For all the cold weather we’ve had this year (and last Fall), we finally got snow to go with it. Now, this makes my kids happy. Understatement of the year. Need proof?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkunuyYviOk
The chickens are not so happy about it. In fact, I am typing this on Wednesday afternoon, and they have not stepped foot outside the coop since the first layers of ice/snow covered the ground Monday morning. I cannot imagine the cabin fever they must have.
It is ironic, though, because Monday was the day our Buff Orpington “chick” decided to lay her first egg. We now have 7 layers out of 10 chickens, and it is somewhat surreal to see the winter wonderland outside and realize we are getting more eggs than ever!
We are all pretty excited to have our first layer from chicks we raised (granted, they were 4 weeks old when we got them, but they were still so tiny!).
Jerry was able to make it out to the local store yesterday and got us some straw. We got another inch+ of snow last night and this morning, so I put some of the straw out today to try to coax the girls out of the coop into the sunshine.It was hard to really get it scattered well since the hawk netting is hanging VERY low due to all the ice. If they do decide to venture out, it should give them some dry piles to roost on and scatter and soak up some rays.
I really hope they do… it would be a shame to have egg production reduce because they are literally all cooped up!
Oh, and in case you wondered… our 9 month old pony, I mean Great Pyrenees, is LOVING this weather. This is the type of weather he was bred for, and you can tell he is right at home in it. He’s busy barking to keep the wild birds out of the chicken yard since the girls aren’t out there. He did decide to take advantage of some of the straw to lay on top of the snow.
