Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Quick Homesteading Project


Today was a beautiful day. The sun was out in full force, though we have received about 8 or 9 inches of snow over the past few days. Maybe the sunshine went to my head, but I was in the mood for a homesteading project. With the cold temperatures outside, any project that I was going to undertake needed to be completed indoors.

I decided to put together a heated base to keep a chicken waterer from freezing during the winter. A galvanized poultry waterer would be placed on top of the heated base to keep the water temperature above freezing. I used the heating element from a potpourri simmerer. The element was already pre-wired to a plug in cord. I inserted it into an old cookie or candy tin and used tin snips to make a hole in the tin. Once it was assembled, I caulked around the hole to prevent water or other foreign materials from getting inside. That was it! The entire project took about 25 minutes and most of that was spent looking for the tin snips! This project could also be completed with the parts to construct a small lamp. In that case, a low watt lightbulb (rather than a heating element) would provide the heat to keep a metal waterer from freezing. Now, I just need to get a galvanized waterer and some chickens!

4 comments:

Pintura Springs said...

Just wanted to let you know that I have nominated your blog for the Lemonade Stand Award, you can read about it on my blog. I enjoy your posts.

Carolyn Evans-Dean said...

Thank you, Spinner! I have been enjoying the posts on your blog, too. I am sort of new to blogging but I plan to have regular updates as we get things going.

Claire MW said...

Hey! Thanks for becoming a follower on my blog - I came to yours and I'm loving it - great start! I decided to follow you too! I can definitely help you out with advice on chickens as you go forward with your plans! I'll be excited to see your farmstead develop!

Carolyn Evans-Dean said...

Welcome to Mars, Claire! I just may have to take you up on some of that advice. We had chickens, ducks and rabbits when I was growing up,(but that was a long time ago) so I might be a bit rusty!