Duck Chronicles Season Two – Episode 39 – Freezing Cold at Bath Time
So I woke up to 13 degree weather and frozen ground and frozen pipes. Fortunately I was able to drain most of our pipes in advance and able to keep the hose bib on the house from freezing up so the ducks could have a morning bath. With a wind chill of 6, they still don’t care about the cold at all.
Season Three will be coming early February with the largest group of ducklings we have ever brooded. You can find the entire series at DuckChronicles.com
It was 0 degrees here in upper central Missouri this morning, and I had no problems with frozen water pipes and exposed waste water storage tanks in the travel trailer that I reside in.
You might want to buy a heated RV water hose. They are a bit costly, but they make up for that because you will not have to spend so much time unfreezing water hoses.
I had earlier underpinned the entire trailer with 1″ styrofoam insulation backed with reflective faux aluminum foil sheets behind exterior grade particle board. I had also partitioned the exposed waste water tank area from the rest of the under trailer area and installed a heat lamp. I have found that the RV heat ducts provide enough heat to keep the tanks above freezing until the temperature reaches the single digits (I have a remote thermometer). I then plug in my heat lamp.
Have you considered installing a sillcock? These are standard in cold climates. When the water is turned off, they drain the remainder back inside the wall to prevent frost damage. Far easier and safer than insulating the hose bib and hoping for the best. Keep warm!
Maybe a silly question but here goes. A side from drinking water do domesticated ducks and geese have a biological requirement to splash around in water every day or is it just leisure for them? They do seem to enjoy it but why do they bother to do it especially in freezing weather as in video? Great video, lovely house, I could only see part of it, is it solid brick or cavity leaf wall? Is it a bungalow or 2 story?
Jack,
I heard your comment about toting buckets of water from your bathtub for your ducks if the hose bib freezes. An incandescent light bulb should be plenty of heat to keep the bib thawed if blocked from the wind. Or one of your brooder elements would be overkill but should work too. The sillcock sounds cool. But using what you have on hand to save the hassle sounds even better on the short term. You may have thought of this, but if not, that is what community if for.
Good luck and thanks for the video.