Chickens are fed up with snow (and so are we).

Another day in January. Another weather system brought snow, lots of it.

Couldn't get to work because of a snowdrift 40 inches deep blocking our path to the main road.

Dug a path to fill the birdfeeders. Dug a path for the chickens to walk on (which they didn't!) and dug a path back to the front door to let myself in.

I quite like snow to be honest. After all, we need some snow each winter to notice the change of the seasons, don't we? But living 270m above sea level gives me a bit more of the white stuff than I need to be happy. One year we had lots of snow in Glendevon making driving really difficult and again snowdrifts blocking the path, unbelievably Stirling didn't have any snow whatsoever!
My colleagues keep me up to date with the situation in Stirling and this time they have some snow as well. I keep them updated with pictures of our situation. What else is there to do?!

So chickens, well they didn't have a lot to say about today's weather.
The Hooligan was shouting first, only to pipe down when she saw the real situation. I think they were pretty flabbergasted.
I dug out a path for them to a bit of the lawn where the snow had literally been blown off. Of course they didn't pay attention and just trotted through the deeper bits.
But when the wind was picking up and I noticed two of the hens sitting rather sad in between two heaps of snow, I decided it was time to lock them up in their run.

Did you know you can actually teach chickens to follow you?
When me and my husband were wwoofing (www.wwoof.org.uk) I once had the task to look after the chickens. We were lucky enough to be there when the youngsters were let out for the first time. I think I sat there looking at them for over an hour. It was super fun to watch and some are braver than others. Chickens really do have different personalities!

Anyway, every time I fed the young chickens I said:"Chicky, chicky" and without the farmer knowing I had taught them to come whenever I called out. They never forget! When we came back half a year later with my parents I told them how the chickens came when I said "chicky, chicky" and believe it or not, they actually came!
So, when we got our new rescue hens, the first thing we did was to teach them to come on demand. And it works really well, like today when I wanted to coax them into their run.

All four of them are now locked up in their run. Not that they mind, it's out of the wind and out of the snow (sort of) and they have food with extra barley grain and water with extra vitamins.
Don't want them to catch a cold, do we? That's what I'll be getting for looking after the them!

Chickens don't like snow (or do they?!)

Started snowing the other night. Woke up to a white Christmassy scene.
This is what the chickens (translated from chicken language) thought of it:

The Hooligan (as usual) shouted first:
"What the *****! Why can't we go out yet! They are always late in this place! And why is it so cold??!!
Oh, finally, there you are, what the **** took you so long?!"

The other chickens were quietly listening and muttering to themselves:
"Ooohhh, what is happening? Oooohhh, why is it so cold? Oooohhh, why can't The Hooligan not shut up?"

So, under much pressure from The Hooligan, I opened the hatch

The Hooligan (and the rest) stood still and looked at the white landscape.
"My god that took ages!! What on earth is that??!! It normally is green, isn't it?! Why is it white all of a sudden?! I don't want to go out there! I don't know what that ***** white stuff is!!

The rest of the chickens were getting impatient, because The Hooligan was blocking the exit.
"Oooohhh, why are you not moving? Ooooohhh, what's happening? Ooooohhh, why does it all look differently? Is it safe The Hooligan??"

The Hooligan couldn't make up his mind as to whether venture out in that strange landscape or to stay in.
"I don't know what to do! It looks kind of the same, but it's white instead of green! Oh,  wait a minute over there is a partially green spot! What if I can jump there and see what happens?"

The Hooligan squatted a wee bit and finally made the jump to the partially green spot.
The rest of the chickens took this as a good sign and went outside with no problems whatsoever.

But the snow wasn't as deep near the chicken coop as it was in the rest of the garden, so the chickens all stopped dead in their tracks at the sight of the garden.
"Oooohhh, why is it so white? Oooohhh, why are my feet this cold? Oooohhh, I don't dare to go out any further!"

Luckily after a few minutes lingering next to the shed and absorbing the sight of a white garden, they ventured out. Up to their bellies in the snow, but they enjoyed it,  especially hanging around under the bird feeders hoping for titbits to fall down.

 

"Ooooohhh, it's alright isn't it? Oooohhh, I'm quite enjoying this.

Oooohhh, is there any more food falling down?"

The Hooligan was also back to her normal self, shouting and swearing at me while running away to the neighbour's garden.

No time to rest.

Nothing better than creating your own homemade Christmas presents. For the third year I'm assembling hampers for my colleagues (don't tell them though!).

There will be pickled eggs for the ones which love them, there is wine for everyone (don't need to be afraid to miss out myself, since we've made around 10 gallons of the stuff!), probably some pickled vegetables and beer. And if I feel like it, maybe some homemade biscuits or truffles or something else sweet. Feeling peckish myself now...

Soon, I'll be trying out my homemade sauerkraut, I wonder if it worked out just as well as last year. It always smells a bit funny and sometimes there is some mould on top, but that's normal. You can remove the mould, the sauerkraut is still edible. Actually, the mould would be edible too, but it doesn't look too appetizing.

One of my hens is moulting, which means replacing her feathers. This actually puts a lot of strain on the bird, so they won't lay any eggs, until all the feathers have been replaced. I've been giving her extra poultry vitamins to keep her energy levels up. She seems to be doing fine.

Anyway, back to bottling and labelling wine now!

Winter is near.

Hi all,

Winter is nearly here.
Soon we'll be covered in snow or rain or wind and (hopefully) sun.

The garden is resting, so should we really.
Sometimes I wish I could just go to sleep like my hens do; at 4pm they roost and at 8am they wake up again. One of the hens is extremely loud if I don't let her out in time, so we nicknamed her 'The hooligan'. Although she used to be called 'The runaway chicken' because she also has a habit of running away to the neighbour's garden and building a nest there.
We normally don't give the hens names, as they are not meant to be pets. They supply us with eggs and the future chickens, hopefully, with meat too, but because these four were ex-battery chickens, they are allowed to enjoy their retirement. So, they won't end up in the pot!

Although there is not to do in the garden, there is still lots of wine to bottle. I've already bottled about 3 gallons, but there is still 5 gallons left to bottle. I'll better hurry up, because the wines are going to be Christmas presents for my colleagues and friends.