Tim sounds like Tom! Nothing stops a man from grilling when he wants to grill! Lucky for us, our shop has a front porch that the grill sits on, so even rain isn't a factor!

I'm still a little nervous about turning on the heat lamp in our coop. We don't have even a slightly safe way of attaching it really. It's in the coop, but I haven't turned it on yet. It's sorta hanging on a nail as well as the clamp. There are safer heat lamps and I need to find one soon. When we make the shed into the future coop, a heat lamp should be safer.

Maybe I'll just add two light bulbs to their coop. Everyone made it through the night last night and seem fine this morning.

We are supposed to go to 11 tonight, which isn't as cold as it got last night...but almost.

I made the dogs go out. I know they're cold, but it's sunny and they need to burn off some energy. I'll bring them in as soon as the sun sets.

Premier1 sells a safe heat lamp made by Prima.

You can see it here:

Safe Heat Lamp at Premier 1 Supplies

You even can make it automated by plugging it into a ThermoCube, which turns on power to the lamp when the ambient air temperature drops below 35 degrees and turns off the power to the heat lamp when the ambient air temperature climbs above 45 degrees.

I absolutely do not like using heat lamps at all, and probably we will only use these tonight and then go back to a regular bulb tomorrow night when it will be substantially warmer. With any heat lamp used in an animal barn, there always is going to be a degree of risk, and we've been to enough doghouse, pole barn/shed, barn and house fires started by heat lamps that I fully understand the risk. It just seems so cold for the chickens, especially the young ones and particularly since we are expected to drop into the single digits. The big coop is quite roomy and has a fairly high roof at the roof peak, so the heat lamp in there is attached to rafters by both a clip and nails that should keep the poultry from knocking it down. The two smaller coops have a lower roof and I'm a little less happy with how close the lamp is to the chickens, but I can't think of any reason they'd leave their roosts to go jump up on the lamp so I am trying not to obsess over it.

On the rare occasions we use the 250-watt infrared heat lamp bulbs in the chicken coops, I sleep poorly and get up every so often to pull back the curtains and look out the window to see if everything looks okay. It usually takes a forecast in the single digits in combination with young chickens to push me into the position of using a heat lamp. Or, sometimes if we have prolonged cold, like when we stay below freezing for 4 or 5 days/nights without ever rising above 32 degrees....and even more so if it is cloudy. When it stays so cold for so many consecutive days and we lack the sunlight that can help them warm up during the daytime, I'm more prone to worry about them being too cold at night.

Today while we were at Atwoods, I noticed they had chicks for sale, and I was wondering (a) why? In particular, why at this time of the year? and (b) who would buy tiny chicks and take them home in freezing weather? Are they going to raise them indoors?

Our cats stayed indoors all day. Our dogs went in and out but didn't stay out long any given time. As soon as they had run around for a short while, they were scratching at the back door wanting to come back inside.

Yikes! I guess they changed it--our low is supposed to be 0 tonight. Looks like we might get some rain on Christmas. Or something more frozen.

Thanks for the link. I put a second light in the coop. Actually it's our turtle's basking light. lol. I have had a turtle for almost 14 years. No one told me that turtles live a long time. But, I took it, so I'm committed to caring for it for the REST OF MY LIFE. :)

Anyway...got of track. Yes. Cold. And I would be the same way, Dawn, I would look out my window off and on all night to check for a fire in the coop. Sleep quality would be bad. Honestly, I like the winter weather for awhile except for the animals' sakes.

Really? Chicks? In December. Interesting. Even if you kept them indoors in a brooder for 6 to 8 weeks, it would only be February when you put them outdoors. Huh. I bought our chicks in March and they were put outdoors in May. I'm worried about these chicks at your Atwoods store. Hope the people who purchase them know what they're doing. Even the drive home would be cold for them.

That's one lucky turtle!

We're at 4 degrees right now. Yikes.

Scratch that! It's 1 degree, now. Man oh man.

It was -12 on my min/max thermometer when I checked it yesterday morning! It was a balmy -2 at my house this morning when I left for work but +9 here in downtown KC. My chickens survived OK with just a 100w lamp. Our rooster died a couple weeks ago so the 3 remaining old biddy hens don't have him to snuggle up to anymore :(

The good news is that temperatures are trending up now with a nice 50+ on Christmas day with rain forecast.

I'm hoping anyone who would buy chicks at this time of the year would do their research first. I've never seen them in a store at this time of the year before. I really wanted to ask the folks at Atwoods "What were y'all thinking?"

Turtles are a lifelong commitment as are some kinds of lizards and birds. My son has tropical birds that live for decades and when he got them, he fully understood they are a lifetime commitment too.

We went down to exactly 8 degrees as forecast, with a wind chill just a little below zero. This afternoon, I'll replace the heat lamp bulb with a regular 100 watt bulb and put the heat lamp bulbs away in storage, saving them for the next really cold night. We're supposed to make it up above freezing (just barely) today. At least there is plentiful sunshine today, which makes it seem warmer to me, even if just barely so.

Bon, How low did y'all go? Did you stay awake all night and keep the fire burning? I was wondering if you could do that because I fear I would get sleepy and doze off.

