Eight Great Water Heater Ideas for Chickens

Tired of hauling water to your chickens twice a day because it's frozen yet? Here are some cost saving ideas!

This is kind of a memory dump for me. Everything I have tried and/or seen - gathered up in one spot. Please look closely into the safety and costs involved in whatever heater you decided to use. Remember just because a group of people think that a certain heater is fantastic on the internet doesn't mean it will work OR be safe for your situation.


The Cookie Tin Water Heater

I have seen the Christmas cookie tin heater idea, but something about it just doesn't seem safe to me.  I haven't tried it so I can't say for sure and alot of people have tried it with no issues so who knows? Just my opinion and you know that they say about opinions. These have been floating around the internet since 2006 and there are many posts on them. The nice thing about this approach is that it is priced out fairly inexpensively at $10 (although those materials, drill bit included, would run me just under $20 new at the hardware store, less if I bought a lamp at a yard sale).  Not all lamp assembly kits are equal though so if you try this, make sure what you have will work with your drill bit size and cookie tin. Also if I were to try this, I would use the lowest wattage bulb I could get away with using to increase safety and save money on power.

Photo Credit and Instructions: Mike's Backyard Nursery.

Click here to see the visit "Hens in the Yard" to see their set-up, she has some good ideas to increase safety and insulate.

Click here for the most complete instructions and the best blog post I have found to date on these. I know there is another chicken lady out there pushing these but this is by far the best instructional post I have seen. 

The Cinder Block Water Heater

I have also seen the cinder block idea and I just don't think that would be real effective as cinder blocks don't conduct heat real well, again my opinion....

Click Here to see this post on Backyard Chickens

The Clay Pot Water Heater 

I have neighbor that uses a clay pot with a light bulb (like the one videoed below), and swears by it. I think this is a tad safer (but can't tell you for sure because I have not made one). But if something were to happen and a fire were to start inside the clay pot it would be very short lived and contained.

Click Here for the instructional post on Backyard Chickens

Thermostatically Controlled Outlet

While this isn't a heater - for any of these DYI ideas to be economical you would want them to be on a thermostat. This is easily done by using a thermostatically controlled outlet (pictured below).There are several models on the market you can find them at farm supply stores, hardware stores, and on Amazon. This would cause the light/heater to come on when the temperature drops to the point where water freezes and then kicks itself back off when the temperature outside warms up above freezing. This would prevent the light/heater from just running and running and running your electric bill up. What's a couple bucks to your bill each month? Well a lot for us.

 

Metal Base Water Heaters

That being said - for some of these alternative DYI heater ideas by the time you add everything up (and purchase a thermostatically controlled outlet plug) they are coming in just under $30. I can find the regular metal base heaters for chickens at my farm supply store, or feed store at least once or twice a year on sale for $30 (I find that price quite affordable, but you have to watch for the sale). They are UL listed (for safety). This is what we rely on the most, the oldest one I have came from my folks, we used it when I was a kid, it still works, it must be 30 years old.

Metal base heaters work with a built in thermostat so they only heat when they need to and you don't have to buy an additional thermostatically controlled outlet. They work well and are low maintenance, the temperature dropped down to -8 degrees this weekend and my 5 gallon waterer was completely thawed the whole time, this is because they can ramp up to 150 watts to keep your waterer thawed if need be. No running outside to change out the light bulb in a cookie tin to a 60 or 100 watts light bulb. When you work full time and live a self-reliant lifestyle time is a big deal - I use a heating solution that is designed for it's purpose, that works without me tinkering with it or constantly checking on it.

Aquarium Heaters

Another alternative is using an aquarium heater - this usually works best when you are using bucket nipple waterers or down inside a waterer that you can submerse this heater in. They all have built in thermostats so you don't have to buy an additional one. In subzero temps I have had the watering nipples freeze up even with an aquarium heater, so you have keep an eye on it - but it's a $10 solution in the right climates. This aquarium heater pulls 50W when in use (cheap!) and should be good for containers up to 13 gallons. Again this is another nice low maintenance option.

