Frozen buckets? Not on this farm! Electricity-free bucket heaters!

[IFG]

@OverandOnward

Actually one idea to make it easier to remove the water tub temporarily, to empty/flush/clean, is to nest one water tub inside another. Just lift the top tub, and the bottom tub stays to hold the “manure nest” in place. It means buying two water tubs, along with the surrounding tank, but it would be well worth it, I think.

It would be easier to remove the top tub from the bottom tub if a couple of inches of shavings are layered into the bottom tub before inserting the top one.

That doesn’t do anything for interim mixing/moving the compost nest, of course. That would be another step for people serious about composting.

Sounds great until they freeze together. Ask me how I know ;).

[susanne]

We don’t get terribly cold here in NW Oregon, but up on our hill the temps dip below freezing often enough to require light de-icing. I tried stuffing straw into an outer muck tub, but my horses were convinced that it was somehow better than the yummy orchard grass they were fed and ripped it all apart…

This year I’ll try dropping a round plastic laundry basket into the muck tub/water trough, then break the ice and lift out the laundry basket, hopefully scooping out the ice. If this doesn’t work, it’s back to the electric kettle and the long-handled colander.