Unfreeze Please!

One of the most annoying things about cold weather is when my outdoor taps freeze up.  Lugging buckets of water sucks but I cannot for the life of me pinpoint exactly which set or sequence of winter conditions causes the freeze up.  It seems to be different every time!  

I was devastated when the chicken coop tap froze up last week (the earliest ever) but very luckily, with the rainy weather, it unfroze!  I was determined to do everything in my power to prevent another freeze with the return of today's subzero temperatures so I went all out in the barnyard tap weatherproofing department.  Ian swears that I am nuts but I really, really hate lugging buckets of water.  Like really, really.