Plug-in Chicken Waterer

There is the old stand by of the plug-in chicken waterer. I am not a huge fan of these because my parents tried them when I was kid and they quit working on us. I thought it was a rather expensive piece of equipment to just up and stop working on you (of course in the middle of a deep freeze) plus the biggest ones I have seen are 3 gallons, we need a 5 gallon waterer as we don't have room for two separate heated waterers. So it's just something I choose not to spend my money on. I am sure there are people out there who use them and have had no problems with them. Again you can find these and Farm Supply Stores, Feed Stores and on Amazon.

Heat Tape Around a Poultry Waterer

You can also take a short piece of heat tape (a common plumbing aid, used to keep water pipes thawed) and wrap it around a chicken waterer. Again, one may want to opt  for the thermostatically  controlled (or temperature controlled) heat tape, which costs a little extra initially but saves money in the long run. If you choose this method, be sure to secure it real well so the chickens don't mess with it.

Click Here to read the How-To post on Info Barrel

Click here to see an article from Mother Earth News on how to make heat tape work with a plastic bucket and watering nipples!

Heated Pet Water Bowl

Lastly, if you want you can always use a heated pet water bowl. The draw back to doing this is the need to rinse it out constantly, because as you know - chickens get water filthy pretty fast and dumping water in the coop or pen may become a problem if temperatures are staying below freezing. You can find these at pet stores everywhere, at feed stores and at farm supply stores. They are also on a built in thermostat so you don't need to go out and buy one.

Speaking from experience - if you live in a place where it drops below freezing and stays that way for a good part of the winter you would be wise to invest in some type of a water heater. I will be easier on you, and your chickens.

________________________________________

UPDATE (11/21/15): I found a number nine! 

Chicken Water Heater Stone

Yep, I found it on pinterest! This looks like one of the best ideas I've seen yet. It using half the wattage of the Cookie Tin Water Heater idea, is safer, cheaper AND it will last forever - no changing light bulbs. This is an idea I would actually try - say goodbye to cookie tins. Check out this wonder link below! 

Click Here for a link to a great set of instructions, photo credit, and just a great overall article by Laura Blodgett at D&B Supply!

Please Note: How cold it is at your place is NOT a contest. There is no "gold star" if you have the coldest winters or if during a few days last winter your place was colder than somewhere in Alaska. Comments to such an effect are immature, annoying and will be deleted.

How to Cook on a Wood Stove

Written and lived by Stephanie Dayle - this is an article that I originally wrote over at the American Preppers Network published March 2013 - I have now have brought it over to my own site.

Wood stove cooking is a great self-reliant skill to learn so if the power ever goes out you can seamlessly transition to it. Wood stove cooking saves money on power, and makes some of the most wonderful home cooked meals!

Wood stove cooking is something we did when I was a kid. I grew up 15 miles outside of a small rural town, the power lines were old, pre-World War II, I was told. The power would go out during storms in the winter and during storms in the summer, sometimes for seemingly no reason at all. The longest outage I can recall was over two weeks, but it was never an 'emergency,' and life went on. This may sound backwards to some people, but to us it was normal. During these times I helped my mother cook soups, stews, casseroles, French toast and pancakes all on our wood stove.

As an adult living in a rural area, it was really important to us that we have wood heat. It's an ideal source of back-up heat and it provides an element of self-reliance that was a must for us. Since few newer homes come with wood heat anymore it was necessary to install a wood stove when we purchased our property.

I happen to prefer the performance and versatility of a standalone wood stove (see picture on left) and they are usually very easy to cook on so that is what we got, but you can cook on some insert wood stoves too (an insert wood stove is different from a fireplace, see photo on the right). My mother did all her cooking during power outages on the top of an insert wood stove; you just need a somewhat wide flat surface on top.

If you are fortunate enough to have wood stove heat, here is how you can get started cooking on your own stove.

Cookware
Start with some cast iron cookware. I recommend everyone having a couple of cast iron frying pans and at least one flat bottom dutch oven (also known as a kitchen oven - click here for an article on choosing and seasoning a dutch oven). Cast iron has a better heat tolerance and is kinder on heat distribution than other cookware, but if stainless is all you have you can cook with stainless steel frying pans and pots on your wood stove too. Another option is enamel cookware. Enamel cookware has a good heat tolerance, a great reputation for easy campfire cooking and cleaning. The only cookware I would avoid completely would be thin aluminum pans or Teflon. A trivet is a great tool to have to help regulate the cooking temperatures, however in a pinch, a stone tile can also be used for this purpose. Trivets are also used inside the Dutch oven to keep the food from baking to the bottom of the oven.

