero only once recently--today. Most of the week has been below -40. Pretty miserable!

Thanks for the tips!!
yes,,I aslo have a deep litter in there now..actually today we're having a crazy blizzard and getting about 30 cm's of snow..When I went to see the goats,they were in their bed of straw,but I also noticed a air hole in the ceiling that was letting snow blow in. I fixed it,but how annoying!! Blowing snow is the worst!

And I whine when it gets below 50. After reading these postings I feel ashamed but thankful. How people do this for months at a time amazes me. Why you do it is what I want to know? What keeps you from packing up and moving to warmer climates? Careers? Family? Tradition? Love for hip deep snow and solid ice?

Wow -40! That's cold alright! We don't usually get temps colder than the occasional blast of -30 and even that not every year. Every year is different these days.

I grew up in TN - moved to Canada at 19 and I love it here, for lots of reasons. Been here for 30+ years. Hard to explain. One is the seasons - we get all four, in all their splender. I'd like a warmer winter where the ground doesn't freeze at all but I'd have to put up with extreme summers (95+F) and rainy winters. Here it's only rarely too hot, too cold or too wet to jog all year around and winters are dry. You can walk through the bush and swim in the lakes without fear of poisonous snakes and insects or chiggers, etc. If you get far from the city you can see a bear or rattle snake but those are not very common in this area.

Our jobs, homes and families are here, but when we are at the place where we are looking to move somewhere else, it will be a warmer climate where the ground doesn't freeze as deep or for as long, but not a hot one. Can't stand extreme heat!(95+f) I'd rather have the cold, but I would prefer that my rooster's comb didn't get frostbite.

Your body changes so the cold is a normal state, you shunt blood from your extremeties. My apartment is sitting right at 64 right now, a little warmer than I like it but I can;t get the heaters to shut off, just too the temperature of my big toe and its right at 64 (IR thermometer) and I took the temp of my fingertips and they are in the mid 70's. The fat content of your body changes too, shorter chain fatty acids are used when it gets cold so that they still can be moved.

When I came home from Vietnam it was 114F with 100% humidity-got off the plane in Oakland, Ca it was 85F and 30% humidity. I put on my long johns and wore my winter coat and was still freezing. After a couple years I readjusted to the Michigan weather.

Today I used my power walker with the snow blower attachment (some call it a self propelled snow blower) put on gloves and cleared drive and walkways in my T-shirt. As a kid I use to play outside in the winter barefooted for hours at a time. Ma always said I would catch a death of cold doing that-at soon to be 58 hasn't happened yet. I do wear gloves now do to arthritis in my fingers.

That is one great thing about birds is that if they have an adequate diet they have natures best form of insulation-dry air pockets that are trapped in place by all the feathers. If their environment is dry and out of the wind with proper food and water they winter well.

I have many Seramas that are tiny tropical chickens and this year have not heated their coops at all and they are doing well. In the late 50s and early 60s kept parakeets in the hen house in inside/outside 4'W x 8'L x 6'T flight cages and feed them a seed mix that was 25% oat groats and they raised young all year long. Some times the water would freeze and I would break it into small pieces and they would eat it that way. They loved to play in the snow. It just takes time for them to adjust to it. If you were to put the bird you keep in the house out in the cold now they would probably freeze because they have not gradually adjusted to the weather.

I hear that the reason that parets are not covering the whole globe is not that they can't handle the cold, but rather that they cannot find food in the winter (the Norwegian Blue parrot being a notable exception to this, also perhaps Mopsitta tanta which is quite possibly the best named fossil ever found). Speaking of fossils, based on the earliest fossilized feathers it would appear that insulation rather than flight was the purpose, Seramas brings up an excellent point when he points out that the birds are absolutely covered in these highly evolved insulators.

islandmanmitch - I don't like heat! LOL! During the summer, here outside Buffalo, NY, I hide in the house during the hot mid-day temps.

