It has been COLD for the past couple of days! I worry about the chickens at times like this, that I'll open up their coop in the morning and find them frozen to the perch. JP checked the outdoor thermometer before hopping into bed last night, and announced that it was 11 degrees out. I laid awake worrying about the hens for over an hour.
Notice that I did NOT get out of my warm bed, and bundle up to go outside in the dark and take them a hot water bottle and a steaming cup of tea.
Yesterday, when the temperature never rose above the low twenties, I had to change their water three times. The last time I tried to give them water, I discovered that something was frozen in the rain-water cistern where I typically get water for them. So, I had to trudge back up the hill to carry it down from the house for them!
This morning, there were tiny rodent-like tracks around the outside of the coop where the chickens have scratched some of their feed out. I tried pointing these out to the dog, who seemed more interested in the piles of frozen deer poo just outside the garden fence. Maybe the kitties will pay attention?
By noon today, it was a balmy 29 degrees out, and the cistern had somehow thawed out, but I didn't need to change the chicken's water after all.
The life of a semi-competent chicken farmer is one never ending party!
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