Snow Days and Chickens

10:30 AM, Tuesday, January 21, 2014

11:30 AM, Tuesday, January 21, 2014

3:30 PM, Tuesday, January 21, 2014

8:00 AM, Wednesday, January 22, 2014

I'd forgotten an old New England fact during my years in Florida, salting the roads when the temps are in single digits doesn't work.  Well, it usually doesn't get that cold around here, so the road crews only have salt to work with, as a result we are now on our third day of no school due to six inches of snow.  I also hear that there might be burst pipes at some school or other weather related calamity.  Our road is clear, most in my area are pretty clear, but as long as some areas in the county are not cleared there will be no school.  My daughter is not complaining, she is over a friend's house sledding and then playing Wii. Her friend called to ask her to sleep over minutes after the robo-call came through announcing that there would be no school.  If they miss any more days then they will start losing days from their upcoming summer vacation.

Not coming out, nooooooooo waaaay!

The chickens are not amused with the snow.  In fact, it appears that Athena is quite out of sorts over it.  With the single digit temps causing them to spend their nights in the garage which isn't nearly as chilly as their coop, they have spent several nights in pet carriers.  In the morning, once the temps are in the double digits I bring them outside, feed and water them and leave them to do whatever chickens choose to do. A few minutes after I put them out she was on the back steps staring me down, seeming to demand that I bring her back into the garage. I stepped  out later when I saw that the coop door had blown closed and found Athena hunkered down in the pet carrier by the back door.  She was not about to put her toes into that snow!

She has a worried look about her.

The other three are running about the yard together, but she won't join them.  I put the water within her reach, so that she doesn't dehydrate.












I'm still ready for winter to end (I think Athena is with me on that one), but I get the feeling that this winter is far from done with us.  There are whispers of another storm on the way...I guess I have my seed and tree catalogs to entertain me in the meantime.