Saturday, January 11, 2014

Cold Chicken

 This week we had some very cold weather. Lower than its been in more than a decade. 
We had to prepare the coop to keep the chickens safe.  We put the heat lamp (from when we had chicks) in the coop and kept it on 24/7 It looked like the coop was ablaze!
 Of course the light kept the chickens awake more which makes them eat more.
I put out extra feed for them to eat. The digestion of the feed also keeps them warm. 
Each morning I went out with boiling water to pour over their frozen water. I also fed them some leftovers!  They did well in 4 degree weather! In fact, in the past two days we collected ten eggs! (which is unheard of here in the winter!!)
 I found a few eggs in the door of the fridge, Id forgotten they were there! 
I used a little trick to test the eggs to see if they were good or not. Your egg should stay at the bottom of the glass if its fresh and good. As it ages it will stand up and eventually, if its too old thus bad to eat, it will float (like the photo above) 
If the egg is fresh and good to eat, it will stay at the bottom of the glass like the photo below.
In the winter I find myself purchasing grocery store eggs. I don't like to do that anymore but we do what we have to do. Ive read about how people use lighting in the coops to keep their chickens laying eggs year round and I had no interest in doing this, that is, until I saw what a difference it made in the egg laying this week! 



1 comment:

  1. Hi! I have chickens too and due to the cold and my heat lamps, I am getting some winter eggs too. I have always heard that leaving the lights on every night shortens the life of the hens. I guess it makes sense if their bodies don't have a winter rest. ??? Anyway - enjoy your tasty fresh eggs.

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