We have had quite the weather this past week. Two days ago Blizzard Niko hit the East Coast and Cape Cod- where we call home. We lost power during the middle of the storm and that night among candlelight and flashlights, we had a simple family dinner consisting of cereal and peanut butter sandwiches. The snow was wet and heavy mixed with rain and the winds were whipping. Trees and power lines were down. As we prepared to go to sleep for the evening, we bundled up. It was 15 degrees F. outside and inside we had already dropped to 55 degrees F. We hunkered down for the night and the unknown.
At 2 am I woke to the joy of warm abundant air blowing through the heating vents. Thankfully, the power had been restored. The next morning I could not wait to get out and see the chickens and how they did in the storm. My greatest fear was that their water was frozen solid. Even though the girls have a heated waterer, I did not want to have to thaw out that big ole jug that I had refilled the night before. A five gallon frozen block of ice would have been the pits. Out I journeyed…
Surprisingly, everyone had “weathered” Blizzard Niko just fine. Although, they do dread stepping onto that darn white stuff! The feel such an urge to fly over it. Eventually, I raked a path of dirt for them.
Going into the weekend, we find ourselves now bracing for the next blizzard to hit Sunday afternoon into Monday evening. I sure hope we don’t lose power again. Last night, we got about 4 more inches of snow– light and fluffy and wonderfully beautiful. The girls laid four eggs for us and one was still warm.
To learn more about caring for the flock during winter, please visit- Should I heat my Coop in Winter? and my top Winter Boredom Busters.
6 thoughts on “Blizzard Niko Visits the Chicken Coop”
Hopefully today and tonight will just be rain. The water in my coop didn’t freeze either but I always worry about that.
I hope so too!
Hi Melissa! We loved your short video of visiting your hens after the blizzard, it was lovely! How amazing they are, they seem to take it all in their stride. We have only had a flurry of snow here in South West England (Wiltshire) so we feel for you having the power cuts and such low temperatures. Our three girls are having to be kept in their run all the time as well, due to the Avian Flu outbreak. Fortunately, we are not in a high risk area but still must take good care and follow the guidelines. DEFRA are reviewing the situation on 28 February. I hope you don’t have this nasty virus arrive on your door step. We’ve bought another white tarp that fits over the pointed roof of our run, to help keep it dry and to protect it from the wild birds. Yours seems to do a great job and it was in searching for tarps for runs that I discovered your blog! Am enjoying following your posts and on IG. Good luck with the weather this week. x
Glad you guys did not sustain bad damage or nobody got hurt. Down here in Va. we have been so lucky . It was so pretty but tonight we are having wind gusts of 60MPH! It is rough! I am hoping all the trees around hold up. We usually lose our power too, so my heat goes out to you. Your girls are beautiful! Aren’t all healthy babies , though? ~smile~
Oh Linda, Thank you for the well wishes. We weathered through just fine. We do indeed love our babies. Thanks for the compliments on my girls. I’ll have to let them know 😉
I see where they are talking about you might get more this week??? Good luck. My feather-babies have all been doing good and enjoying their pretty weather we had while you guys suffered.