This is the first winter that I'm not heating the chicken coop. It was a hard decision because I don't want the girls to be cold. But reading the forum on www.backyardchickens.com and hearing from more experienced cold-weather chicken-keepers than I made me realize chickies are more cold-hearty than I thought. The girls have a heated water bowl so I'm not having to break the block of ice out three times a day. It stays about 20 degrees in the coop, but since there's no breeze they do just fine. Every time I check on them, they're just doing their chicky thing…pecking around. For the longest time none of the three hens have been laying – not since mid-summer really. But Penny has started to lay again – yay! The new problem is that I have to figure out what time of day she's laying. If I leave the egg too long in the nest it freezes! This one seems to be in-tact, but I've had others that expanded while they were freezing and cracked. Oh the joys of winters in Alaska. :) It is very pretty though…
This photo was taken at about 3:00 or 3:30 this afternoon…just as the sun was getting low on the horizon, starting to set. I'm glad we're past winter solstice now and starting to gain a little more light each day. Still, it will be awhile before I'll be hanging clothes out on the line again…
One fun thing about it being -5 below zero today…I tried blowing bubbles in the back yard with this result:
They froze in the air and when they landed, they either dented in a bit or else they kept their shape and just rolled down the snow bank. I tried to get a video to show you, but between keeping one mitten on and trying to keep my other hand dry (too cold to get bubble stuff on my fingers!) I just wasn't quick enough to work the camera too. Fun though 🙂
Happy 2012!
~ k