Stove
We have a two-step Englander free-standing wood stove. This gives me two different temperature surfaces. The top surface works better for slower cooking and the bottom surface works better for things that require more heat such as frying, boiling water, or cooking popcorn. It is a very large wood stove rated to heat 3200 square feet, it often drives us to open windows in the in the middle of the winter. As you can see in the picture we have outfitted the flue with a magnetic temperature gauge, now this not as handy as an oven thermometer, but it's better than nothing and requires no electricity. It tells me what the temperature on the outside of the pipe is.

The Fire

Wood stove cooking is best done on a wood stove when there is an established fire in the fire-box. When a fire is newly lit initially the stove will be too cold for cooking and then can heat up and become too hot very quickly, therefore a slower more controlled fire is usually best. To maintain a nice fire for cooking add a piece of wood or two every so often throughout the day instead of letting it burn down, and then filling the fire-box full of wood again. I have found that the ideal flue temperature for cooking is around 200-250 degrees F for our stove. Depending on the stove design and fuel being burned, each stove will be different on how it will

cook. Keep in mind the actual temperature on the inside of the flue is higher and the thermometer only reads the outside temp.

TIP: You can use a magnetic flue temperature gauge to monitor the temperature of your dutch oven - see below. Just stick it on the outside of your dutch oven and keep a close eye on it if you are wary about how hot it is getting. 

Here is an easy recipe to try on your wood stove. Other easy things you can try on a wood stove include stews, beans, pancakes, French toast, soups, and popping popcorn!

Wood Stove Dutch Oven Beef Roast (serves 4)

• I use a 5 quart flat bottom dutch oven for my wood stove slow cooking.
• 4-5lb Beef Roast (we used a chuck roast), the size of your dutch oven will dictate the size of roast you can use.
• Your favorite dry rub spices (seasoning salt, pepper, garlic powder, etc...)
• 1 TBS of olive oil
• 1 Small onion
• 2 - 3 Dashes of Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 Can of beer
• 1/2 Cup of beef stock
• 1/2 Package of bacon (or whatever is left in the fridge)

Instructions

Take a beef roast out of the freezer the day before you actually want to cook the roast and allow it to thaw. Do not thaw it in the microwave.

An hour before cooking apply the dry rub (spices) to the entire surface area of the roast, then let it rest prior to cooking. Brown the roast with a large cast iron skillet on the stove top using a tablespoon or two of rendered lard, tallow, or your favorite cooking oil. This will improve flavor and seal in the juices. Grease will splatter on your stove; this will not hurt your stove, it is not the end of the world, and may burn off later. It gives your stove character.

In the bottom of the oven place the trivet, onion, olive oil, beer, Worcestershire sauce, and beef stock.

Place the beef roast in your oven sitting in those liquids on top of the trivet. Top the roast with chunks of raw bacon. Add the Dutch oven lid and closely monitor how the roast begins to cook. If it seems a little too hot add a trivet or stone tile under the Dutch oven, if it's too cold remove the stone tile or trivet, if it is still too cold, move the oven to the lower cooking surface if you have one.

Only after all the easy options have been exhausted do you tinker with the stove, closing the dampers down to lower the temperature output and opening them up to increase the temperature output. Remember wood stoves are not instant so if you open the dampers up to increase the cooking temperature, it will take some time for the temperature to actually go up, so do it gradually.

Slow cook the beef roast on the stove for 6-8 hours. Think 'crock-pot' cooking. Occasionally rotate your Dutch oven to insure even cooking, try to avoid removing the lid too much. Using a meat thermometer check the temperature of the roast before declaring it done, it should read between 150-160 degrees F. Remove the roast and put it on a plate for serving.

Serve your wood stove beef roast with some homemade mashed potatoes, canned peas (which you can also cook on your wood stove) and maybe the rest of that beer! Enjoy! If you are wondering where you can get that cast iron tea kettle (click here), we use it as a humidifier while the stove is going during the winter.