My body gets used to most cold ... next week is going to challenge that as we're supposed to get many single digit days, and usually the wind chill is what is unbearable.

Last night I was out walking the dogs, it was approx. 20 degrees, the moon was shining, everything was white and sparkling, it was just gorgeous! Today was another beautiful day.

Now if the temps would just stay constant, I would be happier. December fluctuated from really cold to really warm, back to reaaly cold, and then really warm again. That's hard to get used to.

I know some people don't care for the heat just like I don't care for the cold and some like neither. A friend of mine has a place here (winter) and a place in the Catskills (summer). The only time he has a problem is when it gets to hot here before it warms enough there.
I understand the how you survive but not the why you do it? So not being hot makes it worthwhile to go through all the hard work of long harsh winters? Have you ever spent a winter where you had no more than a light frost? Didn't even kill your banana tree leaves back? Gone out the back door in December and picked oranges off your tree for breakfast juice? Runningtrails said she likes the four seasons in the cold country and way less bugs. Well we have the four seasons on the Gulf Coast, 9 months of summer, 2 weeks of fall, 10 weeks of winter and 2 weeks of spring. Don't blink or you'll miss two of them. Now as far as bugs go we have bugs. The first one that come to mind is the mosquito. I spent some time in Alaska, the Everglades, the Okefenokee Swamp and the Louisiana Delta. Take the last three places and add all their mosquitoes together and Alaska had them beat. Believe me I am not saying my part of the country is Eden. Even I (seventh generation Southern boy) seek the shade of a river bank when it is 95 degrees and 95 percent humidity. The fire ants are slowly toting us off and the invasive's are covering everything that don't move. You would not believe what I have to pay each year for homeowners insurance because of hurricanes. You could ask me why I stay and I would say it is because I have family, friends, and history here. I still live on the same land where I was born. It is home to me and I've never been any place I would rather live. Mitch

But to me, the extreme heat is a harsh condition! I hate air conditioning and never want to live in an environemnt that has to be artifically cooled to be comfortable.

It's 12 degrees today and the sun is shining. It's beautiful. I know how to dress to stay warm, the driveways was plowed again this morning, and the dogs and I had a great time in the snow.

I grow and sell daylilies as a hobby, and winters are my time to regroup, relax, and catch up on other things. And since I live in a northern climate, I don't have to worry about all those nasty pests and diseases that southern growers have to spray harsh chemicals for.

I like to visit warmer climates, but I love living where I do. It snows ... it doesn't blow over my house, kill people, ruin whole towns, etc ... it eventually melts.

Of my 4 seasons, summer is my least favorite, though the one I spend most of my time outdoors in my gardens.

I don't think I work any harder in winter dealing with snow, then I do dealing with any of the other seasons. Each season has something about it that means I need to work hard. Life on the farm ....

I didn't know winter wasn't any harder than other seasons. Not knowing any different I thought it was by far the hardest season in the northern climates.

If you don't have animals there isn't much to do during the summer.

If you have a garden, there's always lots to do in the summer! I usually end up only having the time to do half the things I'd like to do in the garden. Not just veggies, but flowers and landscaping as well. Just no time! I have a lot of projects and the raw materials to do them, just no time! We both work full time, all day, so that doesnt't help. I have winter projects to get done outside, as well, but it's just been so cold lately (and I've been lazy) that I haven't gotten out there to do them.

What I meant to say was not much to do in winter, sorry, freudian slip.

I moved here from Fl about 3 years ago and I still can not get used to the cold. Today I was wearing a full length down coat and I noticed others were wearing little jackets or sweaters. I asked someone wasn't they cold and they answered not really while I was thinking tomorrow I have to add a few more layers under my coat. LOL

The temps are in the +30's.

My chickens and goats seem to be fine even if their momma is having a hard time acclimating. Sheech how long does it take??

I wondered why you would say there was nothing to do in the summer. lol!

I think some people adjust to the cold better than others, too. Some people here cannot take the cold, either. Everyone's physical and chemical make up is different, I guess. Age can have something to do with it too, (especially for women).

