I won't forget to close the doors again

Forecast:  Snow changing to ice pellets then developing to rain later in the afternoon.

In other words, gross. This morning at dawn already there were a couple of inches of snow accumulated, and it was eerily dark in the greenhouse, but also very warm, with the blanket of snow.

To my horror, only one guinea was walking around.  What the?  I started closing up the drafty holes in the wall for the chickens to access their yard.  I could see by the snow that there were no footprints using them. Last night I’d remembered that I hadn’t shut these hatches – it’s a new close-up task – but the guineas wouldn’t go outside so no biggie.  Where were they, though?  I looked for bodies, fearing a massacre.  None.

I looked outside.  There they were, huddled two feet from the open door, standing in two inches of snow.  Outside in their bare feet!  I waved my arms at them from the other side of the fence.  They stared at me morosely, snow accumulating on their backs and tiny heads (emergencies aren’t time to get the camera).

I had to squeeze through the fence, approach them – almost touching them before they moved – and shoo them through the hole in the wall. Oh, there’s the door.

Oh no.  Still one missing.  I looked around the yard, saw nothing, and went inside to feed the chilly beaks.  Still one missing.  I feared it was a frozen lump frozen to the ground somewhere.  I shut the doors.   Then, flapping beating against the wall of the GH, on the outside.  Alive!

Happily, I warmed both food and water this morning.  It was warm in the GH, above freezing, but I felt cold with the snowy mess outside, so the birds got warm breakfast (I’m cold, put on a sweater).  I hope the guineas all make it.  They don’t do well with cold, and can drop dead after getting chilled, or almost any reason.

Grosbeaks, doves, and blue jays are all here gobbling.