Ice storm and preparedness

We experienced another ice storm yesterday.  When I got up at 5:00 AM, it was only 26 degrees.  It wasn't raining out yet.  By the time I headed out to care for the chickens, it was 28 and drizzling.

Yes, liquid rain was falling at 28F.  And it froze as soon as it hit the ground.

As the day passed, we lost power twice.  Once for about 2 hours during the late afternoon.  It was 31 degrees outside.  We weren't worried because it was still light outside.  We'd already eaten lunch and Josh had the fire going in the fireplace.  We just went on about our afternoon.

Once the power came back on I decided I'd better do up the dishes and get out the oil lamps.  Now, here was a problem.  It seems that only 3 of the lamps had oil in them and I couldn't locate the bottle of oil we keep on hand.  I searched everywhere, but no oil was to be found.  Crap!  So, I put lamp oil on the list for our next trip to town.

We were also out of potatoes.  I had used the last 3 on Wednesday when I cooked pork roast.  And we're out of carrots.  I'm not really worried about that because we have home canned carrots and potatoes.  But I added them to the list of things to get.

While I was up puttering around, I filled all available bottles with water - just in case.  I keep about 30 gallons of distilled water on hand at all times.  But, I filled some various 2-liter jugs and such with well water.  And since it was raining outside, 5-gallon buckets of water (very COLD) were available for toilet flushing if needs be.  I also filled up the Big Berkey.

I decided NOT to bother getting out the Water Bob and filling it up.  Heck... I don't want to open it and use it (it's designed for 1-time use) unless I was really sure I'd need it.

We had plenty of batteries on hand.  Plus I had just invested in a K-Tor Pocket Sock hand crank generator.  It's a portable power supply that provides 10 watts, 120 volts.  Best thing, it's made in the USA!
Pocket-Socket-Generator-Portable-Supply

Later in the evening, the power went out a second time.  But the outage only lasted about 45 minutes this time.  No biggy.

When I got up this morning, it was 31F.  By the time I got outdoors to start taking care of the birds, it was 33 and the ice had started melting.  I measured the ice at 1/4.  Not awful.  And the world was lovely!

Here's what it looked like.

Measuring the ice

The ice was 2/3's of an inch.  Subtracting for the twig and dividing by 2 - 1/4 inch of ice.

Lilac and peaches covered in ice on the NE side of our house

The west side of our house

Facing east

When I went out to the chicken houses... I found them totally encased in ice.

Ice encased bird cage

When I opened this cage, the birds were perfectly happy.  The water was still liquid.  I'd say it was about 45 degrees in there.  All that plastic really made a difference.  There is only 2 birds in this cage, Henry and Jet.  And she was happy enough that she laid her egg during an ice storm!  What a gal!


No frozen combs or frost bitten feet.  Just happy chickens.

The chickens and guineas in the larger cage were equally happy, although the guinea made their displeasure at being confined well known.  Greta laid her egg, just like always.  Sissy and Missy weren't as industrious.  The bantam chickens in the cage in the background of this picture were equally warm and happy.  Pebbles laid her egg yesterday as well. 

We weathered the ice with no problems.  I'm aggregated with myself for not having lamp oil on hand.  That could be a real problem if the power outage had lasted a few days.  Thankfully, it was not a big deal.