-30??? WTF
This is what news stations were posting about our area. Those near the lake (Ontario Lake to the north - the light green areas) were supposed to get 15 - 24 inches of snow, with maybe half of that coming from Lake Effect snow.
I live in the red area. I live near a much smaller lake (you can't see it from this map view) but we were supposed to get 12 - 20 inches of snow. I think we hit that amount by yesterday morning (Monday).
Not only did we get the snow, but out where we live in the country, the snow drifts are really, really bad. Roads could be plowed (although lately, I've felt like my county/town doesn't plow as much as the suburban towns) but the drifts are literally 5-7ft high. Or higher. And the blowing snow make visibility horrible.
Well, yes, we were born and raised in WNY so we're used to this weather. Shit, we'll probably be wearing shorts by the end of this week! But, while we're used to this cold weather, I'm not sure my chickens are. When we bought our chicks, we did look for "hearty" birds that would withstand colder temps. Everything I've read said that they do NOT need heat lamps to stay warm and alive. They huddle together in the coop and stay warm that way, I guess. But, as I'm sure you'll learn about me, is that I'm super paranoid and cannot imagine the thought of my chickens being cold. So last year, we decided to put in a small heat lamp during the SUPER cold days. I believe we only really used it for a couple of weeks when it was 25 below freezing.
We don't use anything fancy, we use this kind. It's pretty generic and works well. We used this when the chickens were babies and they stayed in our basement until their feathers came in.
We put it back in there Sunday. As of Saturday night, we are looking at temps waaaaay below zero, if you count the wind-chill. Literally -30 with the wind chill. Even with heated waterers, the water is freezing. We even put up a big board on one side of the coop to help keep the wind from blowing so hard. We went out there a few times to make sure food wasn't covered with snow and make sure they were OK.
You can kind of see the big board of plywood through the fence,
blocking the wind in the chicken run.
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