Rain! Snow!

Today is the first day of winter not only on the calendar but also outside. We had a good soaking rain in the night Wednesday. Neither Terry nor I heard anything in the night, but the rain gauge showed 1.4” when Terry went out in the morning. We did the Dance of Joy. We got another inch during the day. We did the Dance of Joy again! At 3:30, the rain changed to snow. The winds were fierce. Hilda closed the coop early since the girls were in anyway. They don’t like the wind.

Snow blowing horizontally at 3:42 p.m. Thursday

We didn’t even open the coop this morning because the wind still was blowing hard, although not like yesterday. The coop was a relatively toasty 24°F, about 10° warmer than outside. In addition to keeping the coop warmer, having the door closed seemed like a good idea because of the drift through the chicken run. It comes about half-way up the fence. I’m perplexed about that. Can chickens walk on top of drifts? If so, will they be more inclined to flutter over the fence? Will I have to shovel out the run? Not excited about that! So far, the chickens haven’t cared much for the snow. Last weekend was their first snow experience. The ground was just barely covered. When I opened the door, they ran out as usual, halted abruptly as their little feet hit the cold stuff, and tore back in the coop.  It will be interesting to see how they respond to serious accumulation.

Terry had to shovel out the coop door before I could do my chores.

The drift through the chicken run.

After the chicken chores and breakfast, I helped Terry shovel the driveway. He had pre-treated part of it with an ice-preventing product that claimed to be safe for cement, pets, and plants. The experiment was a huge success. Everywhere he treated shoveled clean. Other areas were glaciated from the rain-to-snow transition. I can hear him out there now chipping away at the icy spots.

It certainly looks like we will be having a white Christmas Observed on Sunday. It remains to be seen if the snow will stick around for Christmas.

Our bird feeder with the north side covered in frozen slush

Snow on the oaks