Chickens in the Snow.

During the week I discovered that the heat lamp was not working!

The heat lamp is on a thermostat and only turners on when temps dip to 35 degrees and shuts of again when the inside temps reach 45 degrees. So it doesn't run constantly. With daily temps hovering this side or that of freezing, the light is often off when I get home from work, but should have been on in the predawn mornings.

The lamp is really just a courtesy for my flock in these temps, but needed when the dead of winter dips down to zero. If there is a problem, I am glad to have discovered it now!

Unfortunately, there isn't much I can do about it during the week. I leave in the dark and come home in the dark. Going into the small coop while the flock is inside n their roosts would only cause pandemonium! The poor spoiled chickens had to suffer a few chilly nights until I could attend to it yesterday.

Good day to sort out the heat lamp, their feed and water, put down fresh bedding and attend to their general welfare. I figured, with snow still blanketing the yard, that they would mill about the run while I bopped in and out of the coop going about my business.

I opened the run and the flock has been SO BORED being shut in that they actually ventured out onto the field of white. Still skittish of it, they clustered together and wandered as a group to their favorite three season haunts. They seemed horrified to discover that this 'snow thing' was everywhere!

On any given day, I would want them to be out for as long as possible, but after attending to the needs of the coop (bulb had burned out, nothing serious). I ushered them back in.

A couple were reluctant to return, but most of them wanted to be back in the run and some treats encouraged the others.

Pitch black hens against an open yard of white is an invitation to a nice winter meal for old Mr. Hawk and I was not about to risk it for longer than needed.

In they went, and sure enough, abut an hour later I spied that hawk winging it through the mostly cloudy sky. Thwarted again, Mr. Hawk! Too late for an easy meal!

In other news, in the darkness of the evenings, when I bed down the coop and collect what eggs the layers' union sees fit to bestow on us, I have seen Ms. Rabbit about her business in the moonlight. Snow bothers her not so much. Glad to see she is doing well.