Dust Bath Time

 after being "coop'd" up for a few days, it was time for the girls (and roosters) took some time to get themselves a quick dust bath and some sun.

Coop maintenance

 Well I realized during this last cold snap that my my  coop wasn't more than 10 degrees warmer than the outside at any time and that was with  heat lamps running!

 The one day I was out there I dropped the hood on my jacket and realized why! The area at the top, where the metal roof meets the coop was a constant wind stream.
 What I cleverly wrote off as ventilation in the summer was now making my coop little more than a poor windbreak!

 So. . .

 Two tubes of caulk, and two  cans of great stuff foam later, l have significantly  decreased the draft.

Believe it or not, the foam expands just fine in temperatures below freezing.  This was a two day operation and the foam from the previous day was ready for trimming when I got out there.

One more can and tube each and i think it's done.

Here's some pics...

Free Range Friday

Free range Fridays are back!  The chickens are wandering the yard again.   We took a month or so of lock down to show them where their nesting boxes are and where the food will be,  but today they're dining on worms and grass.   All under the watchful eye of their shepherd...

Bear's Compound

Well,  with the first night of bad rain getting ready to come,  I made sure that Bear,  the Guardian of the Farm,  had a good shelter.   I set up two dog houses,  one for sleeping (yes that is one of our bedroom pillows for her) and one for food (no one likes mushy kibble).  Their backs are to the wind.   There is also a 5 gallon heated water dish,  for later this year and there is the possibility of adding a small heat lamp to the sleeping shelter. I'll plug them both into a thermo cube so they don't come on until it gets really cold and then turn off after it warms up.  
Don't know what a thermo cube is?  More to follow on those.

Red's shelter

Took some time this weekend to improve Red's shelter.   We moved it further downhill other of the wind.   I also had to dig it in on the windy side to level it.  Now hours water is out of the sun,  less chance for growing bad stuff.   Also his feed and sweet feed are in there. Should be good for my shelter shy friend.

Impromptu reason gutter feeder

I made this real quick last night.   It's my answer to spreading feed over muddy and wet ground.   Just an old piece of rain gutter from Mom's house,  some scrap wood under it and some landscape timbers for support.  

Been off-line for a few

Sorry there haven't been a lot of updates lately!  I'm about to catch up the last three weeks.  Here goes...