Winterizing the Coop

Tuesday I finally managed to get the chicken coop 

ready for winter.

I had already put the heated waterer in the coop, 

but I hadn't managed to get the plastic sheeting up.

With a deep freeze forecasted for today and tomorrow, 

it was important to get the run covered.

I left some areas open to offer some ventilation,

and to allow the chickens to see out.

If there is a bad storm forecasted or some seriously cold weather,

I'll cover up these areas temporarily.

I only have 2 chickens left, 

so they don't have the ability to generate as much warmth

as, say, 10 chickens.

This is the only pullet I have left from the 4 I ordered online.

She ended up pecking her fellow pullet coop mate to death.

It seems that my Jersey Giant hen was preventing 

the two pullets from getting to the food.

I've named this pullet Donner.

As in the Donner Party. 

I'm not going to bother with any more baby chicks.

I'm just waiting for April to roll around so I can head out to the Poultry Swap

and grab some more pullets ready for the coop.

Giant Eggs and Clipped Wings

I had a busy evening last night.  I've been having a chicken dilemma recently.  We set up a temporary run area to keep the girls contained and hopefully safer from predators.  Problem was, they were all flying out of the run.  So I opted to clip their wings.
You'll have to imagine my husbands face when I told him that's what we would be doing tonight.  He was slightly concerned that clipping wings was more involved than it actually was.  I wasn't able to get any photos of the task because it takes two people to complete the job.  My husband held the hen while I pulled out her wings one at a time and clipped her primary flight feathers.  Don't worry, it doesn't hurt, they don't bleed and the feather will eventually grow back.  I'm hoping this fixes the flying the coop/run problem and they stay where I want them.  This is especially important because there was a hawk flying around the neighbor's field.  Apparently the girls were smart enough to know to stick close when they heard the unmistakable screeching.  So the girls are grounded and the coop has been cleaned and prepared for colder weather.  We also grabbed a dozen eggs and found two extra extra large eggs.  I'm certain they will be double yolkers.  The egg carton was actually for extra large eggs, but these were too big for the carton!  Love my Jersey Giant hen!