Snow, ice, wet, COLD

 Today we had a remote school day due to the weather. This gave me a little extra time to get the farm chores done before the teaching chores. This extra time was a good thing since everything took longer with the snow/ice/mess. As I opened up the coop for the day the precipitation coming from the sky was hard, round balls of ice. The ducks thought nothing of this cold and wet weather but many of the chickens chose to stay in for the morning. Can't say as I blame them! After school was done I roof raked the covered run, it was covered in a thick layer of ice and snow. 

A snowy, icy, wet and cold day.

We'll just stay in today!

Gotta get that heavy ice off the roof.

Birds everywhere!

 In addition to our flock of chickens and ducks we have many bird visitors. Wild turkeys and all manner of small songbirds visit the bird feeders. The most common visitors are chicksdees, bluejays, cardinals and woodpeckers and of course those wild turkeys who look for all the dropped seed. We had a rare sunny day on Monday and then a snowy day on Tuesday.

Snowy Sunday

 Dartha is such a snow dog, while Comet and Willow come in quickly after a break outdoors, Dartha loves to sit in the snow.

More scenes from a Snowy Sunday. Chickens eating treats and getting a bit of snow build up, wild birds big and small looking for seeds and grain and Linnea the cat enjoying a cozy spot indoors. 

Early To Rise

 It's not that I mind getting up so early, usually around 5:00am, I am more of a morning person. What I mind is all the rushing. There is so much to do in the morning before heading to the paid job. As long is it's not a dreadfully cold morning the trek to the coop in the dark is not horrid, it's quite peaceful in fact. But there is no time, the days I take a little extra time are the days I'm almost late for work. This morning a couple early birds had already laid their eggs, this splash colored pullet seemed very curious about the eggs I pulled out from under her, I wonder if one of these, likely the blue egg, was her very first egg. There wasn't any time to ponder it with her.

My trusty headlamp leads the way as I fill water and food dishes. Even though I open the coop up before I go to work the birds typically don't come out until it gets light out. 

5:30 AM

Later in the day when I get home there is another round of chores before making dinner for the humans and all too soon it's dark again, time to put the farm to bed. Looking forward summer and the longer days. 

5:30 PM

These Turkeys Are Chicken!

 During and after the snow I was roof raking the coop and run. The wild turkeys were nearby hoping for some grain. All of a sudden Rufus the cat ran by, this must have startled the turkeys because with a loud whoosh they all flew up into the trees in the chicken/duck yard! 

Some of the wild turkeys .

Rufus who really just wanted me to go let him indoors.

Scared turkeys in the trees.

Me-continues to roof rake, it has to be done!

Are the ducks fed up with winter?

 Most of the time our 9 ducks don't mind winter, even a foot of new snow doesn't phase them. The chickens on the other hand will not step out of the covered run until I make them paths through the snow. Today though the ducks didn't want anything to do with staying out in the new snow that had fallen overnight. The ducks are getting up their in age with most being 4-5 years old while a couple are still around 3 1/2. Having said that the duck flock is still very healthy, despite being older and hopefully will get back to laying eggs in the spring. Our duck flock consists of mostly Khaki Campbells and also 1 Black Swedish duck, 2 Rouen ducks and a mix or two. This video is from coop opening time this morning. The ducks happily exited the coop area, saw all the newly fallen snow and ....well changed their mind about winter this day!