Scary but True Tales from the Rural - One Scary Fall Ride

One Scary Fall Ride

When I still lived at home and my brother still rode horses, we went out for a ride one nice cool fall day. We decided to follow the power line trail back behind the barn to the top of the ridge. You can do that a lot up where I grew up because, AVISTA (the local Power Lord), hates running their butts out in the middle of the dang woods to fix the power lines every time the wind blows, so they have created super wide and clear paths on which to run power lines - no kidding, you can drive a truck and/or a large 4-Wheeler up most of them - I know, because I have done it.

I was on my black 4-H gelding, Nightfire, and my brother was on his bay 4-H gelding, Peppy. I had to be around 14 years old making my brother 12. We warmed up, and practiced our horsemanship skills a bit at home, and then headed out. The area surrounding my family's house is heavily wooded with pines in every direction. We liked the woods behind the barn because it was close and yet completely out of sight from our parents. We both had ridden this trail before, and we had built numerous forts in these woods on the flat before the ridge so we were no stranger to that part of the woods.

Nightfire and kiddo Stephanie at a competition.

Photo by Stephanie Dayle (c) 2013

The power line trail cuts through the woods on the flat and then immediately heads up the ridge (my folk's place kind of sits on the side of a mountain ridge near its base so if you are back behind the house at all you have to go up, if you are in front you are going downhill just a little ways to the valley floor) which is why we both grabbed breast collars for the horses while tacking up. We trotted to base of the ridge then started up it. I noticed a deer leg laying in the middle of the trail a hundred or so yards back from the barn. My brother and I blamed the coyotes (this is really not an uncommon sight up here in the southern Selkirk mountains  coyotes love road kill and left overs from hunters so they pack the bones and parts around every where).

Part way up the going gets steep and the horses have to pick and choose their footing, so we walk and let them choose the best path with only a little guidance from us. Since it was towards the end of the day when we left I knew we had only a good hour or so worth of light. By the time we hit the half-way point where it flattens out some more daylight was already starting to dim.

The horses were breathing heavily so we stopped for a minute to let them catch their breath. I loved climbing with the horses, the views, the fresh air, all of it really. I think the horses did too they were always in a good mood out on the trail; Peppy and Nightfire were both seasoned pros at trail rides, thanks to hundreds of miles their young owners put on them. On this day though Peppy was acting nervous - he creep walks when he was nervous, never standing still but taking teeny tiny steps in a forward direction. Nightfire was also acting a tad nervous - his habit was to randomly and repeatedly toss his head in the air slowly driving his own mad. 

Nightfire was always a bit of a chicken heart so I paid little attention to his nervousness. We were thick in the woods and what light was left in the sky had a hard time penetrating the trees and reaching the forest floor - it would be just like Nightfire to scare the crap out of himself so he could go back to the barn sooner. I figured Peppy was just feeding off of my own gelding. I noticed chunk of deer fur off to the side of the trail and pointed it out. My brother shook his head, "Those darn things drag shit around everywhere..."

Coyotes - probably decedents of the ones mentioned in the story.

Photo by Stephanie Dayle (c) 2013

Onward

So we headed up the trail again, I couldn't wait to get to the top - the view was always amazing. It was about then I noticed how quiet the woods had become - I couldn't hear a bird, or squirrel, climbing on we had to split up to get around a big granite bolder right in the middle of the trail. My horse's nervousness tripled the second my brother and Peppy took off to the right and I went left. If it hadn't been so steep I am sure he would've been prancing like an idiot. 

When we came back together to both of the horses were starting to blow - something I seen horses do when they catch a really alarming scent or I have also seen them to do it while running around in play. I asked my brother if we should turn around, but he thought they were just picking up on some deer sent that was most likely on the trail directly ahead of us. So we continued on up. The horses were now wide eyed - with ears perked forward and tense - it was getting worse the further up we went. We were so deaf to what they were trying to tell us.

After a little further up the trail my brother agreed that we would to go up just a little further then turn around. He thought if the boys smelled something dangerous maybe we ought to listen to them and go home. Something was starting to creep me out too - it felt as though we were being stalked, not watched, but stalked. I have very rarely felt like it ever, but its a different feeling and it triggers a primeval mind-set. You stop thinking about everything - you think of only going home, getting off the mountain, not of safety or how pretty things are. You are tense and tight during such time and I swear I can hear and see 10 times better than when I am at home safe and secure and relaxed. 

