chickens foraging in the yard

They're laying great now. I'm getting just over 3 eggs a day from the four hens. I think they like the nice spring weather. I have to do a spring coop cleaning soon. They've built up a nice layer of poop for my compost bins at the bottom of their coop.

chickens staying warm

Big Bertha, my heavily feathered white Brahma, doesn't lay as many eggs as the rest, but she's really nice to snuggle up with on a cold night. All my chickens are fine after the frigid night. -12.9F!

bee hives wrapped up for a cold night

I wasn't planning to wrap my bee hives. At my bee club people usually just add insulation to the top, which I did back in November. But this is way colder than we're used to! Predictions for tonight are 5 to 15 below 0 F (-20 to -26 C) with a gusty wind to 35 mph. So I wrapped both hives in a tarp. At least this will cut down any drafts getting in the openings.



I also secured the chicken coop better than usual. At less than 20 F (-7C), I turn on a ceramic bulb heater in the coop. That's been on most of this week. This afternoon I lowered tarps that protect the run from wind. I'll go out after they start roosting and close the coop door - which I never do.

Brrr! Stay warm!

chickens out for a walk

My chickens went out for a mid-winter walk today. No snow left here - they had lots of scratching to do.



In the middle of their walk, Ginger the brown Auracana all of a sudden jumped up, left the group, ran for the laying box and left me that blue egg. I'm getting 2 or 3 eggs a day now. Only Bertha, the big white Brahma isn't laying yet.