Winter Husbandry So what is involved in caring for Flamig Farm in the winter? The To Do list includes quite a variety of things ranging from preventing frozen water pipes in a chilly barn or an open paddock to plowing animal turnout areas when it snows to cleaning up frozen manure. Not at all glamorous but always satisfying because it is working with our environment, our earth and her wonderful creatures to create a safe, healthy, sustaining space for all. So far this chilly season, the animals have been moved together into fewer paddocks so we have fewer frozen water buckets to contend with. We have moved our Ram whose name is Pickles (go figure) in with the female sheep and our very "smelly" male goat named Ralph in with the female goats. If they "do their thing," and with a 5 month gestation period, we expect babies in early May! During the first cold snap I (Nevin) got to work on the water in the chicken coop to keep it from freezing. That involved a trip to the hardware store for heat tape, electrical tape and pipe insulation. The process to install everything took several hours. The heat tape and pipe insulation had to be attached to the water troughs and hoses that lead to them. Then I had to hook them to extension cords and timers so they won't be using electricity 24/7. If chickens could be potty trained, this would have been a relatively clean job. They can't, to the best of my knowledge, so the job was NOT relatively clean, to say the least. Chickens are very curious so they came around to watch my every move. And when chickens come around, they poop where they are with no qualms about doing it on the floor, my shoes or tools (even those tools set down for just a minute). I must admit, there were moments that day when I wondered why I was doing such a job. A grown man, kneeling in manure in a cold chicken coop, I found myself starting to feel sorry for myself. Then I changed my thinking to "Who gets to have this much fun but me? I'm going to do the best job here that I can, and I have the best job in the world!" I focused on the work and the feeling I would have when it was complete. I've heard that 'successful people' are willing to do what unsuccessful people are unwilling to do. I got the job done, and since then waters have been flowing freely and the chickens have had all the water they needed, without any additionally work. Depending how cold the winter is, those few hours ,wisely invested, will save that amount of time many times over. I figure if I pretend I was getting paid $10/hour, and I spent 4 hours on water that day, that's $40. If I had to thaw water pipes 60 times during the winter, and that took one hour each time, at $10/hour, that's $600. So if I, in effect, earned $600 in 4 hours that turns out to be $150/hour. Wallowing in chicken poop for $150/hour? Not too bad. If I can do that same hourly rate for 40 hours a week that would be $321,00 per year. Not to shabby for a chicken farmer. |
