Snow chickens

And so January is coming to a close.  What a different sort of winter this has been thus far.  We've had a couple of snows of around a foot, but none have stayed on the ground more than a few days.  Snow falls, snow melts, snow falls, snow melts.  Incredibly different than last winter when the snow started falling the first week of December and we didn't see the grass again until the last day of February.  Because of the many days of very little or no snow on the ground, the laying hens have been able to enjoy many days getting out of their pen and foraging around the yard.  I've been raising chickens now for about 12 years and one thing that has been very consistent is that the chickens do not like to go out in the yard when there is ANY snow on the ground.  That was until this year.  My youngest flock members of 22 Gold Buff pullets are 11 months old now.  While they won't go out in deep snow, an inch or two does not seem to deter them in the least.  In fact snow seems to fascinate them.  If I walk into the pen in the morning with snow on my boots, the girls all come running over and start pecking the snow on my boots.  When I let them out of their pen, the first thing they do is run over to the barn door that leads to the outside and start pecking at the snow.  I'm not quite sure what that behavior is all about, but as long as they are happy then I am happy.  But while the young hens go outside, the older hens are quite content to stay inside.  The older girls also have the opportunity to go into the yard, but they will walk to the door, look outside and turn around and head straight back to the pen.  Now that is how I am used to chickens acting.

Winter is one of my favorite times to just walk around the farm with the beagles.  There are not as many outside chores to fill up my time and so it is not unusual at all for us to go out for 2-3 hours or more on the weekend.  By the end of January, the days are getting long enough that on occasion I can sneak out for a quick evening walk.  We have been blessed quite often this month with some gorgeous sunsets.  Again, this is most unusual for this time of year.

This past week has marked two events that are a big signal to me that winter has turned the corner.  Oh sure we will have snow for 3 more months, but we are past the halfway point.  First is that the one of the older hens started laying again this week.  Every fall as the days get shorter, the older laying hens quit laying and molt their feathers.  When days start getting longer again, they start laying again.  Second is that when I walk out the door to go to work in the morning, there are birds singing.  Doesn't matter that most of what I hear are the usual winter resident Starlings and English Sparrows, they are singing.  They sing and I smile.  I love noticing the little changes as the seasons change.