I am busy in the winter doing a lot of projects I dont' have time for when the ground is not frozen.

I just finished installing a workbench in the garage/shop yesterday morning before work. It was so COLD... I could only stay our for 30 mins at a time, even dressed in long underwear and special -40 boots, etc. But I finished it! I've been working on it for days and yes, I'm female :-)

I got a new radial arm saw a couple of weeks ago and can't wait to use it! Before spring comes I am going to build bat houses, purple martin birdhouses and top bar bee hives, if I have time.

I am planning on installing wire across the ceiling of my wide, tall veranda this weekend so I can hang herbs, flowers and sunflowers to dry in the summer. I am also planning on making two broken tile tabletops. I have the tiles for one, just need the glue and grout. After the wire...

I paint and draw too in the winter. You can see my paintings at: (artbysheryl.com) There's lots ot do in the wintertime! You can be as busy as you make yourself!

"I understand the how you survive but not the why you do it?"
I'm in the far north eastern corner of Ohio, near Lake Erie. In what they call the snow belt. We have had snow on the ground since early November. Now we are in the deep freeze with temps below 0.
I would move to Tennessee in a heartbeat if it wasn't for family and my husband's job. The older I get the harder it is to get through the winter. We are retiring to a warmer state. If we are still able to retire after the hard hit our 401K took this past year.
So, my answer is family and jobs.

I'm in the Great Lakes Snow Belt too! Yeah, we've had snow on the ground since Nov. What a strange year! I'm just hoping it goes away early since it came so early, but I realize that's not always the way it works. If we ever have the money to retire completely, we'll move to Nova Scotia or Newfoundland where we can buy acres of primeaval bush, undisturbed by man, miles from nowhere and live a totally self sufficient existance. That's our dream retirement, dependant entire on funds.

The first snow fall is the last time we clean out the goats barn and run in. I just keep piling dry hay on top of the soiled. If you ever kept a compost pile you'd see why. We clean it all out the 2nd week of March. When we start pulling the piles of soiled hay out the steam just pours out fo the barn, the heat is amazing. Then from march until the first snow fall we use a bag of shaving for the barn and run in (just to soak up the urine)which is cleaned and replace every Saturday.

The geese however is another story. Being water fowl they like to "bath" in their water bucket. They dip their heads in and pull the water out over their bodies. When I went in the other day they were covered in ice. They have heated buckets so the water won't freeze but i have to say it is a job in itself just trying to digg out the shavings and hay that have been frozen to the the ground by all the water. I have 2 geese for a 10x10 shelter which is all sided and has insulated windows but it sure is cold out there. They have a huge nest built in the corner and have so many eggs I've lost count. They are both females so no babies.

Snowing today, about another 12 inches so far.

I'd love to have a few ducks and geese but I have heard that the water is a problem. Still thinking about it. Have a lot of other things to do first. May acquire rabbits for food before next winter.

I'm a little disappointed that no one commented on my parrot reference (even though I wrote Parets, no clue whats up with that, mt spell checker failed me).

Brendan, I did find it interesting! I guess I just didn't think I had anything knowledgable or useful to add.

Seems to be the same problem the polar bears are having - dissappearing food resources.

The thinking issue isn't what I was looking for a response too, but rather the reference to the Monty python sketch.

AH! Don't watch Monty Python.

I refuse to believe that I am the only one, follow the parrot refference link in my post from sunday to see the sketch, IMHO its the best sketch ever.