Jack, Now see there, you live too far north! That is too cold for me. Actually, anything below 30 degrees is too cold for me. I am a cold weather wimp. Sorry about your rooster. If you were here, I've give you one of ours. We have too many and they don't like each other, as I'm sure you know. My son made the mistake of buying straight run chicks and ended up with far more roosters than anyone needs.

Dawn

I was wondering about straight run. I may pay more to get hens I do not want to deal with too many roosters

Dawn - I'd take you up on the rooster offer if you were 400 miles closer! We rehomed the last one from a chicken lady friend. He was a 5+ year old Cuckoo Maran and was as docile of a rooster as one could hope for. His dad was abusing him and not letting him crow and wouldn't let him roost in the coop so he was roosting in a tree at night before we took him in.

At least we live far enough south that we gets some breaks from the cold during the winter and the snow doesn't stick around all winter and continue to pile up.

The low at the Tulsa Airport was 7. The low in my Greenhouse was 17. I really expected it to be much colder. We brought the lettuce in, it was damaged the night before but it might make it. My chickens appear to have survived d h let them out of the pen. They don't seem overly fond of oatmeal, but I tried. It is too cold for the Heat pump. It is 65 in the house. I have the emergency heat on now but I can't say I feel warmer. We'll have a fire soon. I hate winter.

LoneJack, Ya'll and the Oklahoma panhandle were colder than a well-diggers behind last night. Minus 12! Nah uh. Can't do that (unless I've no choice.)

I can't tell ya how grateful I am to have had zilch wind last night. We got down to -4 degrees, but mosty held at -1 or 0 degrees. Last load of firewood in the stove now and it'll hafta do. I'm headed for bed when it's safe.

Temp's up to 17 and I'm peeling my sweatshirt off !

This weather will make for an interesting test of my winter cover on the garden. Its oats, austrian pea, and some brassica. It suppose to survive sub 20* , but IDK what sub 10* will do, which here in south OKC, we got down to 4* Saturday night and last night.

I took pics of it last Friday, so I can compare. Oats is the primary plant and they've changed color to a darker green, but I can't tell how far they will be bit back, or killed altogether.

Kim, Oh girl, pay extra to get pullets only!!!! Otherwise you're likely to get more than 50% male (in his straight run batch of Black Australorps, Chris got 10 males and 2 females, which is unfortunate since he wanted them for eggs....and you can bet that I told him "I told you so" because I tried to get him to NOT buy the straight run chicks). I only buy pullets and still get an occasional male who accidentally gets sexed incorrectly by the chicken sexer when they are segregating chicks for shipping. Also, if you order online and have them shipped, most companies throw in a few extra for added warmth and to make up for the occasional weak one that doesn't survive being shipped (we rarely have one not survive shipping though), and I swear, the extra ones they toss in are always cockerels.

Last year, I ordered Black Copper Maran pullets and 2 Black Copper Maran cockerels, which still was 1 rooster too many (but a coyote got 1 rooster, so I ended up with 1 rooster in that flock). I can handle having a couple of extra roosters because that situation tends to resolve itself over time anyway as one becomes dominant and the others tend to assume a lower position in the pecking order, but Chris has way too many of them who each believe that they are the top guy and they are driving me crazy with their wild fighting and chasing the women around all day.

Jack, Yep, that 400 miles is the problem, isn't it.

I love my Copper Marans, and the Copper Maran rooster is just gorgeous and yet also gentle and sweet. He is the best rooster we've ever had. He tolerates having the banty roosters hanging around with him all the time, but isn't crazy about my son's exotic roosters that are fancy, high- faluting and conceited. Two of his roosters are some sort of rare breed (I always forget their name) that are black from head to toe---black feathers, black comb, black legs.... black everything. They are beautiful but very aggressive, although only aggressive with other birds, not with people. He ordered the eggs last year and we hatched them out in an incubator set up in my husband's home office/TV room, so we had no way of knowing if he'd have males or females. He hatched out both males and females, and a third male that isn't pure black, but has some sort of gold and silver spangles in his genetics. I have to chase them away from my birds every now and then, but don't want to get rid of them unless they turn unbearably mean.

I agree about the good thing about living far enough south that snow isn't a constant all winter.

All it takes is one round of snow here and I'm happy. I like to watch it fall, watch it pile up on the ground and then.....hopefully, quickly, watch it melt. We don't get much snow down here and that's a good thing because I get tired of it quickly, especially when it gets gray and slushy and ugly.

Bon, I hope the temperature keeps climbing, because I think 17 is not warm enough. I hope you get a good long nap to make up for staying awake all night feeding the fire. Thankfully, we don't get too many of these bitterly cold spells in winter.

lcdollar, I've had winter cover crops tolerate colder temperatures than I expected some years....definitely down to at least 1 degree (the coldest we've been since moving here in 1999). They had freezeburn and turned that really dark greenish-black, but rebounded and put out new growth with warmer weather returned. They never really died----they just stalled, looked like crap, and then recovered. Hopefully yours will do the same. Our winter rye grass in the dog yard is that blackish-green on top today, but underneath the freeze-burn, there is healthier green grass down close to the ground.

