We had a fabulous couple of days. Unfortunately, we got 6 inches of snow last night right after a sunny 63 degrees the day before. That’s Iowa for you!
During the coldest parts of the winter, our temperature dipped well below 20 degrees. We were able to bring our dogs in during these extreme cold days, however, my poor ladies stayed outside. Praise God my hubby built me an amazing coop that proved to hold up strong for my girls.
As you can tell from the image above, they have an enclosed area above ground and a run to get some fresh air below. I was concerned as above their enclosed area is actually an opening. I feared that it might get too cold and that my girls could end up with frostbite. However, I now feel that this opening was actually a good thing. I kept a heat lamp inside their enclosed area and feel that condensation was able to escape through this opening and actually prevent my girls from frostbitten toes, waddles, and combs. A couple of times I actually closed my girls in their enclosed area as they enjoyed staying out in the run. During those negative degree days, I again feared they would get frostbitten or even die. I learned quite quickly that I shouldn’t lock a bunch of girls in an enclosed area. Some of my ladies started to gang up on one of my Barred Rocks and pecked her head clean of feathers. I freaked and after a call to a farming friend she calmed me down and reminded me that these are just chickens and as much as I care for my girls, they can be, well… dumb! Ha! After that, I no longer locked them in and let them go in and out of there run as they pleased.
Before I bought my birds, I made sure to research their breeds. I purposely bought winter hardy breeds that were good layers and family friendly. The yellow ones below are Buff Orpingtons, The black and white girls are Barred Rocks and the beautiful black and golden ladies are Golden Laced Wyandottes. My absolute favorite! Oh how I would love to have a Golden Laced Wyandotte Rooster. So gorgeous!
This is Ethel. She leads the pecking order. As you can tell, she has only a speck of frostbite on her comb.
This is Margaret. Golden Laced Wyandottes generally have combs that stick to their heads. She is my special lady with a beautiful comb with only specks of frostbite.
This is poor Henrietta. Yup, the gals ganged up on her and pecked her head clean of feathers. I hope they grow back in.
Hi Diana! Do you plan on doing the harvesting yourself or do you have someplace local that will do it for you? I've been considering rabbits but I know my weaknesses.
Hi Kelli! Quite understandable 😉 I do plan on harvesting the chickens myself. I've never done rabbits, however, you could definitely look into local lockers who can do that for you. There are quite a few out here. Will you be doing this when you get to Iowa? Have a great weekend 🙂
We leave an opening for our bees during winter. condensation is definitely a concern, so i support the opening.
Wow!! Glad your "girls" made it through the winter! I enjoyed seeing pictures of your chickens and their coup. Thanks for sharing.
Love your post and LOVE your ladies! It looks like you live in town…I'm wondering do any of your neighbors get mad about the chickens? Just curious.
I thought the snow was already over! OMG, 6" snow! The weather is crazy… our planet is so sick, Diana! Hopefully, it will be a sunny day tomorrow! I wonder do you have your home breed chicken for dinner? For me, I rather go buy it from the store! hahaha….
Have a great weekend, dassshling!
Cheers, Kristy
I LOVE this post and I especailly love that you have named the chickens. You are doing a wonderful thing over there in Iowa, growing and raising everything you eat. What a great example you are to your children (and all of us!)
oh man they are so cute, and I would have been really worried about them too, I guess they would tear your house up in you brought them in
wow harvesting your own your brave I would get attached to them
I had pet rabbits as a kid still can't eat them!
This may sound wierd, but they are BEAUTIFUL!!! Gertrude is so fantastic. Love the photos, Diana
These are beautiful ladies! Gertrude is my favorite. Her coloring is spectacular! We've discussed pros and cons to chickens and right now, I don't think it would be a good idea for us.
Have a beautiful and so blessed week, Diana !
xoxo
This is so great, Diana. I want chickens! We are actually looking for a house where we can have them and an organic garden. Hopefully soon.
I hope Spring comes for you all soon!
What a darling bunch of girls.
Great pictures! Gertrude is beautiful! I love the fact that they give you eggs (almost) everyday. Do you eat them all or do you give them away to your lucky friends and relatives?
Great photos!
Oh my gosh, I loved meeting your girls. And I can't believe you all got all that snow right now! We are fortunate in KY, we'll get more cold temps, but the snow is long gone. 🙂
The Golden Laced Wyandottes are beautiful! SO glad to hear they made it through the winter so well. This was a rough one for us!
Getting my chicks this week, I am so excited!
I envy you. Our winters are not that bad here in Zimbabwe. We have a small plot out of town and I have been procrastinating on raising my own babies. I am encouraged. What a gorgeous crew you have got! Where is the gentleman responsible for making the ladies have eggs? Or did I miss something?
i really love your writing style, very charming.
don't give up as well as keep penning because it simply just well worth to look through it.
excited to look at even more of your current article content, kind regards 🙂
Thanks for the comments everyone!!
Ally – No my neighbors were fine with my chickens. We did put up a privacy fence to be courteous. Chickens are pretty quiet which makes for happy neighbors 😀
Hi Rosemary,
I'm laughing right now because I thought the same thing before I got my chickens. Don't they need a rooster to lay eggs? Actually chickens are just like us. We cycle an egg a month and if it doesn't get fertilized well, aunty flow does her thing. Chickens are the same way except they have an egg every day or so. If there is no rooster the eggs are unfertilized and will never develop into a baby chickie. In the city we are not allowed roosters for noise ordinance reasons. Oh well 🙁 Thanks for the comment Rosemary!
I LOVE chickens! My sister used to have some Banty Hens…she named them all & they were her babies! They all died peacefully of old age…no stew pot for them! Ha! Yours are beautiful!! When my mom was a little girl she had a pet hen that she pushed around in her doll buggy. They really are gentle creatures, untill they turn on each other! Ha!
Your ladies are GORGEOUS! So jealous, I would LOVE to have chickens. K, that advice from your farming friend has me in a fit of giggles.
I love the names of your chickens! Do you think they will care about you planning on eating them when they stop laying, hmmm?
Your chickens are so beautiful, I'm partial to Gertrude and Wilma.
Looks like you have a great set-up with your chickens. Nice job!
I love your chicken coop! We are going to take the plunge this year and get some chickens for eggs. We're quite excited. You gave me some inspiration to get moving on this project! Thanks!
15 more! How many Chickens can you have in the City?! :O You'll have to expand your coop, right?
When are you going to get into Honeybees? And you don't have a Goat yet. 🙂
Beautiful ladies! Thank you for taking the photos and posting them here. I have been curious about the breeds you have chosen.
Your chickens are lovely! I wish I could have chickens 🙂