Most of the time the temps don't bother me, but the darkness gets old in winter here. I hate -30 and below because it is so hard on the critters and there is so much to do to keep them fed and watered when the temps are so low. Even heated water buckets freeze at those temps and the food bill (hay and grain for the goats and poultry, meat for the dogs)is much higher. We went to Australia in July and our house sitter put our bucks in with the does when they got out of their pen--yielding 15 kids in late December at -40 and lower. That led to many sleepless nights, a goat corral in the heated garage, carrying kids back and forth many times daily to be with the moms, and a great deal of overall stress in addition to all the normal Holiday stress that normally occurs. We were kidding at the time we are normally breeding!
As for the mosquitos, I lived in the South for many years and the mosquitos were a real nuisance, but I never had to wear a headnet to keep them from crawling up my nose, and into my mouth and ears. Here the mosquitos are REALLY bad sometimes, but only for 2 or 3 months--not 8 or 10 months! They have to pack several lifecycles into 90 frost-free days. I'm hoping to get some Mucovy ducks to see if they can help the problem.

Sure sounds like a stressfull winter! Those poor kids! My chickens do eat a LOT more feed in the winter, I am finding.

It's rarely that cold, if ever, here. -20F quite a bit but not -30F. It is quite a bit darker in zone 3 in the wintertime too but the days are longer in the summer. Are you north enough to get 6 months of almost dark and 6 mos of almost light? Can you see the aurora borialis on occasion? I spent some time in Thunder Bay, ON.

Mosquitoes are not that bad here, bad, but not like they are that far north. I'm building some bat houses this winter. We had bats last year and I'm hoping the houses will bring even more bats nearby.

Yep, mostly dark in winter and light much of the summer. Most years I see Northern Lights frequently, but this year I don't think I have even seen them once. Unusually calm sun cycle, I guess.

Brendan, I don't know if you are old enough to remember the active volcanoes in the early '90s, but I heard on the radio this morning that Mount Redoubt may erupt soon. That will add to the fun of this fall/winter.

Bitter cold AND volcanoes - fantastical place.

We've had -20C three nights running here in northern Nova Scotia, wind chill -30C, with one night left to go before it eases off. Personally I think living in this climate, depending on fossil and wood fuel, is a mistake. I'm grateful though not to have the south's hot humid summers, pests and poisonous snakes.

The chickens have a 60 watt light bulb in their coop but still got frost spots on their combs. Poor chicks. I check now and again to see if the bulb is still burning - we can see light coming through that 2 square foot window - worried it will burn out. So far the four chickens have been loosely, not tightly, huddled, which is a good sign, I think.

My rooster was getting frostbite regularly until I started rubbing vaseline on his comb and wattles and bought the heat lamp bulb. It's one of those really big red heat lamp bulbs people put in their bathrooms. It's 250 watts and just goes into a regular (but not plastic) socket. It cost me about $10 and has been well worth it. I only run it at night when it's below -15 and the odd day when it is that cold all day. The vaseline helps a lot too. He struggled fiercly until I started stroking his comb with the vaseline. Then he got really still and just stood quietly though the whole procedure. I think he likes it. I've done it a few times. It's necessary anyway, whether he likes it or not.

I laughed the first time, as one of the lead hens came up really close, watching, and asking a quiet question. When she got in his face he gave her a little chirp without moving and she went away. I guess she was worried. It was so cute!

I remember that about Thunder Bay. The things that do grow well there get HUGE due to the extra long daylight. The blackflies and mosquitoes are fierce but only for a very short period of time, then nothing. They get so bad in May they drive the moose out onto the highways.

I saw my only real life bald eagle up north and up close. I actually had to use the break to keep from running into him with the car. He was flying down the highway in front of us. HUGE and gorgeous bird with a wingspan much larger than our car. I had no idea they were so big! I never have the camera when I need it!

That is funny runningtrails, I can picture it - the hen and the rooster. And speaking of which your paintings are really something. About your farm blog, the quick link on your member page doesn't work but the shorter one in your description does.

I'll look into getting one of those red lamps for next winter. The hens seem alright for now and the cold snap is supposed to end tomorrow night. It has been stressful for them and for us, in this old scantily-insulated farmhouse.

The hens sit puffed-up and not moving in their coop while crows sit on the telephone lines in blasting winds and the chickadees flit about the feeders - birds are amazing.