Prepare to be jealous y'all, because my Min-Max thermometer is showing 32 degrees right now, and we are forecast to hit at least 33, so we are about to go above freezing, albeit not by much and probably not for very long.

Dawn

I think I should have covered my Rosemary plant this year because it looks a little dark.

Ooops Hopefully it is just freeze burn and the plant will bounce back.

We got down to 4 degrees. I pulled my rosemary plant into the insulated shed & it survived just fine. I covered my roses that are confused by the warm weather & trying to sprout new growth with a tarp held down with bricks & they are looking dandy. We never did get above freezing the next day, got a bit of sleet/snow mix for a few mins when the cold front blew through, & our pond froze over. Glad we're back up above freezing! I, too, am a cold weather wimp & only like the cold weather because it kills pesky bugs. I thought we'd maybe have a white Christmas but according to the forecast, we may be dodging hail & tornadoes instead. Crazy weather!

My roses went down to 8 degrees, uncovered, and are fine. They never even showed any freeze burn on their foliage. They haven't done dormant yet, thanks to the abnormally warm autumn. Well, they may go dormant now, though the leaves still look just as good as they did before the freeze.

For my part of OK, they took the tornadoes out of the forecast and now only mention a possibility of severe weather. My reaction is sort of a bored "whatever". (grin) I think we've already had autumn and winter weather in December, so why not spring weather too? I hope no one gets the tornadoes and hail.

I remember well the horrible tornadoes in north central TX last December 26th, the ones that swept some people in cars off an overpass and killed them. I can't remember if any of those north TX tornadoes crossed over into SE OK last year, but if they didn't, they sure came close. Here in southcentral OK, we had an EF-4 hit in western Carter County in February about 8 or 9 years ago, so nothing about the weather can shock me any more. We just have to live with the knowledge that our crazy weather here can produce pretty much any thing at any time of the year.

Let's hope the wicked weather takes the day off on Christmas and just sits back and chills and relaxes.

Here's the Storm Prediction Center's current (it updates multiple times per day) Convective Outlook for Day 3 (Sunday). The Slight Risk area (yellow) has moved a lot further north than it was earlier this week, back when Dr. Forbes had part of OK under a TorCon Index number of 2 for Sunday. We no longer have that TorCon of 2 either. I guess that shift northward is bad for the folks up there, but it is not bad for those of us down here who now are only in the Marginal Risk Area.

SPC Day 3 Convective Outlook

Some interesting weather stats from the NWS, funny how its not always as our memory tells us it is

I remember some warm Christmases and some cold Christmases, and plenty that were in-between. I'm not sure I remember one that has been quite as foggy as this weekend has been so far. We had horrible fog here even at 3 or 4 in the afternoon, although I suppose that's a Christmas Eve problem and, if the fog hangs around overnight, then it will be a Christmas Day problem as well.

I noticed the marginal risk area now has moved completely north of my county, so it looks like any precipitation or thunderstorms is mostly going to miss us tomorrow, and I'm okay with that. We're hoping for a nice, quiet, peaceful day.

Well, I found this just after my Wife and I had an argument about the number of Oklahoma white Christmas's , I did not recall very many, if any at all , she disagreed, said we've had a lot of them. I won :)

But we both recalled that December of 1983, that was just unreal. We went 2 or 3 weeks without getting above freezing, and that Christmas was extremely cold. It will take a long time before weather variations wipe out that record.

I remember that cold spell well. We were newly married and living in a tiny rent house in Texas with a poor heating system. After that cold blast, we decided to look for, find and buy our own house so we could at least have control over our heat, and in March we moved into our newly-purchased home, into which we installed a brand new heater---before we even closed on the house.

I suppose I had a White Christmas in Ft. Worth in 1964, but I was only 5 and, while I remember the snow well, I was so young that the fact that it was a white Christmas didn't really sink in. I didn't have an actual white Christmas here in southcentral OK until around 2012 or maybe 2014. I don't remember. I know it wasn't that long ago and, I remember thinking "Cool! A White Christmas!" and then realized it wasn't all that special. In fact it was cold and messy. I think that White Christmases look prettier on TV or in photos or paintings than they are in real life.

We're so far south that we don't get much snow, and probably get more sleet than snow. We've never had the kind of ice storm that central and northern OK get that knocks out power lines and brings down trees, though our area had one about 10 years before we moved here. We've had ice storms come within about 3 miles of us and those folks had trees down and lost power, but we always seem to be just far enough south to luck out. I bet our luck runs out one of these days.

Our wonderful snow year when we had plentiful snowfall here for days and days was the same year that the Super Bowl was held at the Dallas Cowboys' new stadium in Arlington, TX, so it must have been January/February of 2010, and we had around a foot or so. I had to go out with a broom and keep sweeping the accumulating snow off the roof of my little potting shed because I was afraid a heavy snow load would collapse the roof. While that snow was gorgeous to look at, having to be out in it, stomping around in the mud and snow, feeding poultry and wild birds and wild animals and filling up waterers over and over again as the water in them froze wore me out and made me appreciate the fact that we so seldom have snow. I like to look at it, but don't especially want to be out in it.