It's going to be super cold.

[frenchblackcopper]

Zaz, last night was easy compared to whats starting today. Winds expected to blow from the southwest at 30-40mph (blizzard conditions start at 35mph) Snowfall from 1-3" beginning this afternoon,continuing tomorrow for total accumilations of 4-6",tomorrow winds expected at sustained 40mph,gusts to possibly 50mph, white out conditions expected for all day tomorrow and blowing from the northwest. Then,Sunday-Tuesday we get the deep freeze here. It's the winds and switching directions that will cause the drifting. We still have drifts over 3' high from a few weeks ago that hasn't melted. Tonight I have some prepping to do before the storm.More straw and taking extra feed out to the Palace because it will have a drift impassable and carrying a 2 1/2 gallon water jiug and a 5 gallon bucket of feed isn't fun. I think our house will once again become German Shepherd kingdom as we once again move all 9 dogs inside for at least 2 days. Fun-Fun!!

 

[zazouse]

 

[MinxFox]

Zaz, last night was easy compared to whats starting today. Winds expected to blow from the southwest at 30-40mph (blizzard conditions start at 35mph) Snowfall from 1-3" beginning this afternoon,continuing tomorrow for total accumilations of 4-6",tomorrow winds expected at sustained 40mph,gusts to possibly 50mph, white out conditions expected for all day tomorrow and blowing from the northwest. Then,Sunday-Tuesday we get the deep freeze here. It's the winds and switching directions that will cause the drifting. We still have drifts over 3' high from a few weeks ago that hasn't melted. Tonight I have some prepping to do before the storm.More straw and taking extra feed out to the Palace because it will have a drift impassable and carrying a 2 1/2 gallon water jiug and a 5 gallon bucket of feed isn't fun. I think our house will once again become German Shepherd kingdom as we once again move all 9 dogs inside for at least 2 days. Fun-Fun!!

Oooh yikes! Sounds like what us Indians call a three or four dog night because you bring in the dogs to sleep with you for warmth. I would send you some of our Florida weather if I could. It isn't warm here but it isn't in the negatives or snowing.

I hope all of you stay safe and warm! Just an interesting fact I learned recently: In Alaska during the winter, some of the Bering Sea freezes over and the intuits walk over to Russia. They have friends and relatives in Russia so they just head on over there and also they go there to trade for things. I thought that was interesting.

 

[margaret8]

Do you still have power? They have just amended our forecast, we are going to have more cold weather and this time we are going to have snow!

 

[frenchblackcopper]

We had 44mph wind gusts this afternoon,,old snow was blowing so bad you couldn't see 1/8 mile for most of the morning,then the wind let up some and the snow has quit blowing.We're supposed to get 1-3" tonight and 3-5" of snow tomorrow,,but as of yet no new snow has fallen.Radar is showing it north of us about 2 counties but it's moving south so sometime it will start.Power is on,,temp is a balmy 22 degrees right now outside. Funny about keeping warm,we had our propane tank filled in September for $1.69 a gallon,yesterday I called our supplier and now propane is $4.04 a gallon,,,,talk about price gouging!!

 

[margaret8]

We had 44mph wind gusts this afternoon,,old snow was blowing so bad you couldn't see 1/8 mile for most of the morning,then the wind let up some and the snow has quit blowing.We're supposed to get 1-3" tonight and 3-5" of snow tomorrow,,but as of yet no new snow has fallen.Radar is showing it north of us about 2 counties but it's moving south so sometime it will start.Power is on,,temp is a balmy 22 degrees right now outside. Funny about keeping warm,we had our propane tank filled in September for $1.69 a gallon,yesterday I called our supplier and now propane is $4.04 a gallon,,,,talk about price gouging!!

How are you doing are the birds ok? We've had bad, but nothing compared to you!!

 

[frenchblackcopper]

Margaret8,,have you read this thread I started 2 years ago https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/637251/the-building-of-pea-palace-pic-heavy? Most all of my adult breeder birds are winter housed inside this new building with seperate pens inside for the diffrent colors. All these birds are able to sit on perches 5ft above ground and the building is pretty draft free.I'm not concerned about them.I moved all my coming 2 year old(about 30 total) inside a chickenhouse with about 20 chickens.It too is a nice building,about 12'x18' in size with a dirt floor. I'm going to put about 2 bales of straw on the dirt floor in here tomorrow,to keep these peas feet off direct contact with the cold dirt. Some will sleep on the chicken roosts,but many will group huddle in one corner and sleep on the floor each night. My main concern is my freshly hatched 2013 young peas inside a building about 12'x16' with a concrete floor. I've bedded the floor with grass hay and have 2 heat bulbs going at all times but not all the peas inside here(about 60) fits under the two heat lites,and not many will sleep on the perches off the floor yet.They have now lowered our Tuesday moring low to -19,,instead of the earlier -17.If we lose power when it's that cold for an hour even,I think it could prove deadly to these young peas. Some were late hatched and not the size of the May-June hatched peas in this group.I think tho since they do lay down over their toes to sleep on the straw,I'm hoping this helps to prevent frostbite.

 

[margaret8]

Mine are 5.5 months old and they sleep on a perch.they seem to want to stay in their bldg and not come out until it is above freezing!

 

[margaret8]

Your bldg is big!!

 

[zazouse]

How are you all on this cold morning?
Many of the peas with trains had a difficult time getting up in the trees to roost because their tails were iced over giving them a lot of extra weight on the back section, threw them off balance big time, I had to run several off the pipe fence so their feet would not freeze.

It is 28 degrees and the sun is shining and it is suppose to warm up so they can all thaw out ,some of them may loose their crest as there is ice on them, seen one hen running yesterday cause her heavy crest fell over and was banging her in the head with all the ice on it.

I can see how peas could be killed by a predator in these conditions, they have extra weight, their feathers are stuck together and they have a difficult time staying balanced in the trees with these conditions all of which makes them vulnerable, glad I live here and don't have to deal with this daily, I would never be able to have free peas in these winter conditions if it were like this every winter