Bald eagles are immense. The immature ones are even bigger, I've heard - they certainly seem so. There's a nest about a kilometer from here.

Our extremely cold snap has ended for this week anyway. I'm sure there will be lots more before spring. I love the little chickadees! The fact that stay here all winter is amazing! They are adorable!

I'll fix the link. Thanks for the tip and the compliment on the art work!

Glad to hear it. Here too, they say - or soon.

There's an expression here, 'If you don't like the weather, just wait five minutes.' The Newfoundland version is, 'If you don't like the weather out your front door, just look out the back.'

Our forecasts are given in mind-boggling detail. Here is tomorrow's, by far the the warmest day of the week, almost of the month. We are very excited.

Ice pellets changing to rain and ending in the morning then cloudy with flurries beginning in the afternoon. Snow and ice pellet amount 2 cm. Local blowing snow late in the day. Wind southeast 40 km/h gusting to 70 except 80 gusting to 130 from Margaree Harbour to Bay St. Lawrence early in the morning. Wind becoming southwest 40 gusting to 70 in the morning then west 60 gusting to 90 in the afternoon. High 6 with temperature falling to minus 3 in the afternoon.

My wife has cooked up some mackeral from the freezer - that should warm those chickens up.

That's detail alright! Those winds sound bad. Is it usually that windy there?

We are looking at property in Nova Scotia. We would love some acres in the Annapolis Valley or anywhere miles from civilization and build a cabin in the middle of nowhere. We will probably settle for a little cottage on some acres near a small town and be semi self sufficient. Not his year, but soon...

Our weather has gone from -15c (-22c with windchill) on sunday, monday and tuesday it snowed a combined 18", and wednesday and today we are at +3c with a southwind and torrential downpours. There are small lakes everywhere. I need waders to go get the eggs today, My chicken coop has a moat.

Our garbage dump is always loaded with Bald Eagles in the winter, too many to count. I should post photos. You can walk right up to them within 3 ft. they don't even move.

Mackeral for the chickens? I imagine they would like that, what about fish bones?

There is so much unused land around here, you could probably still homestead it like they used to do way back in the day. (Sqatting I think it's called) No one would ever know you were there.

My Grandma would pressure cook chicken bones and byproducts including feathers (She always butchered chickens early Saturday mornings) and small fish with what ever kitchen scraps until the bones were soft. Then mixed it with their scratch feed during the week.

We have been lucky here in SW Michigan. Lake Michigan has been warming the fronts as they passed over it. Some times it was 30 degrees F cooler on the West side (Minn, Wis) of the lake. We have had the coldest weather here since 1994, and the longest cold snap in 25-30 years. But not as cold as many others are having. I like cold weather-but do enjoy the three other seasons.

I'm saving all the egg shells and drying them now. I grind them up when I have time and keep in a large tupperware container. I'm going to mix it into the feed I grow and mix next summer.

What your grandma did is a good idea. I could do that... naw, I don't have time. If I didn't work full time I could do so much more!

Yes, we often get storms with hurricane-force gusts here. This geographical location is at the centre of three major North American weather systems. Rarely a dull moment.

If you want remote and affordable, northern Cape Breton is the place for you, although even here people have started demanding larger sums for their property, hoping to sell to Americans or Europeans. There are days when we are shut off from the rest of the world because of the mountains and snowstorms - that might make you nervous. Other parts of NS you may want to cnosider are the eastern shore of the mainland - Guysborough, Mulgrave. The coast along the Bay of Fundy - opposite Parrsboro - North Mountain? - is beautiful and not too remote. The interior of Nova Scotia - New Ross to Windsor.
I spent a winter in Kentville about five years ago so these suggestions may be out of date. But the Annapolis Valley is generally very expensive.

Ah? Thanks for the info. I only looked at the Annapolis Valley because of the remoteness. I have not looked at prices yet. Cheap is good! Remote is good too! I'll have a look at Northern Cape Breton.