Thursday, December 10, 2009

Winter Blast




Winter whooshed through Busy Solitude Farm yesterday, dropping the temperature to single digits, whipping winds up to 50 mph, and bringing snow, then lake effect snow.  The snow is light and fluffy and only a few inches deep, but I still shovel a path to the barn so I don't have to put on boots each time I check the hens.



I wrapped the hen pen with heavy plastic to reduce drafts.  The old barn siding allows lots of air through, and along with the air...



...snow!  This is the "back door" of the barn.  It faces due west and bears the brunt of the winter winds.  I meant to rebuild it this summer, but it's one more item on the "to do" list that never got done.  So I now have to shovel inside the barn as well as the path to it!  You'll also note that the top of the feed can is upside down -- I have a new bag of feed in my car, waiting to get to the barn.  Guess there are still chores to do this morning!



Happily, the chickens (and duck at the waterer) can bask under the heat lamp and with their new plastic wrap stay relatively comfortable inside.  No way are they going outside today!  And good blizzard news, Miss Peep and one of the Ameraucana hens both layed yesterday after two months off!



Last night Oskar looked back over his shoulder as if to say "you expect me to go out in this?"  Next thing I saw was...



...his tracks in the snow, and just a few seconds later...



...he raced back to the door and that was that for the night!

All the schools are closed today -- I'm calling it a snow day, too!

6 comments:

Ms. Becky said...

Whenever I see someone is from the Great Midwest I try to stop in and wave hello from SE Wisconsin. We both are fans of Chickens In The Road, and we both experienced the blizzard this week! Although, living 2 blocks from Lake Michigan I got only rain and now the winds. Have a beautiful day!

Johanna said...

Becky--I am ten miles off the lake on the other side. We get LOTS of lake effect snow (though not as much as NW Indiana just south of us)! I'm learning to go with it -- there's not much else one can do!

Chicken Boys said...

:( No snow here.

Nancy K. said...

Shoveling a path so you don't have to wear boots is a great idea! Unfortunately, here, the wind keeps rearranging huge DRIFTS so paths don't last as long as it takes to shovel them!

The plastic is a smart move too. My poor chickens have to live with snow drifts in their pen as well. But they've got plenty of room to avoid them and stay dry so they'll just have to live with it...

Anonymous said...

we laffed right out loud at the post ending 3 photo set of now you see him now you don't oops yes yo do !!!

hahahahahahaha

Callie Brady said...

You have made the coop a cozy place for the chickens (and duck) to wait out winter. I'm sure they appreciate the heat lamp. My chickens are roughing it so far this year with no lamp. Oskar is a cutie!