What did you do with your flock today?

[629864]

I was thinking about you yesterday when I saw the doppler over Arkansas. Ice storms are definitely terrifying! What horrible conditions to have to deal with! We had a day where we got 5 inches of rain and I thought mitigating for that was bad. Three inches of ice everywhere sounds FAR worse.

I'm glad Goldie is talking, that is a good sign! She sounds like she's almost forgiven you for caging her with Eidlog! She would love you forever if she could fully experience what it is like outside right now though

Good luck staying upright! It is a good thing you have a lot of straw to help with traction! Any cat litter? That always helps too. You are definitely making me grateful for my cold but sunny day We woke up to 28 degrees which is really really cold for late February in CA, but will warm up to the mid-40s. Wish we could send you some CA sun!

Thanks for thinking of us. I had let the troops out to stretch their legs and thought they'd stay fairly close to the straw path I'd put down. Instead they wandered a little too far and got "stuck" under the well house overhang because they didn't want to walk back across the ice. So i chopped some lettuce and apples and shooed them all (Guineas included) back to the run and shut them all in. Went to collect eggs and it atarted raining and thundering...so back to the run to shoo them all into the littles' coop to stay dry and wait it out. They werent happyto be crammed in there, but once they were in, none tried to come.back out into the rain.

Then I s-l-o-w-l-y made my way back to the house across the now wet ice rink. Ugh!

Good morning gang!
@GG the ice sounds terrible and I am sorry. It sounds pretty dangerous and I hope you stay safe till it warms and clears.
Wait till Goldie tells the tribe how nice and warm the house was... with all that special food and attention

Thanks DH let the LGDs come into the house to get warm as they were pretty wet from going out into the elements to scare away things they heard in the night. So now we've got two guardian dogs not guarding because it's too dangerous to be out on that wet ice to transfer them over. Once the rain stops, I'll put on the clamp-ons so I can put them back with their goats and sheep.

Welp. I am still waiting for the sun here. Soon though. Almost pau with the furniture portion of my she deck/catio project. I thought we were going to get some rain but we moved into a dry weather pattern for the next week. I'm still in a hurry as I don't want to lose my forward motion. Plus I need to get my junk off the lawn lol. So, prime new shelves today and pull out ply to cut for drying in the railings and then I can start to organize the animal food portion so I can open the dreaded storage container. As long as it is going to stay dry.... View attachment 3003663View attachment 3003665

WOW! Just WOW! That looks amazing and so cozy! Well done and congrats on getting that sweet spot done so nicely

 

[TropicalBabies]

Thanks for thinking of us. I had let the troops out to stretch their legs and thought they'd stay fairly close to the straw path I'd put down. Instead they wandered a little too far and got "stuck" under the well house overhang because they didn't want to walk back across the ice. So i chopped some lettuce and apples and shooed them all (Guineas included) back to the run and shut them all in. Went to collect eggs and it atarted raining and thundering...so back to the run to shoo them all into the littles' coop to stay dry and wait it out. They werent happyto be crammed in there, but once they were in, none tried to come.back out into the rain.

Then I s-l-o-w-l-y made my way back to the house across the now wet ice rink. Ugh!


Thanks DH let the LGDs come into the house to get warm as they were pretty wet from going out into the elements to scare away things they heard in the night. So now we've got two guardian dogs not guarding because it's too dangerous to be out on that wet ice to transfer them over. Once the rain stops, I'll put on the clamp-ons so I can put them back with their goats and sheep.


WOW! Just WOW! That looks amazing and so cozy! Well done and congrats on getting that sweet spot done so nicely

Well, you sure make me appreciate my weather more than ever. I can only empathize with you a little as I briefly lived in Colorado. BUT. I did not have chickens, just 2 dogs and they were an absolute handful. Well, when the weather clears and you are full of gratitude looking at all of that beautiful land and it's potential and remembering why you fell in love with the property in the first place all will be well. Just don't break a hip inbetween

 

[BelovedBirds]

Good morning everyone. I hope you all have sunshine and pleasant weather today.

Here in our neck of the woods, we had ice all night and woke up to about 3 inches of solid ice covering everything. Luckily it came down in pellets again, so the trees seem to have been spared for the most part. But it rained for about an hour after the ice, so everything on the ground became an enormous ice skating rink. I couldn't even shovel a path for the birds, so I spread a path of straw between the coops and to their food and water. I'll have to haul boiling water several times over the next 3 days or so until daytime temps get above freezing. It's simply miserable out there. Praying nobody gets hurt because the roads are too dangerous to drive on right now. The weather service called them "impossible road conditions."

