Thursday, February 10, 2011

Chicken Update

The weather has been ridiculous the last week or so. Lows in the negative numbers and highs in the single digits have kept us shut in most of the week. The chickens are struggling too. Every time I open the door they rush to get out and then realize there is snow on the ground and stop. I have been giving them table scraps and scratch and they have been fighting and bawking at each other to get at it.

The heat lamp seems to keep them content. It definitely doesn't warm things up in their house much. The heated waterer has been able to keep up thankfully. They are going through their food super fast. I will be so happy to get them out grazing the yard again. It will cut back on my food bill for them.Here they are on one of the warmer days. They pretty much stayed on the tiny amount of grass that was showing. 2 of the birds got off the path and were just standing frozen in the snow. I had to have my son go out and put them back on the grass area. It was kinda funny, it was like they didn't know what to do so they just stood there.

Thankfully the temps are suppose to warm up this weekend and I can get them back out in their run at least. Once the snow melts they will be back grazing in the yard. That will be a happy day for them.

This post is linked to Simple Lives Thursday at A Little bit of Spain in Iowa.

5 comments:

  1. Ok, now I realize why, even though I wish we had snow occassionally, I need to be grateful we don't! My chickens, however, will do the same thing during a wind/rain storm here on the coast. They run out as soon as their door is open and then fight each other to get back inside.

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  2. Thanks for the update. I had actually wondered how they were doing. Are they laying any eggs at all?

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  3. My chickens won't even leave the barn when I open the door. They are quite happy to stay in with their goat friend and stay warm :)

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  4. They are still laying great. This week was slower with 3-5 eggs each day. I have been quite impressed with them so far this winter.

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  5. I can remember my grandmother saying how dumb chicken were as they needed lots of care and love guess those chickens just stood there sort of showed that as well

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