The Chickens are Ready for the Cold Snap

The weather man says its going to drop 40 degrees in 24 hours. This kind of negative degree weather calls for a little more than stuffing the hens box with more grass hay. We are prepared.

The straw bales are both weighing down the blue tarp underneath and added a wind break and insulation. I also added more grass hay directly under and around the hens ramp. The plan tomorrow is to put their food and water in this little extension so they don't have to go across the pen to their enclosure suite where I have been keeping their food and water. Dad came over this morning and helped me set this up. The one thing we didn't think about...can you guess? It's the ramp. I can't pull the ramp up by it's little string (see April 2012 blog post) because of the tarp and straw. So, I am reusing the 2/4 pictured here holding their door open, to prop their ramp closed at night, with a little space for air circulation. Today though felt practically balmy and the chickens were able to dust themselves in the dry dirt, thanks to the metal roofing sheets.

Ruby is ready for anything, let's wish them luck!