Early-To-Mid January Arctic Blast Takes Toll.

We made it through the arctic blast that came through Georgia in the first half of January... No major incidents other than the chickens showing signs of what the bitter wet cold temps will do to their precious combs and waddles. Even though we have two heat lamps and plastic up inside the coop over the windows, a few of the chickens have frostbite on their unfeathered parts. They do tend to try to protect themselves while on the roost... covering their feet and tucking their heads inside of their wings. Here are some new updated photos:

Now you see her...

Now you don't! We like to call this the "tuck".

They bunch up together on the roost to generate heat.

By mid-January, Clint Eastwood the rooster was already showing huge signs of frostbite in his comb tips.

Hen board meeting around the "water cooler" or the dog's water bowl. They love to stand around it together and drink lots of water. Especially if their water jug freezes up during the nights of the arctic blast.

Their water jug up under the heat lamps in an attempt to keep it from freezing up.

The arctic temps pretty much killed our beautiful romaine lettuce... even though we covered the plants top to bottom.

For some reason, the cold temps makes the chickens eat a ton more food and lay their eggs all over the coop. It's like a scavenger hunt each day to find all the eggs.

They really do love the heat lamps.