This picture is not mine - but it is titled "Dead Deer Walking" this is how quiet they can be when they are stalking. This picture went viral a few years back and I am using it under "Fair Use" Policies.

There one last bolder in the way but it left enough room for us both to use the same direction to get around it - and when we hiked the horses up and around it when came upon a grizzle sight. A deer kill, about 2 or 3 days old it looked. It had been partially eaten, there was lots of fur around - it was miss a front leg. In the damp dirt around the front of the opened gut there were a maze of Mountain Lion prints clear as day. We both looked down and then looked at each other now 100% sure of what was spooking the horses. "Let's get out of here." I said. We pivoted both horses around and started walking down the mountain as quickly as I thought we could. Both horses were pulling at the reins and wanting to go faster, but due the steep grade of the mountain we were still forced at a fairly slow pace.

Again, not my picture - but what we saw was similar. This picture also went viral a few years back and I am using it under "Fair Use" Policies.

RUN!

The next thing I recall is a large branch snapping to my left. The horses had been compressed like metal springs waiting to be sprung and that branch was the trigger they needed to spring. I was so startled that I let Nightfire go - as I saw my brother do with his horse as well. Both horses half-ran and jumped down the mountain (now this was a steep trail one, I had previously judged only to fit for walking, not jumping or galloping down - it was a good thing we were good little riders back then for we surely sent our horses crashing). 

All their fear was suddenly let loose all at once and we "Snowy Rivered" it down the mountain. During this time I was exceedingly focused and its seemed like time was moving in slow motion - I could've sworn I heard something behind us, but it may have been my imagination. 

Once we hit the bottom of the ridge and I pulled Nightfire to a stop my brother did the same a few strides ahead of me. After all, what if it was all in my head? What if I had allowed my chicken hearted horse to scare me too. 

The second we stopped we heard a loud crash behind us as if something suddenly large suddenly came to a halt - we turned sprang forward again, the only time Nightfire ever performed a flawless rollback. My heart was trying leap out of my chest as I urged my horse on - he was one generation off the track so I was going to see exactly what he had, I knew what the chances were of out running a Mountain Lion so I opened him up. 

Photo by Stephanie Dayle (c) 2013

Peppy was an ex-barrel racer so I knew he could move too - and he did. He accelerated at an amazing rate tucking his butt right under himself and he was gone, man even at 14 that bay could still turn and burn. Nightfire always took a little longer to accelerate, spurred on by my flapping legs gained on Peppy once he hit his top sprinting speed. Tears leaked from the corners of my eyes and were blown back into my hair, his mane whipped my face as we caught the bay and begun to pull away.

Both of us kids came barreling out of the woods with our horses, and around the barn where hit the driveway. I pulled up and turned Nightfire around just in time to see a flash of gold jump up into a fur - its bows were moving up and down under the weight of what I guessed a Mountain Lion! Dad was working down in the backyard so we dismounted and ran up to him scared and whining - hurried we told him the story, almost on the verge of hysterics. He didn't believe us - I pointed to the tree with branches that had now stopped moving. 

He still didn't believe us. So I said fine, don't believe us, could he at least get a gun and follow us back up to the barn so we could untack? No. He said we had scared ourselves silly, and ran our poor horses into the ground, and now we could go put the horses away ourselves. After all, they were our horses so we got to take care of them. 

Heart broken, crushed and scared, I suggested perhaps Mom could come out and go back up to the barn with us, I mean we were just scared - he said to leave mother alone as she was finishing dinner that we were late for and setting the table (without any help from us - this unspoken part did not need to be spoken), now go put your horses away and get your butts inside for dinner.

Hey lets go back up there and hang out with our pal the cougar!

Scared to death my brother and I thought to put the horses in the lower pasture and set the tack on the ground or in the wood shed so we didn't have to go back up near the barn....but that would leave my old pony "Stormy Bear" in the upper pasture by the barn all by himself - essentially cougar food, or so I thought. So armed with nothing we walked our mounts back up to the barn. We got inside, shut the doors, lit the place up and ripped the saddles off and booted the horses outside in the pasture with Stormy. Loose in the pasture they seemed rather unconcerned - where as just minutes ago they were wide eyed with fear.

