Your winter

No chicks on the ground here yet

Have also made extra precautions for my chickens this winter. Tarps on all the cages outside, have never had to do that before. Also plenty of games in the shed to protect them from the cold. Another thing I have never done. Been a crazy winter for sure.

Josh

I'm getting sick of winter. Won't hear me complaining about a hot summer

Winter ... my least favorite time of the year. Especially with birds.Wading through snow to feed and water is not a favorite past time to say the least.... The ice storm back the end of December was my biggest stress factor of the season so far. Going 98 hours with out electricity and once we did get the generator going it conked out and had to go borrow another from a business associate who's power was on. The generator powerd my sump pump and incubator ( priorities) ... as the first night the electric was out I hand bailed out 36 / 5 gallon buckets from the basement. Even with the incubator being with out power for two periods of 10 hours each time .. I managed to hatch 20 out of 28 eggs...and now since have a total of 65 large fowl modern games in the brooder and my first two modern bantams hatched on monday.... The rest of the bantams are starting to lay better now and I will soon be done with the large fowl ... hope to raise 100 Large and about the normal 250 - 300 bantams. I was happy to make it to the North East Poultry Congress show in West Springfield Mass back in Jan.. as well as the Sarnia Show last weekend with no weather to speak of  either comeing or going to the shows  other than just cold.... Snow I can deal with... cold.. sickens me... I am sure the egyptian geese will be glad to see some warmer weather as well.... they seem to be handling it well but do not envy them in being out side even in the plastic covered pen... thank god for heater buckets for water. I have had enough...May have to move south.
TL

Snow is over our 4 ft fences here in Port Hope. We seem to be getting a lot of lake effect snow, but at least we can clear it with the snowblower to be able to get to the coop and do chores. 

It's the cold that is problematic and unfortunately I am about a month behind in starting up the incubators than usual as I can't brood a lot of stock in these temperatures with my setup. 

Alas, "Goose" doesn't seem to be phased by it all and enjoys a daily bath in the snow outside her enclosure. She has been laying since November much to my disappointment as I would rather have goslings on the ground in the spring rather than try to raise them in this weather. We now have a lovely gander visiting on breeding loan so are excited to see what they produce this season.

Nice & warm here today ...no waterers froze & llama& chickens enjoying the warmth & sun . A little snow falling when went over to Pt.Franks for Vday supper . No dishes or cookin for my wife today :-) aren't I nice . 3AM let the dog out & 2 deer in my horse paddock nice to see , they left. 12 across rd in field at 6am . Weather getting better . Maybe call some coyotes this wknd & next wk see how arthiritis is. I don't incubate here just let silkies sit eggs . Will put pigeons (fireball rollers)together in March. Hope things are getting better for everyone.

In April, I fainted or something and fell flat on my face in a parking lot. I suffered a major concussion and had a seizure. I had every test you can think of and was told that I didn't have any permanent brain damage, and that they had no idea what caused the seizure. They took away my licence for four months and after a week off to recover, I went back to work. I was unable to multitask, and could not do any on the spot problem solving. As a draftsman and project manager, that is my job. I lasted one and a half days until my boss told me to go home. I have been off work ever since. I went to a neurologist and was diagnosed with post concussion syndrome. That basically means that I have on going concussion symptoms and will have them until they magically go away at some point. It has now been ten months, and they have not gone away. They have gotten less severe, and I am able to do a lot of things that I couldn't do before, but I am very far from 100%.
My new hobby of breeding exhibition poultry has saved my sanity. The routine of caring for them, and the new challenge of understanding the standard and what is and is not good, has been just the right thing for me to pick away at and focus on to keep me from getting way too bored.
The broken hand is really just a temporary inconvenience... Made worse by the fact that it is limiting my ability to care for and focus on the poultry. Oh and the pain killers they put me on for the first two weeks were extremely addictive, and with the concussion, I have been suffering debilitating migraines since I stopped taking them just after the Sarnia show. "Medication rebound". Neat.
So... Ya, things have not been coming up dave. So when you are having a bad day, just be thankful that you aren't me. Hopefully this will turn around soon.

Quick & full recovery Dave . At least you can still put yourself between the sun (if we get any ) & your shadow .