Oh, Come On Now!!! I'ts Not A SPA!!!!!

The temperature in Southeast Alaska has gone down considerably this past week. The wind has been blowing and it's been downright chilly!!

The first cold snap of the year always seems to take me by surprise, and this year was no exception.....the hoses hadn't been disconnected yet and there's still stuff out in the garden that's now buried under about 7 inches of snow. But the most important thing that needed to be done to be officially ready for Winter was to rig up the stock tank heater for the pool in the duck hutch.

This is the model that I use...and then I wrapped some chicken wire around it to protect the ducks legs.

I have fresh water running through the pool year round, and most of the time that's all it takes to keep the water in the pool from freezing. But if it's 25 degrees or less I plug in the heater. 

I know ducks are insulated from the cold thanks to their feathers and down, but how can they stand to have their legs and feet dangling in that cold water? Imagine water that is colder than 32 degrees that can't freeze because there's fresh water running through it 24 hours a day. THAT'S COLD!!! But the ducks seem completely unaffected.

Now, this particular stock tank heater has a built in thermostat, and it works great, but I think it's set just a little too high.....what do you think?

Here are the ducks before I let them out for the day....

And here they are again.......later in the day when I went out to check on them....

I think they're just a little bit too comfortable......don't you?