We tossed them their evening feed and then debated on whether or not to to walk back to the house in the dark on foot. Scared silly we had little choice - if we waited for Mom or Dad to come up there and get us - we would be in big trouble. That being said - looking back on the situation I guess you could say we were more afraid of Mom and Dad than we were a Mountain Lion. 

So we killed the lights - because leaving them on was another big no-no (and why not give every advantage to a Mountain Lion who had just chased us off his kill?) - and decided to make a run for it together out a side door. We slammed the door hard because we didn't want to have to have to go back and re-shut the stupid thing - and sprinted for the house. I have never ran faster in my entire life nor to this day. Winded and still scared we hit the front door, and while washing up told mom the story. 

Photo by Stephanie Dayle (c) 2013

Aftermath 

Dad took 4-wheeler up the trail and found the deer and Mountain Lion tracks - which he tracked to the house. And you know what? Instead of telling us he was sorry, he told us we were stupid for ignoring first signs of the Mountain Lion we'd seen, and that we were lucky we weren't dead. And by the way if it had wanted to get one of you it would have.

It most likely was just chasing you off its kill and when you ran from it - it gave chase. We shouldn't have run, he said. You never run from a Mountain Lion, it triggers a chase instinct, he will always go after you. Stand up and look big, make noise, make it known that you know he's there and you will foil his plan, knowing his advantage is gone many big cats will go away or break off any oncoming attack.

Well that's nice to know now. Thanks for the advice Dad.

The End.
_____________________________________________

PS - Don't be too hard on my Dad, like most Dads he's softened with age and everyone makes mistakes and they live in a very rural area, stuff that makes the news in town doesn't raise an eyebrow out there. I am not mad at him for not going with us to the barn, I forgave him a long time ago as daughters tend to do.

Scary Tales from The Rural - Happy Halloween

True Tales from the Rural by Stephanie Dayle - Noises at Night

This happened the first year we owned our house out rural Eastern Washington. Hubby was on a swing shift and was coming home around midnight or one in the morning - he usually never wakes me up and that's not surprising considering it has been proven that I can sleep through gun shots.

I was sound asleep and was awakened by what sounded like him making a run around the house locking all the doors and windows, then I heard a bullet being chambered in his pistol and then I heard another slide into the chamber of his rifle (yes, they make very different noises you can tell them apart when you've been raised around guns) he opened the bedroom door and ask, "Are you alright?" I said "Yeah, what's going on?" shoving my head under the covers hiding from the light. "Can't you hear that?" he asked. "Hear what?" I answered, now annoyed thinking he was going after the coyotes again. "I don't know it's coming from everywhere" In his voice I detected something...something I very very rarely hear...it was stress, nervousness maybe even fear.

Now my hubby is a man's man - you don't get much more macho than that one right there, doesn't cry, gun in his truck, doesn't drink wine, doesn't carry a purse (ever) for the wife, and is never scared. So it kind of woke me up a bit. He was quiet for a moment and that's when I heard it - plain as day even though the house was locked up like Fort Knox. It was a screaming howling noise...it was one of those things that instantly scares you so bad that your eyes water - ever had that happen? 

Maybe its just me - anyways my skin crawled...and I jumped out of bed. "Bring Taz in the house!" I shouted running for my shoes. The noise sounded again this time longer - and it was coming from everywhere, it didn't sound like a mountain lion because I know what those sound like - this was deeper, louder and had almost a mournful quality to it and it sounded like it was coming from our dang back yard. "She's hiding in her doghouse...stay inside!" He said in a firm hushed voice. He killed all the lights in the house and the motion lights outside since those were all lit up, grabbed our spot light, his rifle and slowly opened the sliding door out to our back deck.

We heard it again this time being so loud with the door open that I actually cowered and covered my ears. I was so damn scared I thought my heart would beat right out of my chest. When he stepped out on to the deck he kicked on the spot light - 2 million candle power double halogen bulbs lit-up our back yard, the field beyond, and woods beyond it like daylight. Expecting to see a beast from hell I plugged my ears ready for shots to ring out....

