Winter is Back in Our Neck of the Woods

Had I previously said winter was here? Turns out, that was just a lead in. Now winter weather has set in for real. While I realize some areas to our north are experiencing unseasonably warm weather, we are not (see map above). As January rolls in, our weather forecast shows days of cold lie ahead. Today, the high was 26° F with windchills in the teens. Tonight will be colder. I look at the weather app, and in the week ahead our highs will be in the mid 30s, although that may not climb that high at our altitude.

We also have been getting snow. Nothing deep, mind you, just light snow that blows into cracks and crevices as it swirls in the wind. You can look out the window and see it covers the dirt road. Then the wind will blow a different direction and the next time you look, the road seems clear.

Ahh, winter. That time of year when our outdoor activities drop off. There are some activities we can’t avoid, of course, like walking the dog and feeding the chickens. There are others we try to schedule on the warmer days without snow, like bringing in firewood, which we usually do twice a week. My goal is to always have extra firewood in the house, dry and ready to burn. When the outdoors temperature drops, our firewood consumption grows.

When my daughter was here over Christmas, I put her to work running the splitter. We finished splitting and stacking the most recent firewood delivery. Now we are ready for another load. I’ll have it delivered the next time our road is clear of snow and passable.

Chickens

The chickens are eating more food than ever. While I do have 20 chickens, which is more than I have had before, their food consumption increases when it is cold. Today, I had to make a second trip out to top off their feeder, which took twice as much food as usual. The cold also means I have to give them fresh water twice a day because their big rubber water bowl freezes over. In the morning, they are especially thirsty and rush towards the watering bowl after I knock out the ice and I dump my bucket of fresh water into it.

We are up to eight eggs per day as more of the younger birds start to lay. That’s 56 per week, so my wife has already re-started selling eggs to our best customers. The 15 new hens are 21 weeks old, and they are supposed to be laying now. Not all of them are, and the long days of winter don’t help. I’m hoping the extra food they are eating is not just to help keep them warm but to help them produce eggs.

When I was in a neighboring town last week, I picked up another four bags of chicken feed and a bag of scratch to replenish my supplies. I am back up to nine bags of feed on hand, enough to last through the winter. If things get worse in the Middle East, I might pick up as many as six more bags.

The Coop

In addition to consuming more calories to keep warm, I can tell the hens are spending more time in the coop because the poop piles up faster. It is most obvious under their roosts. I am adding fresh straw twice a week to cover the chicken poop. We use the deep bedding method, which is supposed to help keep the coop warmer. I guess a four-inch layer of compressed straw and chicken poop is a better layer of insulation that a three-quarter-inch sheet of plywood. At some point, the material is supposed to compost, which generates heat, but I don’t know if this really happens. Still, with the body heat of 20 birds, the coop is warm enough that the eggs haven’t frozen this year.

I spoke to a woman yesterday who told me she brings her chickens inside when it gets below zero. She said she keeps them on top of her washer-dryer. Of course, she only has five chickens. My wife would kick both me and the chickens out if I tried to sneak ours into the laundry room. If my chickens showed signs of distress of frostbite, I could rig up an extension cord and install in t the coop the radiant heater we used to keep the chicks warm, but that wasn’t necessary last year and I don’t expect it will be this time around.

Wool

My body continues to adapt to the cold, and I have not yet zipped the liner back into my winter coat. I expect that will change the next day we have cold and high wind.

My personal answer to the cold weather is to wear wool. I wear my military-surplus wool sweater when I dress up. I wear a wool lumberjack shirt when I dress down. (When left untucked, it does a great job of concealing a firearm.) I also have wool long underwear, which I wear when not wearing fleece-lined pants.

Multiple pairs of insulted gloves are a must-have, too. This allows me to switch off if I sweat in one and it becomes damp. Just like I have specific pairs of boots for different tasks around the homestead, I have different gloves. Nice fur-lined black leather gloves for driving; puffy ski-jacket insulated gloves for walking the dog; and more rugged insulated work gloves for doing chores. When you find a pair that works for you, go back to the store and buy several. You may never see them again.

It is not unusual to come inside after walking the dog and leave three minutes later in a different pair of boots and gloves to feed the chickens. This may sound silly, but when you break through the layer for frozen mud and sink in, you’ll realize why you want to wear your muck boots in the chicken run, even when it is below freezing. On the homestead, using the right tool for the job pertains to more than just hand tools and power tools.

The Worst thing About Winter

Here’s the worst thing about the cold weather: On Friday, before I ran into the post office to pick up a package, I unholstered and left my gun in the car because I don’t want to mess with the feds. Then, two hours later, I realized I’m not wearing my gun, so I run out to the truck to get it. Then I have to strap a two-pound block of ice-cold steel to my buttock. Yikes! No fun at all.