Spring in Central Maine

I just went for a walk down toward the garden and around the loop toward the fruit trees.  I haven't been down there since the snow started to accumulate, back in December.  The first twenty feet were no problem.  But then I broke through the crust on the snow and sank down to my knee.  The glare off the snow surface was blinding.  I aborted my mission to check out the garden and headed toward the nearby copse of trees.  Every other footstep or so, I broke through the snow crust and every five or so steps, I had to stop to gather my strength.  The woods were somewhat better.  The snow was not as deep.  I walked down the path I'd cleared through the woods last year and came out close to the the fruit trees.  The ground was covered with turkey tracks that had been enlarged from melting.  There were odd holes in the snow and when I looked in a few, I saw dark objects, sticks and leaves, that had sunk down through the snow, in some places more than a foot.  I suppose they absorbed the heat from the sun and melted the snow immediately adjacent to and under them, while the snow further away reflected the sunlight and stayed cool. 

The chickens were dust bathing, happy for sunny day.  One of the roosters did not come through the winter unscathed.  His comb was badly frostbitten.  When I selected chickens last spring, I chose cold-hardy breeds, most of the the hens and roosters have combs that are squat and fat and close to their heads and thus optimal for keeping warm, but his comb is thin and erect with lots of spikes.  The tips of these spikes got frostbitten a few months ago and stayed that way through the winter.  He's the sentinel of the flock, second in line for dominance amongst the roosters.

While the other roosters flirt with the hens and pretend to find little morsels to attract them, he stands by, scanning the sky for predators.  During the winter, he'd stand out in the snow keeping guard anytime one of the hens went outside.  The dominant rooster, Brows, was more self-interested.  Most of the time, he stayed inside and surrounded himself with the insulating bodies of the hens.  He'd even stand on them all night on the roost to keep his feet warm. 

Today, the sun is shining and right now, midday, the temperature is 56 degrees.  The chickens are sunbathing. 

The National Weather Service is predicting 4-6 inches of fresh snow tomorrow.  Yep, it's definitely Spring.