Winter has been a doozy this year so far, hasn’t it? Here in the Pacific NW, we’ve had less rain and more blue skies than normal along with a few stretches of colder than normal temps followed by warmer than normal temps. It’s been crazy. And all the while much of the rest of the nation has suffered under abnormal amounts of snow.
Just last week, as I was out walking in a hoodie, I took a video with my phone to send to one of my sisters who is buried in snow in Minnesota, bragging about our spring-like temps. A few days later, I’m eating my words….
Three days of snow (a rarity here) followed by a day of freezing rain and we’re encrusted in an icy winter wonderland around these parts. Lovely to look at. Not too lovely to live in. And the animals? Well, they’re just not having it!
During the three day flurry, the winter winds blew from a the wrong direction (I only cover one side of the run, leaving the other open since the wind usually only blows from the east) so mounds of snow drifted into chicken run. The hens refused to come out of the coop the first day. Not even cracked corn would convince them otherwise.
I worked on making the chicken run a bit less windy and snowy by covering the bottom half of the exposed wall with feed sacks strung together (I couldn’t get out of the driveway to go buy a tarp, so I had to get creative. It’s working perfectly.)
The girls eventually gave in and came down to the run, and are slowly adjusting to the climate. They still refuse to venture out into the snow, however. But I don’t blame them.
Since most of the words coming out of my mouth these days sound like Brrrrr….I thought I’d just leave you with a few photos from the less than balmy Pacific NW. Enjoy. And stay warm.
