Another Day, Another Storm

Just when I was breathing a sigh of relief that we had come through Storm Eunice unscathed, along came Storm Franklin. This storm is gusting at nearly 90 mph and has caused quite a lot of damage on site. I received a phone call early this morning from Derek informing me that two panels had been blown out of my greenhouse, leaving the chickens exposed to the elements (and potentially able to escape). Pausing only to finish the last mouthfuls of breakfast, I headed out. The wind was unreal – at some points, it nearly blew me backwards and by the time I arrived on site, I was dreading how bad the damage would be.

The front of the greenhouse seemed to have faired well enough, with a bonus of the front door still being in place. That bench is worth it’s weight in gold for stopping the door flying off. At the back it was a different story. The patio was covered in broken glass and the greenhouse was missing the middle pane on the side next to the strawberry bed. For good measure, the wind had also blown out the top triangular piece on the opposite side. My first job was to collect as much of the glass as possible and bag it up. The smaller pieces I left to collect tomorrow when I can bring down a pair of thick gloves.

Inside the greenhouse, Geoff had set up a block using the old potting table to try and stop the girls getting out. It was a good temporary fix but with the wind still high, I didn’t want to risk anymore panes breaking and injuring Flora and Leia. Quickly, I decided to move them to the new coop as Tommy was quite aggressive to Leia last time she was in the main coop. My hope was that she would be less scared of Gordon and his girls. Logic dictates that they are so small that she couldn’t possibly be terrified of them. If only! She is currently sat in the nest box, refusing to come out. Flora on the other hand has ventured out only to be set on by three of the bantams simultaneously. She escaped by jumping up onto the perch.

The wind and rain were relentless and after refereeing in the new coop for half an hour, I was completely frozen. I headed home after one last check of all the chickens, promising myself I would pop down later to do another check all the time while fervently praying for the end of these storms.