It has been a gentle January, but the forecast for this week promises the potential for a lot of snow and wind. This comes on the heels of several very cold days. When it's cold, the animals spend more time in their houses, so they get dirty fast. It was -1 when I did chores this morning, but it warmed up to the high 20's mid day. Chris kindly helped me once it wasn't so frigid out, and we cleaned the goat cozy, donkey dorm, and both chicken coops. We topped up feed bins, and refilled the chickens grit and oyster shell feeders. The job is so much easier when we work together. In the coops I shovel and he hauls the soiled shavings off. This saves me lots of steps.
The ceiling in the goat room is low, so Chris bonks his head in there. I go in and toss all the old bedding in the donkey dorm, and he scoops it up and hauls it off. After I've swept up and put fresh bedding down I join him in the donkey dorm and we scoop in unison until the floor is bare. Then I dump a clean bag of shavings smack in the middle of the floor and leave it piled up. The donkeys love to go roll in the mound to spread it around. It makes us smile to see them emerge, all tousled and dusted with sweet smelling pine shavings.
In the goat and donkey areas we topped off their salt and mineral feeders. Here is Spirit, in her warm and plushy coat, enjoying the kelp I just dished up. Bliss is peeking over the gate.
As a winter storm barrels towards us, it feels good to know that all the animals are in clean, dry houses, snuggled into sweet shavings. I sleep better when I know they are cozy.
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