The pretty snow

The first thing Cyrus does when he goes out in the snow is to roll in it, spinning his body making snow spirals instead of snow angels.

The first thing Woody does is make yellow snow and then run back up on the porch because he doesn't like wet cold feet.

And all that Kathy does is take some pretty snow pics before the dogs mess it up too much. It is especially pretty when the flakes are really big, and there is no wind to knock it off the tree branches.

My poor little redbud tree might not make it through till spring. I had to remove half that died over the summer.

Cold chicks are free

The 4 chicks who spent their whole life in a box—first in the basement, then outside in a crate with a heat lamp, then same crate out in the unheated coop—got their first taste of freedom yesterday. Not surprisingly, they were reluctant to come out the open door. Once they did, they stayed in the coop for as long as I was watching. When I checked later, I think the older chickens had bullied them back into the crate.

It has been warmer the last few days. I had to get them outside without too much of a shock before it gets back to being really cold. (Just now as I am writing this, the rain turns to sleet.)

The day after the last post, Big Blondie on the right gave his first pathetic attempt at crowing like a rooster. This gives me just a bit of hope that the other 3 are hens as they were all born at the same time. The other 3 are smaller, with smaller combs, but those curly tail feathers still look suspicious to me. Soon we will know.

Some cold chicks and the Herkimer Creek

I signed up The Husband, myself, and friend Erin for The Stream Team, sponsored locally by the Otsego County Conservation Association, and by a group in PA called Alliance for Aquatic Resource Monitoring. Volunteer teams are recruited to assess water quality, in our case in the Herkimer Creek that runs through our property. Once a month, even in winter, we collect samples which are taken back to the nice warm house/chemistry lab. We make quite the comical group of scientists, but so far are enjoying the process. Erin was the brave one to go into the cold creek yesterday. Husband: it's your turn in December!

The other cold chicks from yesterday (besides Erin and me) are the 4 that have been hanging out in our basement since being hatched in September. They probably should have gone outside sooner, but by the time they were are all feathered out, a cold snap came through. I was worried about sending them from the 65° basement out to where it was in the single digits sometimes at night. This week is looking a bit warmer, and they were getting rambunctious in the box downstairs.

For now, until I see how they are doing, they are in an even smaller box next to the garage where I have a heat lamp on them, and the box is insulated with hay bales around it. I just know the larger one in the front is a rooster. I have some concerns that the other 3 are as well, but only time will tell. For the moment they are still "peepers"—still making that baby chick sound. When they start crowing like a roo, I will start crying...

UPDATE: Posted this yesterday. Today Big Blondie started crowing. :(

Second snow

I guess it's time to stop counting. Two sort of snowy days in a row, but no real accumulation. Good thing that, because we haven't yet cleared out the garage to put the cars in. Don't want our favorite snowblower to come by and blow all the snow onto the cars.

Chicks are getting cabin fever downstairs. Snow or no, they must go out this weekend.

And my dear tenant had to shut off the heat in NJ at midnight after a visit from the Fire Department and then the gas company to discover the source of the burning smell. Something probably died in there somewhere, but no one could figure out what the problem was. Hard to find an HVAC guy to come out in an emergency (no heat) when the problem is probably not the heater. But we don't know that yet. Working on it...

First snow

First snow of the season, November 7. Not much. Not much fun. We all would rather stay inside with the woodstove, where it is 77°.

I am still struggling as to what to do with the chickens in the basement. They have all their big girl (boy?) feathers, but I don't want to shock them going from 65° inside to low 20s° outside at night. I will figure something out this weekend.

Still waiting, by Cyrus

I am still waiting for one of those deer to jump the fence, as I cannot. They sure do like to tease me by standing right outside the fence eating all the toys (apples) on the ground.

I am still waiting for that cute little opossum to come back. He could have fit under the fence, but I guess Woody and I scared him so he played dead until mom chased him away.

I am still waiting for mom to trust me to go outside the fence. So what if I killed 4 of her chickens and a duck? That was a very long time ago.

Still waiting.