Went out to the chickens this morning, it was -1oC and for the first time this year the water was frozen. The poor chickens were desperate for a drink and shot out of the chicken house and headed straight for old upturned cattle feeding trough for a drink...but that was frozen as well.
Luckily we had an old kettle which we had in the stable block for unblocking the watering hose which we use for cleaning out the dog run. So a touch of boiling water and all was well again with the chickens.
I think we are in for a cold winter this year, and some thirsy animal overnight  
Heaven knows what  it's like in Canada!

At this moment it's raining, but it will go below zero oC before morning and all will be slick with a fine coating of ice. It can really kill the trees if it gets too heavy because the brances will break. I remember now. My mother talked about the water for the chickens freezing during the night(Manitoba is much colder). She had to take hot water out to them so that they could drink before it froze. I don't remember our chickens. We stopped keeping them around my arrival. Nobody asked me. There was a chicken ranch nearby and eggs were cheap and fresh. We had to deal with -30oF weather, even -40oC/F. Toronto doesn't usually go that cold, but we get storms, ice and snow storms and both can be bad. I was going to say that there are no chickens here, but I hear a rooster from  time to time.

That's a pity your parents stopped keeping the chickens just as you arrived, you must have been a more fun little animal to have around than the chickens  
We love the sound of our rooster in the morning and that together with the sound of the sheep bring the place alive. In the morning, so much so that when we thought we had lost Tiger our cockerel, we set some eggs incugating that night to replace him. As in every batch of eggs we always get at least one cockerel
We were so pleased when he reappeared later the same night, and didn't have the heart to stop the already incubating eggs, which is how we ended up with Primrose, Velvet and Amber.
We are now glad we did as our flock of chickens has grown to 9 and they are a great bunch of chickens who get on really well.

The quail were closely related to chickens. So small as he was, Stuart was still a rooster. A very small rooster perhaps, but still a rooster. At dawn he would rise up on his toes all 6in of him and give a crow....a very little crow. I miss it. He was cute. Something about animals going about their business is comforting. The sound of sheep is soothing. I have the soft swish of hamster wheels. And CRICKETS! The lizards eat crickets, I buy them in boxes of a thousand and the escape rate is pretty good, so there are free range crickets under the stove and frig and bed and everything else you can imagine. I grew up in the country. I sleep better because it blocks out city noise.

I love the noise of just about any animal, esspecially sheep, their bleat is really cute and fluffy's bleat in particular is really funny. Gemima had a really beautiful bleat, unique to the rest  

I love the sound of lambs. The closest I come is a guinea pig. The quail did not make a soothing sound. It was high pitched and plaintive. Hamster squeaks are not the same thing. Baby hamsters however sound like baby quail. I am sure that is why they started breeding the momment they arrived at my place. I don't like birds that can talk. I like them to speak their own laguage and I will figure it out.  It is hard for the birds here because all natural water sources are frozen. Some people get heated bird water dishes. The fact that they sell them tells you that we do have a need. Winter is hard on all wild creatures and I guess farm animals as well. It just occured to me that we have 12 more weeks of this to go. Unless we get early spring.

Catherine, just wait to we summon the courage to watch the videos of Jemima, her bleating was one of the most wonderful sounds we have ever heard from an animal. It was very unique. We will post it to the site at some point, but the videos are still a bit too painful for us to watch.

I would like to see the lambs, but take your time. It is not easy. Some losses are hard.

Yeah Gemima is a cutie - she is really sweet =-)

I can wait. That is the great thing about video. We have all the time in the world.

I have miniature chickens and they are staying outdoors sleeping on the trees I have been worry about the cold weather and don't know if they will get sick or die from frosting temperatures?

I too would love to see and hear Jemima on video one day. Reading her story was what brought me to AL.web. And one of the reasons I decided to call my wee one 'Jem' was as a kind of personal tribute to your Jemima, a lamb I never knew but who still managed to touch my heart none the less.

I love it when there are tiny lambs around the place. To me, their bleats always sound heaps more like 'Maaa' rather than 'Baaa'. I like to imagine they're talking to their Mamas, calling them 'Ma'.

Hannah