A Guest Blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara
In the past seven days, we have been under two different winter storm warnings.
While this may seem normal for those of you who actually have winter where you live, in Texas winter is anything below 60 degrees. Any chance of freezing precipitation causes great panic.
Last Thursday the weather began to get nasty and by Friday morning we awoke to what for us was a “Winter Wonderland.”
Now I have lived in the northeast and have actually been stranded in a blizzard in Deep Creek, Maryland, so I understand how silly this seems.
However, for the chickens, that have never seen a white ground, this was very disturbing.
They were much slower to exit the coop and some decided to wait it out in the safety of their nest boxes.
By afternoon, the snow was gone and the chickens were out pecking the ground as usual.
By Sunday, we were in short sleeves again making it hard to believe the weather forecast for Tuesday which was predicting up to 2 inches of snow.
Sure enough on Monday, the wind shifted and the temperature dropped.
I bought more chicken and quail food and made sure all feeders were full. I even filled the waterers knowing they would freeze. I planned to pour hot water over them in the morning to melt enough ice to prevent any bird from dying of thirst.
We have been watching a TV show called “Alaska: The Last Frontier.” I thought about how they prepared for their winter as I warned the chickens of the impending storm.
By the end of the day on Monday, the private school where I teach had cancelled classes for Tuesday. The public schools delayed opening for two hours. The pool even closed so we all slept in.
Tuesday morning arrived with no snow and little ice.
Children were disappointed, but I didn’t mind. I’ve seen enough snow.
The weatherman says it will be 70 degrees by Friday. Gotta love Texas :)