Actually 2 questions, first,  if I pour my footings and cold weather sets in, can I sufficiently protect them till Spring from heaving if I can't backfill before it  freezes, I'm thinking old school,hay bales both sides and on top of footing or new school concrete blankets, would it benifit or negate having the floor poured also.
   Secondly, can I do an ICF in stages of say 3-4' high at a time, if I leave rods sticking up say 2' with hooked ends, and leaving the top of pour channeled and rough? I'm thinking I can backfill with clean gravel for drainage and cushion ( or do I need floor system for strength before backfill), and be able to stack more blocks from the outside, and pour again, the finished height is abt. 10' with 8' below grade, this willl be a weekend project, any help appreciated! This is for a single family home approx. 2000 sq.ft.

Use quality straw for insulation. Hay has no insulation properties.

Build your wall the full height you need and hire a concrete boom pump for your pour.

Wet dowel after your pour if you are going another lift.

Breaking your ICF wall into smaller units may seem easier.. but it is very wasteful of time and energy actually.

Set yourself up for success, by being totally ready for your pour, and having experienced people help at pour time,
and inspect / advise you before the big day.

Get your beams and floor system on before you backfill, and get your excavator to treat your walls with respect.

Have you taken the "Installer training" from your supplier ?

Are you receiving "Technical Support" ??

Every cold joint is a weak point and a potential leak point, but if you really feel you have to pour in 3-4' pours at least have your concrete supplier send some binder mix with this is a slurry that you pour in the wallbefore you start your second pour and it will push around the wall sealing to some degree the cold joint. I agree with Eric it is probably just as hard to pour 4' as it is to pour 14' and a dam site more costly to pour 4'.

   If I poured the footings, and walls could'nt be completed before cold should I stack the Straw alongside footings and on top or brake up the bails and scatter it on top.?

Bust up the straw and fluff it. Put a jacket or tarp over it to keep it from getting wet. If the "quill" or hollow of the straw has water in it, the straw loses its ability to insulate.

With ICF footings you need to place them "superflat" and you should have dowels embed'd to receive your walls, so fluffing the straw is the only way to get conplete coverage.

There are other insulating methods also. Batts, bubble wrap are options. I'm sure there are others.

You could wait for warmer weather and avoid all this.........global warming soon.

Before the initial ICF pour I find it's easier to take 12"-18" wide strips of 6m poly and cover the exterior footing ledge and up the wall. Keeps the joint clean so the spray waterproofing isn't just holding stones together.

Another thing on the short wall pours. I wouldn't!

Why?? Because you are changing the characteristics of the wall assembly. I would hope that an inspector, checking your wall for rebar and interior for debris, would refuse to accept the wall without an engineer signing off on it. In other words, as you review unbalance and balanced backfill, putting a potential hinge in the middle of a wall is very poor construction!

Most ICF systems are already downsized due to thei inclusion of adjusted ACI318 specs among others, so if you don't have the equipment to do the foundation right, why would you assume you could then do so with the above grade walls with all their window and door openings??