Cabin Fever

I honestly don't know how you folks in the northern states deal with all the snow. These two storms have practically shut us down. Stores were running out of food, people were scrambling to get fuel and reserves to be able to survive until the snow was done. I found it all pretty entertaining. I wonder if most people only keep enough food on hand for one or two days? Oh well. The second wave came through last night and dumped a measly 4 inches more of the white stuff. Definitely not the blizzard that was predicted. It was effective at closing the schools around here for the last four school days. My children are antsy. Cabin fever has set in. They are getting on each others last nerve which has resulted in crying fits, hitting and many many time outs. We all need a break. I'm praying school is back in session tomorrow. I desperately need out of this house, I'm actually looking forward to my gynecological visit on Thursday (TMI?). That should tell you something.

I'm anxious for all the snow to melt so I can transfer the chicken brooder up to the bird room (one of the small bedrooms that I commandeered as my sculpting room, which has since been taken over by the cokatiels and tortoises).  I'm ready to go pick out some chicks. It's time to replenish my flock. I started out with eight hens in the spring of 2010 and am down to three. I've lost none of them to predators surprisingly enough, they just die for no apparent reason.

 I visited the feed store last Friday and they have baby chicks but they are all straight run (boys and girls mixed together). I'm unwilling to take the chance on getting all roosters so I'm forced to wait until they get sexed pullets in. Or I could try this fancy chick sexing method I found online. Apparently you can sex chicks by the feather formation

(Source)

Isn't that fascinating? I sure find it cool. What I really want to do is go man handle some of the day old chicks at the feed store and see if I can identify males vs. females. I doubt they'd let me. So for now I'll just get the brooder ready and impatiently wait for some pullets to arrive.