Hating Winters

[NewYorkMama]

Hi,

Just venting my dislike of Winter with the chickens. Everything is muddy, cold, and covered in snow. Did I mention muddy? I want to sit out with my girls like I do the rest of the year, but it's FREEZING out there! Feels like I'm always clearing snow and ice off of things. Also changing water sucks - my gloves ALWAYS get wet and/or my hands freeze.

Sorry, rant over. Winter is not though.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Why I like winter, let me count the ways....

Frozen poop, frozen bugs, frozen parasites, frozen snakes, no alligators, no rattle snakes, a break from mosquitoes, and flies, no gardening, and cooler chickens.

I take a nice cup of coffee out and bundle up and watch my birds. I don't like mud and prefer frozen ground. So look on the bright side or head south. Winter isn't even technically here yet. I wait until February before I start hating winter.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I dislike winter as well! My rooster has a big comb and wattles, and so they get frost bitten. He has to hang out in a dog crate in the coop with the heat lamp when it is below freezing. Luckily this year it hasn’t yet come to that. Today it was even above sixty! Probably more near seventy. It was lovely. But it snowed last Thursday!

60's we are in the teens and 20's, and we are just getting started. You want a brutal winter come to Wisconsin.

 

[NewYorkMama]

Why I like winter, let me count the ways....
Winter isn't even technically here yet. I wait until February before I start hating winter.

Thank you for a reasonable perspective. I know, it's not even actually here yet. Sigh. My boots were just SO muddy yet cold today and it's been snowing on/off for days (with no end in sight, of course!). But you're right... no bugs and frozen poo are real pluses! Takes me a while to get into a Winter groove.

 

[NewYorkMama]

As long as you live up north in that type of climate, you will just have to put up with it.

What, you want me to use logic?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Thank you for a reasonable perspective. I know, it's not even actually here yet. Sigh. My boots were just SO muddy yet cold today and it's been snowing on/off for days (with no end in sight, of course!). But you're right... no bugs and frozen poo are real pluses! Takes me a while to get into a Winter groove.

Believe me. I sit on my chair in the basement getting my thick coats and boots on and all the time saying "I don't want to go out", but I do because my critters need me to and I choose to keep them. Summer is definitely easier, but if I get frustrated already what am I gonna do until April here. That's why I wait until February and March to get frustrated. For me here in Wisconsin winter is about 6 months. Thankfully I prefer cold to heat, but I completely understand.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

But, isn't that why they make air-conditioner's for?

I can't air condition the outside. I barely can go out during the summer because I don't handle heat well. Cold I can do. That's why I'm in Wisconsin. Give me -20 with -40 wind chills that will peel your skin off to 90 degrees any day. That's my cut off for heat. And actually anything over 70 is too hot.

 

[aart]

I'm not fond of the beginning of the cold season either, takes awhile to get acclimated.
Winter is not near as much fun as when I could go out and 'play' in the snow.

I have yet to find the perfect pair of gloves that are warm enough yet not so thick that I have to keep taking them off.

Exactly! I just wear the thinner version of those posted and move faster. I wear good heavy gloves to shovel things out before chicken chores.
Since I got my heated waterer rigged up, no wet hands here, just carry a gallon jug out and top off waterer.

Something to look forward to is that winter officially starts on December 21st.

Winter Solstice, my favorite holiday, when the days begin to lengthen! 31 days to go!

 

[BlueBaby]

As long as you live up north in that type of climate, you will just have to put up with it.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I'm the opposite, and can't handle the cold well. That's why I don't live in Minnesota anymore.

You are than familiar with those Canadian arctic fronts that only hit the upper midwest. Where's that Canadian air in the summer?