winter is coming

Well, technically, winter has been here for a few weeks now, but down here winter doesn’t really rear its ugly head until right about now. Sure, there have been cold days and a couple of nights have dipped below freezing, but the real preparations for winter on the farm have only just begun.

Maybe I am only writing this now because  this week the highs are only expected to reach the upper 30s. And for all you from up north that say that is nothing, that is definitely SOMETHING for us down south. That is freaking cold, my friend, and I don’t like it one bit. I should be prepared. After all, like I mentioned, we have seen temperatures dip below freezing and we are several days past the first day of winter. However, just last week - just a couple of DAYS ago – it was in the 60s. Nice and mild with the sun shining gloriously on my face. Everyone on the farm was happy. 


Chickens happy in the field only a few days ago.
 

Then – BOOM - rain hit and the temperatures just dropped. I mean drrrroooopppped. It’s like you just wake up one morning and your whole world is a freezer. That is the one thing about Georgia weather, you can’t really prepare for the cold. It just hits you like a ton of ice bricks.

And before you know it, it will be 100 degrees again.

I can’t wait for that.

I do wish that if it was going to be cold, just be cold. Yes, it sucks to have temperatures below freezing but 40 degrees sucks too. But you know what below freezing gets you – snow and (most likely for us) ice, which around here should mean SNOW DAY. We get a lot of rain this time of year, but it is never really cold enough for it to turn into anything or – what we really need to happen – accumulate.

And I have not forgotten what happened to our fine city this time last year. Snowpocalypse. It did snow. It did accumulate. It did turn to ice. It did bring a city to its knees.

Fortunately, I wasn’t one of those people stuck in their cars for hours and hours. I was lucky to be safe and sound at home watching it all unfold on my TV. And while some people had to spend a night in their car, I got to enjoy something that I so rarely get to enjoy.



We're not used to this much snow.
 

Althea loved the snow.
 

And we unbelievably got hit twice with a dusting and a long freeze.

 

I loved it too!
 

Of course, we didn’t have our chickens yet. From their reactions to a bit of earlier frost that hit us, I can tell they will not enjoy the freezing weather. They didn’t even want to leave their coop that morning and decided to just all huddle together.  I always feel bad for the ones that are on the outside of that huddle.

 

Not that we are worried about the chickens in the cold. They are pretty hardy and the huddling together shows that they know how to keep warm.  Plus, they have a good shelter and we’ve put plastic around their run. And despite the dropping temps, they’ve been just as happy to be outside, even in the rain. But we’re keeping a close eye on them and their combs.  


Apparently, you can tell if a chicken has frostbite by her comb.
 

For now, we’re just getting ready for winter to really set in, and we’ll deal with any issues that may come up. And although I wouldn’t mind having one day of snow, I don’t think it would be a good thing to have a week and then another week of ice. We may have to keep the chickens inside if that happens again.

And we’ll just have to do the very best thing to do when it’s cold outside…


Naps!!!