fuzzi's Chicken Journal

[fuzzi]

Advice on chicken keeping in snow by @gtaus
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...ainable-tips-and-tricks.1559066/post-29011298

 

[Appalachickens]

Dry snow has less moisture, doesn't pack, blows around and drifts readily. Can't make a snowman or snowballs with it. But it is easier to shovel.

So less-wet snow. Still made of water.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

Dry snow. Soooo… water that isn’t wet? Or is that a weird way to distinguish regular snow from slushy snow?

Our cat (Psycho Kitty) loves dry snow. She bats and flips it around and generally disappears in her own cloud of snow while playing.

Skiers call dry snow powder. Perfect for skiing; doesn’t stick to the bottom of your skis, and a lot easier for turns and all, instead of hurtling down the side of the mountain over a sheet of ice.

Ober Gatlinburg (are they still around?) was notorious for frozen granular conditions. Feels a lot like concrete when you fall.

 

[Appalachickens]

If snow accumulates then I use a snow shovel to scoop the snow away from the fence gate, and chicken coop doors. Dry snow can be swept off steps with a broom IF done so before stepping on the surface.

We’d have to get way more snow than normal to affect the door into the run, which is about a foot off the ground. And the big doors into the coop /for clean-out) are waist-high for me. So blizzard of ‘93 type snow event I guess.

We do sweep snow off our porch and steps, though.

 

[Appalachickens]

Our cat (Psycho Kitty) loves dry snow. She bats and flips it around and generally disappears in her own cloud of snow while playing.

Skiers call dry snow powder. Perfect for skiing; doesn’t stick to the bottom of your skis, and a lot easier for turns and all, instead of hurtling down the side of the mountain over a sheet of ice.

Ober Gatlinburg (are they still around?) was notorious for frozen granular conditions. Feels a lot like concrete when you fall.

Powder - that's what I've always called it. Now I can picture "dry" snow. Great powder skiing in the Swiss Alps. Ober is still there but I never skiied there. The few times I've skiied as an adult I made the drive over to NC, to go to Sugar or Wolf Ridge.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

Skiers call dry snow powder. Perfect for skiing; doesn’t stick to the bottom of your skis, and a lot easier for turns and all, instead of hurtling down the side of the mountain over a sheet of ice.

This. I will not be experiencing this dry North Carolina snow since I am in Utah right now…which supposedly has the “greatest snow on earth” except when it has the greatest smog soup on earth. The inversion is terrible right now. I do not envy my husband who will be taking care of my chickens back home though

 

[Molpet]

I use a leaf blower on dry snow. Get the wind behind you and it disappears.

 

[fuzzi]

...WINTER STORM WARNING NOW IN EFFECT FROM 10 PM THIS EVENING TO 7 PM EST SUNDAY...

* WHAT...Heavy snow expected. Total snow accumulations between 9 and 14 inches with locally higher amounts possible. Winds gusting as high as 40 mph.

* WHERE...Beaufort, Greene, Lenoir, Martin, and Pitt Counties.

* WHEN...From 10 PM this evening to 7 PM EST Sunday.

* IMPACTS...Whiteout conditions are expected and will make travel treacherous and potentially life-threatening. Gusty winds could bring down tree branches.

 

[fuzzi]

Getting ready for possible blizzard conditions...

Coop Deux (has a solid back)

Attached and extended tarp over back area on north side, secured with straw bale strings, and anchored with two sections of fencing poles, T-111 remnant, and cement block(s).

Inside

There's also a shed a few feet away on the north side, which should block some wind.

First Coop

I'd forgotten that the shade cloth I have over the entire coop is long enough to reach the ground! I just had to undo what was holding it up and find a way to anchor it.

I used more bale strings to attach the shade cloth to two additional fence poles. I then added a concrete block, might add another. It should be enough to keep the cloth weighed down.

Wisp had to photobomb.

Both coops

I placed cardboard in front of the doors, which open outward.

Hatches are battened down.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

Why are you guys hogging all the snow?!

Oh. Umm. Wait. A few hours ago, it was down to 1-3”. Welp, I’ll expect it when I see it. It was originally supposed to start two hours ago.

But still, y’all are predicted to get a lot more than us. Bizarre.