A Cold November Day in the Coop

It's cold outside--30 something--sunny and breezy. I'm sitting in the coop (again) on a "bale" of pine shavings with the back door open so the sun will warm the inside of the coop. I let our young chickens outside in the chicken yard a little while ago, but they don't want to stay out--they get too cold. One by one they come in and jump up on my legs. They are growing so fast that I only have room for one on each knee.

Patches of sunlight streaming in through the open back door warm the shavings on the floor and all 5 babies lie down in front of me. They have their wings and legs stretched out to soak in the sun. Debi has her butt in Harriet's face; Amelia has her eyes closed. They jostle and step on top of each other to get the best spot to sun. They are a happy pile of babies--it's had to tell where one leaves off and another starts. And now, Debi has moved off and is taking a dust bath in the shavings.

I may have to use the heat lamp tonight if it gets down to 19 degrees. They are still babies--they'll only be 11 weeks old on Mon 11/23/15.

Sad note: we lost little Cuddles to a hawk on Weds. 11/12/15. We have a beautiful new wire fence around the coop but it doesn't keep hawks out. Now, none of them go out in the chicken yard unless one of us is out supervising. We have ordered some poultry netting and plan to cover their entire yard with it...but THAT'S another story.

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