This Partridge Rock pullet is sitting on a bird feeder 5 or more feet off the ground. It is off the deck just outside my kitchen window. She has eschewed the cozy nest box in the coop, lined with warm straw. Instead she comes here every other day and lays a perfect egg. In the cold open. This causes me to laugh, and really, the egg delivery just outside my kitchen is rather convenient!
We are expecting the seasons first blizzard. The snow began about an hour ago. We should get between 10 and 16 inches of snow. We made some preparations for this event... mostly involving the animals.
Today I cleaned out the chicken coop. As I write this 13 chickens are roosting in a clean, insulated coop. Their heated wate-er provides 3 gallons of clean, fresh, WARM water. Their feeder dispenses 5 lbs. of high quality layer feed. At 4 AM on the dot a light will come on in their coop, providing them the number of hours a light they need each day to produce eggs.
The pet snake that belongs to my daughter escaped from its tank in July. She was missing in action until the first Monday in December, when she showed up in my kitchen. She was dehydrated and wounded, but alive. By tonight she has shed her old skin, become re-hydrated, and eaten. I think she will be fine.
In the spring our pet rabbit, Clara, began to roam in our big fenced back yard. Each night she would return to her cage in the garage. After a few months she eschewed her cage. I doubted her ability to avoid predators and survive, but survive she did. And she was so HAPPY! Leaping about the yard, joy on four fuzzy feet.
Every morning I put fresh food and water out in the yard for her. Ever since the first cold weather of fall began, I have worried about the bunny. I have agonized over the decision to bring her in or leave her at large during the winter. My worry increased when I heard about the blizzard. We have had a few small snows, and the bunny has been fine, but I wasn't sure how she would survive in deep snow.
This morning I woke from a dream in which I found the bunny outside in a particular spot. In the dream I scooped her up and put her in her cage and brought her inside for the rest of the winter. And she LET ME. Mostly since spring she has not allowed physical contact.
So, when I got up this morning I looked at the place I dreamed the bunny would be. There she was! And she let me pet her, and she let me pick her up. She shivered in my arms. It was 14 degrees outside. I put her in her cage and brought her inside. Tonight when I go to bed I will know she is safe, fed, watered and warm.
There is a cat living in our garage. I call him "Oscar." He is a very dark grey tabby. He rarely lets me see him, though every morning I provide him with a bowl of warm water and one of kitty crunchies from the grocery store. He lives in our garage every winter, keeping any bird seed stealing rodents at bay. We don't know where he came from, but he obviously thinks this is home. Today I used a big Styrofoam cooler to make him a cozy spot to sleep. I taped the lid on, then used a sharp knife to cut a little entrance in. I stuffed in a lot of straw and put it in the garage loft where the cat hangs out.
As the snow falls I know that the chickens are warm in their coop. The cat we don't have has a full belly and a cozy place to sleep. The rabbit is warm, fed and safe. The snake is OK. And the dogs are full-bellied snoring by the fire or on us, their favorite humans. Life is funny and I am satisfied that all the animals under my care are safe and warm as the blizzard whirls in.
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