As a rule the chooks do not like the snow. (In New Zealand and Australia we call chickens: chooks and as I am a New Zealander living in America these little words from home are a comfort so bear with me). My chooks are free range so they can go outside and get lots of sunlight in the daytime but the pigs Tima and Tane are also free range. So to make sure the pigs do not eat the chicken’s food I feed the chickens on top of the piglets hut as a raised feeding table out in the field. Also this encourages them to come out into the daylight to eat.
It is cold, but if they are not cossetted, the chickens do very well in the cold. Coming out of an heated area into the cold area is harder for an animal or bird to manage than coming out of the cold into the cold. This is true for humans too so be careful of over heated houses. Icy drafts, wet blowing cold – that is what can harm an animals health. Drafts are the enemy and icy air running over their combs can give chickens frostbite. As we know from that bad year. Compared to the winter of 2014 we have had such a mild few months so all the chooks are still fat and happy.
BooBoo loves his chickens. He is so much more reliable now than when he was little. It took some training. I have a theory that it is the fluttering and squawking and jerky runs that made him snap at them when he was younger. He thought it was his job to shut them up. Though to be fair he only ever killed one chicken by mistake and then it was those little ducks that he thought were running away and he picked them up and carried them home. But it needed attention. So with him on his leash I did a lot of training in the chook house in amongst the screeching and carrying on. Every time he even looked sideways at a chicken (or a peacock or a guinea) the leash was jerked sharply and he was reminded to behave. It did not take him too long to get used to their noise and remember to keep his mouth to himself around his feathered friends.
I am still careful though. His behaviour is my responsibility as a dog owner. So he is monitored. Do you remember when he saved the chicken and killed the Mink?. Ever since then when we check and lock up the chickens at night he does a total and very thorough patrol, sniffing into every corner looking for more Bastard Mink. But we have not seen them for a long, long time now thank goodness. Touch wood everyone!
TonTon is very different – he will not enter the chook house at all. He has no interest in them. He spends most of his time guarding his pigs.
Anyway the chickens will come out for their dinner after a bit of grizzling about the bloody snow.
Do you see the big butterfly in this shot. There is a close up below. It is not a butterfly or superman it is a chicken flying OVER the snow to get back into the coop. She does not want her feet to get wet – poor wee luvvy.
Many of them did that! Made me laugh. They really are not impressed with snow.
The kunekunes pay no attention to the snow. It was warmer yesterday – 18F (-7C) no wind. Balmy!
Here are two shots of the cows watching the world go by.
They are nice and settled at the moment. Everyone knows where they are meant to be and are happy. (Touch some more wood. )
I hope you have a lovely day.
Your friend on the farm,
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
82 responses to “Chooks in snow”
Shivers… looks at my fireplace – thank goodness I have that. Those pics look cold my friend. Stay warm! XOXO – Bacon
Yes, i am looking at my fireplace too and I need to go outside and get some more wood in.. c
aaww – swishes tail. If I was there, I would help you sweet friend… and cuddle with you and snort for you and make you smile. XOXO – Bacon
A nice, cozy – and not too cold – day! Everyone healthy and happy – and a lovely sunshiny day!! ; o ) (Going to read about that mink!!)
The mink period was a nasty one.. c
My day is perfect now! 🙂 I’m smiling largely. Hope you have a wonderfilled day too.
Full of wonder! c
I wish someone would bring me breakfast.
Same! Though before John leaves for work at 4am he brings me my coffee – so that works! c
Yes, we’re having a heat wave! One of our esteemed weathermen last night sounded like he forecast 90˚ for today’s high instead of 21˚. I don’t care how you try to explain it, 21˚ is still cold. Period. Maybe we should get them to come to the farmy to cart some water when it’s a warm 21˚. If nothing else, I wouldn’t have to see them on the news that night — although you’d have to put up with them for a day. I’ll keep working on it. 🙂
Snow and cold, cold and snow…I think I think like a chicken!
Linda
I’ve always wondered how the word “chook” is properly pronounced. A quick check of the internet reveals several different ways: some say “chooook,” others “chuck,” some make it rhyme with “took.” Different regions, different pronunciations. Celi, like you have nothing better to do, how about recording a little audio of how you say the word . . . you know, record a little sentence like you are talking to someone, Boo perhaps, about something the chickens did today!
like ‘Took or Look” c
Yes, we say it like ‘took ‘or ‘look.’ Although we colonialists …..NZ as well as Oz…..took it as our own, it’s origin is old English and it’s derived from ‘chuck’ or ‘cluck’…..people imitating the chook sound, and then morphed into ‘chook’.
I very much remember the first time our chooks hit snow. I opened the coop to let them out and they flew at me Alfred Hitchcock style. Not at all interested in stepping in the fresh snow. Hopping from branch to anything without snow, they worked out their new day.
Nice shots of the chooks! They look very robust and healthy. Are you getting many eggs? My mother-in-law has about 20 hens and she’s getting an average of six eggs a day. That’s about right for us during the cold months.
Yes, same here, between 4 and 10. Not too good. But when it warms up so do they! c
Warmer -7?!! brrrrrr Poor chooks! hehe. The farm looks lovely (not warm though…hehe) I’ll touch wood so BooBoo keeps behaving around his little feathered friends.
Take care and have a lovely day Cecilia.
Love,
Giovanna
My little chicken coop is at the bottom of a slight hill, with a paved sidewalk running all the way down (the previous owners of our house had a wood boiler there, but we have geothermal heat now). So the path gets icy from time to time. One evening, I brought treats out to the chickens, and one of them started running down the icy path — and then gravity took over, so she slid the entire way, wings flapping. I imagined she was thinking, ‘I’m doing it! I’m flying!’ — and she did seem a little pleased with herself when she got to the bottom. At any rate, they’re VERY pleased that it’s above 20˚F today!
That is the funniest story and very easy to imagine. Chickens are amusing! c
Wowzers, that 2nd photo is fabulous!!
I’m not enjoying my new early bedtime, because it means I miss the launch of the latest news from the Farmy until the next day…. 😦
I remember my chooks getting ‘snow boots’ and walking along gingerly, shaking one foot after the other to try and get rid of it. Very funny to watch, but not so much fun for them, I suspect. I ended up dumping straw on the snow for them to stand on with their cold feet. My favourite shot today is Tima and Tane with their heads buried in their buckets, getting into the very furthest corners.
Why are you off to bed earlier? c
The Husband’s shift hours have shifted. Instead of starting day shift at 6am, he now has to start at 4am. He gets home earlier, but we also have to drag ourselves out of bed at 2.30am…
We also call them chooks in Ireland – I sometimes forget who I’m talking to and use the word, and it is either confusion or instant love for a wonderful new word!
Also, do you do this? My husband uses chicken as a term of endearment! Sort of how the English use ‘pet’. It’ll be grand, chicken! I also worked with a woman I never met but talked to a lot over the phone, and she called me chicken the same way. What a difference from what Americans use it to mean! Although I suppose not wanting to walk in the snow is a bit…chicken.
Oh yes! My Mum always called us chicken.” Ni Night chicken”. So chooks in ireland too – interesting.
I used to call my now grow-up nieces chicken or chicky. It seemed to fit until they were about 10, and then after that they were too old for it! In Oz, a chicken is a baby chook, a chick, so I suppose that makes some sense.
I’m with the chooks, I hate cold wet feet. They are such characters, and have wiseness of their own.