But we saw nothing. Not even a pair little eyes from the woods starring back at us reflecting the light, just nothing. He panned the light sweeping the bright beam from left to right, nothing. It was perfectly quiet outside as if whatever had made that noise had silenced every living creature within ear shot of our house. He stepped back inside reached to the table behind him and switched his rifle for a shotgun - I covered my ears again as he let four consecutive shots off spraying the tree line on our property with bird shot, it was quiet again. With my ears ringing before he could stop me I zipped out the back door and true to his word Taz our aging rotty dog was hiding shaking like a leaf in her house. I called her and she jumped up and ran for the door - just barely beating me back inside.

"What the hell was that!!" I whisper shouted (if you don't know what a whisper shout is then you're not a girl). "I don't know," he said locking the door behind me. "Could be a Mountain Lion..." he suggested. "That was no mountain lion..." I retorted. "I don't know..." he kept saying. "Should we call the sheriff?" I asked. "And tell them what?" he asked "We heard a loud noise and are scared? I'm sure they will be right out here." I knew he was right. The sheriff's department didn't come out our way unless someone was dying.

The dog had taken shelter on her bedroom pillow and was still shaking. I was still shaking, it took an hour to stop shaking. We heard the sound only once more and is sounded far in the distance, we could barely make it out. Hubby and I went to bed after a while when the horizon finally started to turn grey, locked up tight in our house in the bedroom with the dog at the foot of the bed - I noticed she never went back to sleep either just laid there quietly like us - until sunrise.

Neither of us have spoken of the event until now...we just don't bring it up. My theory is that it was Bigfoot (I have since heard Bigfoot recordings on the web and on TV that sound exactly like what we heard that night) but Hubby doesn't believe in such things so I guess it's like maybe it won't happen again if we don't talk about it? Go figure. Haven't heard it since in 10 years...

Happy Halloween - sleep tight everyone. 

Raising Your Own Beef

By Stephanie Dayle - via I.N.C.H. Survival

I wrote a guest article for the I.N.C.H. survival website. The link is at the bottom of this post.

Cattle bred for beef are amazingly hardy animals that can eat almost unusable pastureland and turn it into high quality protein for people. Homegrown beef is usually always healthier than its grocery store counter parts, because it is far more likely to be pasture fed and since most homegrown beef doesn't spend time in a feedlot it is usually hormone and antibiotic free. There are many benefits to raising your own beef.  

I grew up helping my dad with the cattle he raised, on average we ran 20-30 head of beef cattle every year and even now I try to keep as many as my property will support, as a result I have developed an educated opinion on the different methods of raising beef.  Keeping cattle is one of the many livestock choices a homesteader can make to secure a year's supply of meat and to take that extra step in self-reliance but it's not for everyone. Here is what you need to know about raising your own beef to decide if it's direction you'd like to go. 

Is raising cattle right for you? And how to get started...

-Click here to read the rest of this article- 

20 Cheap Tricks Around the Farmstead

By Stephanie Dayle

Here is a list of some top tricks that have saved me money and time around the farmstead. Most of these have become second nature to me so I had kind of a hard time thinking of them. Some of them are so farm kid 101 that I just assume everyone knows this stuff, but if it helps someone out its worth it. Do you know of another one that should be on here? Add it to the comments below to help others out! 

 

Make your own chicken waters and feeders. Simple poultry waters and feeders can be made for under $10 using repurposed materials. They work just as good as store bought ones at a fraction of the cost. Click here to for an article on how to make traditional waterers and feeders. Click here for and article on how to make nipple waterers.

Compost manure, garden waste, and yard clippings to add back in your garden later. It's cheap and more organic than fertilizer. Click here for an article on how get your own compost started.

                          

Install a drip irrigation system for your garden and fruit patches. It will pay for itself in one season and as a bonus it can be used in conjunction with rain barrels for off-grid watering. Click here for an article on how to do it! 


Toothpaste works great for cleaning horse bits or anything made of stainless steel around the barn.

Photo Credit: 1001pallets.com

Pallets are forever handy. A lot of lumber stores, give away used wooden pallets. Grab a couple and keep them on hand, they can be used in chicken runs during bad weather to give the birds an option to get out of the mud. They also work well keep hay off the moist ground, holding garden equipment and can be reposed into so many things.