Goldie is talking now. You know...those low volume little squeaks that make it sound like they're asking a question. She didn't seem to know what to do with the cored apple, so I cut it in half for her and she immediately set about pecking at it. That should occupy her a little.

Now I'm going to chop up some lettuce and bring it out to the flock, trying not to fall on my backside on the ice.

that sounds rough!!
And awh bless her heart

 

[629864]

Well, you sure make me appreciate my weather more than ever. I can only empathize with you a little as I briefly lived in Colorado. BUT. I did not have chickens, just 2 dogs and they were an absolute handful. Well, when the weather clears and you are full of gratitude looking at all of that beautiful land and it's potential and remembering why you fell in love with the property in the first place all will be well. Just don't break a hip inbetween

Clamp-ons make everything better in this kind of weather. Dogs are now happily back with their charges. The last of our straw has been spread in the enclosed run so the chickens can walk around a bit off of the ice. We've got more hay than we'll need for the goats/sheep before spring is actually here, so if all else fails, I can bring over a wheelbarrow stuffed with hay and dump that in the run for the birds to scratch around on until they can be let out.

With everything crazy that's happening in the world, these are small problems to face. Not trying to start a political discussion...just expressing my gratitude for the many blessings we have, when so many have far FAR worse problems.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Hey all it cold 30 outside a inch of snow has covered everything .. Took a heat lamps for night to the coop think i will take my heat plate to them today.

 

[kurby22]

Welp. I am still waiting for the sun here. Soon though. Almost pau with the furniture portion of my she deck/catio project. I thought we were going to get some rain but we moved into a dry weather pattern for the next week. I'm still in a hurry as I don't want to lose my forward motion. Plus I need to get my junk off the lawn lol. So, prime new shelves today and pull out ply to cut for drying in the railings and then I can start to organize the animal food portion so I can open the dreaded storage container. As long as it is going to stay dry.... View attachment 3003663View attachment 3003665

That looks beautiful! I love the whole look, very cozy and relaxing!

 

[TropicalBabies]

After checking in on Bumpy the other day (sorry, Bumpy seems to stick for now) and his bump seeming to be lower and more defined I decided to google it again and ended up rereading some info from byc where the op's follow up said it disappeared on its own. Hmm. Was thinking about Lancing it as it is solid. Anywho, I let the crew out to free-range the yard today and decided to give Bumpy some exercise time in the garden (FTT too but Bumby was too frisky). I think his bump is going down... ! He still looks a wreck (bad feathering, crooked tail) but maybe...?
Anywho, as we are all students of all things chicken I thought I would share that.

FTT is doing well as can be too. Another few weeks I may let her out to try and fend for herself after some more outside intro.

 

[629864]

After checking in on Bumpy the other day (sorry, Bumpy seems to stick for now) and his bump seeming to be lower and more defined I decided to google it again and ended up rereading some info from byc where the op's follow up said it disappeared on its own. Hmm. Was thinking about Lancing it as it is solid. Anywho, I let the crew out to free-range the yard today and decided to give Bumpy some exercise time in the garden (FTT too but Bumby was too frisky). I think his bump is going down... ! He still looks a wreck (bad feathering, crooked tail) but maybe...?
Anywho, as we are all students of all things chicken I thought I would share that.View attachment 3004257
View attachment 3004259
FTT is doing well as can be too. Another few weeks I may let her out to try and fend for herself after some more outside intro. View attachment 3004263

I'm rooting for both Bumpy and FTT. I've grown a soft spot for them both. ❤

I do think FTT needs a name worthy of one who has overcome adversity. She's a fighter despite getting off to a rocky start. At least that's my 2c worth.

 

[TropicalBabies]

Manono(lani) cuz all my buffs are lani's. ♡
I forgot Bumpy's one but we can call him Koa.

 

[629864]

Manono(lani) cuz all my buffs are lani's. ♡
I forgot Bumpy's one but we can call him Koa.

I love them both. Do you intend the trees, or the legends?

And may I ask if you have Hawaiian heritage? Did you grow up speaking Hawaiian? Both of my useless degrees are in linguistics, so I'm a bit of a nerd for languages. What little I know about Hawaiian is that it only has 8 consonant sounds, right? m, n, p, t/k, h, l, w/v, and a glottal stop? This makes Hawaiian special because it has far fewer consonants than most languages. And if I remember correctly, Hawaiian uses repetitive syllables for meaning. Is that correct?