Blogger Elle Pugsley shares some winterizing ideas from southern England.
Cold and Windy
Now that we are into the cold, windy, wet winter months it was time to make some changes in my chicken run. It gets awful windy where we are near the sea in the south of England, we’ve had the top line of our washing line come down and some sad looking greenhouse panels thanks to the wind so the chicken run has been rather drafty. I ordered clear tarps from amazon to wrap the most exposed parts of the run, along with my Omlet coop wind covers.
Having been inside the run cleaning I can say it makes a real difference when it’s windy out. Another change I’ve made is removing sand from the most exposed half of the run and put it in buckets in one of the green houses to dry out.
Extra Straw and Corn
Now the girls have straw over the run floor to soak up moisture and keep in the warmth, extra straw in the coop too along with a large cardboard box full of straw that they will hopefully bed down in if they need that extra warmth. Corn in the evenings is a big help for keeping them warm overnight so the girls are loving the extra corn they get before bed now.
Remember Ginny and Minerva?
I’m thrilled to say that Ginny and Minerva, my two ex commercial rescues are now fully feathered and look more beautiful than ever but now all of my bantams are moulting and all look ridiculous.
Ginny when she first arrived.
Minerva when she first arrived. Now she’s fluffy and even more beautiful.
Egg production is slowing down a little now with the lack of daylight hours and as much as I love all the tasty eggs I’m more than happy for the girls to take a break. I have heard my neighbours laughing at me when I collect eggs and have words with the girls telling them it’s time to take a break now, I don’t want any more eggs!
Fall Treats
I had to find a way to get the hens involved in Halloween so we had a chicken inspired design on one of the pumpkins this year. Some of the girls were lovely enough to pose for photos for me too, with their new (new to us) second hand Eglu coop go which they use as a free range nest box. Now that Halloween is over the hens and the dogs are enjoying eating all of my carved pumpkins.
Elle Pugsley started growing her own food last year, and it went so well that the next natural step was to acquire chickens. Starting off with four bantams she fell in love and quickly became a crazy chicken lady. Now she’s opened her coop to three ex-commercial free range hens to rehabilitate and provide them with a forever home. You can see pictures of her hens and gardens on Instagram.
2 Comments
how do I produce more meatier chickens?
Terry, That depends on the breed that you choose. Heritage breeds such as Plymouth Rocks or Rhode Island Reds are slower growth birds that just take more time to convert food to flesh. If you want a fast growing meat breed chicken, Cornish Cross birds have been bred to convert food to flesh very quickly and to be harvested at 6-8 weeks of age.