Use wood burning pellets to soak up minor annoying puddles in or around the barn or the farmyard. The pellets expand and soon you will have a small pile of sawdust to sweep up instead of an annoying puddle or wet spot.

 

Those cheap laundry buckets you can buy at Walmart or Bi-Mart, are really Muck Buckets in disguise. Use them to clean out stalls or chicken coops, as stools to stand on, or put them in a stall or pen as an extra large water bucket. You have to refill these once for every 3 or 4 times you’d have to refill buckets. When they go on sale at Bi-Mart I can get them for $5 each.

Keep a used horse shoe or two that’s in ok shape after a farrier visit – throw it in in your barn, you may use it as an emergency replacement shoe one day. Even completely worn out horse shoes have many uses.

Keep a small stash of bailing twine around at all times for tying things up in a pinch.

 

Wood burning pellets can be used as inexpensive bedding. For poultry and other animals. They are more effective than pine shavings at absorbing moisture and keeping odor down, WAY easier to compost, they are considerably less expensive than shavings. Again turning into saw dust as they absorb moisture for easy clean up. Wood burning pellets are also cost less than the 'special wood pellets' made for animal bedding. You can, in fact, find 'pine only' burning pellets (see above picture) but a mix of hardwood and pine is ok too. Per EPA regulations there is no additives or glues in wood burning pellets. Click here to read an article on using pellets for bedding.

There are a few types of hardwood that should be avoided for use with animals but those woods are not commonly used in wood burning pellets. The concern I commonly hear about oak is a result of waste wood from furniture building. Oak used for furniture making is commonly treated with ammonia to enhance its appearance and prolong it's life. Oak treated in this way should not be used as animal bedding however, ammonia treated oak cannot be used to make wood burning pellets, so it is a non-issue.

You can open a hay bale with another loose piece of bailing twine: run one end under the twine on the bale (assuming you are dealing with bailing twine here and not metal straps or wire) grab the other in your other hand – saw back and forth briskly – the friction created will quickly create heat and burn/melt through the strap with a satisfying 'pop'. Simply repeat on the second piece of twine.

If you have to store a stock trailer outside park it on wood before the winter so it doesn’t freeze to the ground and so that it doesn’t sink in the mud and become stuck come spring time. This practice will also prolong the life of your tires.

 

To fight flies, and wasps around the barn, use simple homemade fly traps. Cut a plastic 2 liter bottle in half, flip the top upside down and insert back into the bottom half. Fill with a cup of fly attractant solution. Try diluting some cat food in water, old buttermilk, or some rotten meat in water as an attractant (do not use sugar or you will catch honey bees). Flies get in but they can't get out and drown.
It's important to get these traps set out in the spring as they need some time to ferment to work effectively, the worse they smell the better they work. Using organic attractant means if one of the traps breaks and falls (and the chickens eat all the dead flies - which they will) no harm will come to your chickens or any other animal that may get into the nasty smelling fly trap.

Olive oil from bulk buy stores (like Costco) works great for oiling and conditioning leather products, and is considerably cheaper than the chemical filled products you find at tack stores.

Get your work boots re-soled after you’ve worn them out – it costs a fraction of the price of new boots and will last you another couple years.

White vinegar can be used for a deep cleaning of moldy leather products. It will kill all mold spores. Vinegar will also remove buildup and stickiness on leather.

Listerine in a spray bottle is an all-in-one liquid cleanser use on horse bits or dirty hands, as a disinfectant or as a brace/liniment, it also works as a tail rubbing solution for horses.

Use old stock tanks that no longer hold water as chick brooders. They don't have to hold water for this purpose and they have steep tall walls - perfect for hatchling chicks


Knock sparrow nests down by spaying them with a tight steam of water from the hose – although keep in mind, if they are allowed to nest in areas that aren’t a fire hazard they are a great fly control system.

Pick up an old wool blanket – the thicker the better, from your local Goodwill store for a great livestock 'cooler'.' These blankets will soak up sweat after a heavy work out, during an illness, and they work great for wrapping baby goats, calves, and foals in. They work better than fleece and will keep livestock warm even when damp.

Again if you have some ideas of your own - add them to the comments section below! Hope these ideas help someone out there - they sure help me.

Click here for recommended homesteading products from The Home Front