Snow!

Every year we do more, plan more, know more, but then mother nature hands us the next course, in this case snow, and it feels like the first time. We run around the day before and right into the day of the first "real" snow trying to finish up things we forgot will become important when everything is frozen and buried in white. Yesterday while it began flurrying we put some finishing touches on Jeff's "Bridge to Nowhere", a.k.a. the electrical running overhead to the big day house/lounge for the chickens. The whole apparatus is a little questionable but let's just say we didn't exceed budget on it.

First thing this morning I shoveled a path, door to door, from the hen house to the chickens' day house, figuring they'd want to head inside until the wind died down. Leave it to a bunch of chickens to stray from the straight, cleared path, freak out at the sight of snow, flap and fly and land in a drifted area, squawk about it and have to be ushered back onto the cleared path. Last in line were the two roosters. I "escorted" our second stringer down the path where he quickly hopped into the lit house to be with the hens. Then I turned to see our giant number one rooster, Chief, standing in the entry of the hen house, clearly shocked by the snow and wind. He was about to turn and go back inside (not an option, the girls have eggs to lay and they can't have male riff raff hanging around the hen house during the day). So the big guy got a ride today. He made a bit of a fuss when I stuck my hand under his chest, but he grudgingly accepted the ride. I crouched and set him on my leg so he could hop off and enter the day house on his own. Not so much as a thank you from him for saving his tender little clod hoppers from the cold cold walk. Ahhhhh, a heat lamp, unfrozen water and no snow whipping at their faces... what more could a chicken want?

p.s. - Herbie's "Wubba" toy appears to be lost for good... or for the winter. We've asked Herbie repeatedly after that first light snow to "find your Wubba" and he's looked, nose in the snow, but to no avail. Such a sad thing for a puppy to lose his favorite toy. But worry not - for dogs, frisbee season knows no end!