As promised, I'm back with some photos of the ladies new living arrangements....
Two ladies have been living in the chicken tractor full time. Jake took the time to make me a completely new door so I can care for them more easily now.
We've had to retrofit the back edge into their sleeping quarters. As you can see, I've tried to get them up off the frozen ground as much as possible. They're sleeping in the blue hooded box, which is packed in there with hay to keep them insulated.
After snapping the first few photos, I actually switched out Matilda and Dorothy and put the other two ladies out in the tractor. I'm going to try to keep rotating them to make sure no one is spending too many cold nights out in a row. It's the best we can do for now. From what I've been reading, chickens can tolerate the cold extremely well, much better than the heat in fact. But what I'm worried about is moisture building up and giving them frostbite. I'm monitoring them carefully and haven't seen any signs of poor condition yet, so I'm hopeful things will continue to go well.
They were sure happy to get in their first dust bath in a few weeks! Suzy finally has feathers back! The last time you saw her she was looking pretty pathetic.
Dorothy and Matilda seem happy to be back in their usual quarters again. I'm hoping they enjoy the nights of being able to get up and off the floor again, maybe they'll even decide to put those nice nest boxes to use and lay us a few eggs! #wishfulthinking
Two ladies have been living in the chicken tractor full time. Jake took the time to make me a completely new door so I can care for them more easily now.
We've had to retrofit the back edge into their sleeping quarters. As you can see, I've tried to get them up off the frozen ground as much as possible. They're sleeping in the blue hooded box, which is packed in there with hay to keep them insulated.
After snapping the first few photos, I actually switched out Matilda and Dorothy and put the other two ladies out in the tractor. I'm going to try to keep rotating them to make sure no one is spending too many cold nights out in a row. It's the best we can do for now. From what I've been reading, chickens can tolerate the cold extremely well, much better than the heat in fact. But what I'm worried about is moisture building up and giving them frostbite. I'm monitoring them carefully and haven't seen any signs of poor condition yet, so I'm hopeful things will continue to go well.
They were sure happy to get in their first dust bath in a few weeks! Suzy finally has feathers back! The last time you saw her she was looking pretty pathetic.
Dorothy and Matilda seem happy to be back in their usual quarters again. I'm hoping they enjoy the nights of being able to get up and off the floor again, maybe they'll even decide to put those nice nest boxes to use and lay us a few eggs! #wishfulthinking
I enjoy the chicken stories! Keep them coming.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I'm glad to hear someone's enjoying them. Also glad they've taken a happier turn as of late :)
DeleteXO