This weekend we had some truly terrific winds; the worst happening through the night from Saturday to Sunday. Some of the winds reached upwards of 60 mph. We knew they were bad and that we’d wake up to some things sent all over the property. However, We were not expecting the sight that we saw once the sun came up over the horizon. 

I think we had to look twice. It’s really not what you’re expecting to see. It was really rather a shock, or one of those “what’s wrong with this picture?” type of moments. The RCW had been blown over in the night. Sue got me up the minute she realized what she was looking at. As I threw on some chores clothes, she went out to investigate. We had no idea if any chickens could have survived such an ordeal.  As I was putting on my work boots, she called over “I think they should just stay where they are.” I thought she said “you should just stay where you are” and my panic ratcheted up 20 notches. Well, she was actually saying that they were fine, no one looked hurt and the RCW was really quite stable on its side. Let me tell you – Sue and Ron built that thing so solidly – it didn’t sustain any damage at all!

It is resting on the eaves of the one side; the roof didn’t break or buckle or anything. The trailer frame doesn’t look like it’s been twisted at all either… it might get that way once we try to right the thing. So much could have happened to the chickens. The roosts are all removable for ease of cleaning, which meant that they were all higgledy piggledy inside. The chickens could have been knocked out by those, broken a wing or a foot, but

everyone escaped those as they fell. The Best Nesting Box came off the wall and that’s where we had the one fatality of the entire incident. It is a very heavy box and someone just couldn’t get out of the way. Things could have been so much worse. I am simply surprised that we didn’t loose any more chickens. We were so flustered that we couldn’t decide what we were going to do. Sunday, the chickens just stayed in the RCW – we gave them food and water and they were just fine. Even had 8 eggs from them. They really are little troopers.

Today, we began making plans on how best to get it back on its feet – or tires rather. We also decided that the chickens couldn’t stay in for the days it was going to take to figure things out. So we rigged up a temporary fence to keep them from escaping from around where the trailer was holding down the fence, propped the door open with the window cover, gave them a temporary ramp to get back in and just let them out to investigate, stretch their legs, and peck around in general. As usual, Maeve was the adventurous one and showed the others how to get out. They spent the day going in and out and were comfortable enough that we got 12 eggs! Again, I am surprised because, often, when chickens go through a traumatic event, they will stop laying for quite a while; some may never lay again. Ours came through ok, I guess. Now – we just have to figure out the best way to get it right side up. Sue has sent an e-mail to our engineering friends, Ron and Kathy, to see if they can offer some pointers. We did go to Tractor Supply today and pick up some heavy duty straps; we’re hoping to pull it aright with the tractor. We’ll just see if it can make it through that! Never a dull moment, I tell ya! Perhaps we’ll have news for you by Wednesday. Until then, as always~
Thanks for reading!

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Today’s Weather: This system is coming to us from the north and bringing rather cool weather with it. This morning it was 44° at 6am. We started out with almost perfectly clear skies, it began clouding up around 10 this morning, then was completely cloudy and looked like rain sometime around 2. Right now, it’s mostly clear again, with just some clouds down Mexico way. No rain at all. Currently, 5:29 p.m. it is 62° with just a slight breeze and 39% humidity. Our overnight low is going to be quite chilly at 39°. The high today was 67°, tomorrow’s high is predicted to be 71°. Our sunrise was at 6:18 and our sunset will be around 5:55.

Egg Report: Saturday – zero goose, zero duck, 23 chicken. Sunday- zero goose, zero duck, 20 chicken. Monday – zero goose, zero duck, 22 chicken.