Figuring out the pecking order for the 5 roosters is much easier. Flash (Cream Legbar) would be the main man closely followed by our other Cream Legbar rooster. I say closely followed because the two are constantly butting heads. However, Flash remains the winner. Anyway, in third would be Mr. Maran, and no that’s not his name. I just call him that because he’s a Maran rooster and why not? Then our big boy Easter Egger followed by, last but not least, good old Welsummer. A bit off topic, but someone is coming this week to pickup the last Welsummer rooster that we have for sale, which is good. We have multiple people coming to pick up the roosters, so I hope to have no more roosters for sale by the end of the week! Yay!

On a brighter note, it seems like some of our hens are actually deciding to lay, as we got five big eggs today. This is still not enough, as we have 20+ hens out there that should be laying almost every day if not every day, but it’s progress. I’m also currently trying to figure out what I am going to do with my 3 Salmon Faverolle roosters. I put the one I wanted out to free range, but Flash kept bullying him pretty bad. I probably should have left them figure it out, but I felt bad for the poor guy and I have also read that Faverolles tend to get bullied in mixed flocks. Hopefully it all works out!

A quick but fun thing we did on Sunday – we took the horses trail riding! There is a trail park that leads down to a river right near our farm that is great to trailer over to and ride on. So, I went with my mom and one of my friends. It was a bit wet, so we just walk – trotted, but it was pretty fun, especially when Ree went chest deep into the water with my mom. It’s crazy to think of her as a neglected pony for the first two years of her life. She’s 8 now, and doing incredible. The other horses weren’t nice enough to easily go into the water, although my friend did get Zelda to go into the water with A LOT of nudging and pushing. Dixie also went in for a brief time, but I’m still scarred from when my lease mare Lilia laid down in the water without my consent whatsoever. As for the nerve racking events (there always are some, unfortunately), we ran into an off leash dog on the way back, which is very annoying as is especially says to keep your dog on leash. Thankfully, the dog was friendly and just wanted to play, but Zelda didn’t find it very funny when the dog raced up to her. Thankfully, she didn’t bolt or anything, but did make a very weird face and looked ready to attack if needed. Over all it was a great experience. We will definitely have to make time to do that more often!

On Tuesday, February 7th, a hawk took the life of our head big chicken rooster, Wyatt. Wyatt was a purebred Wyandotte purchased as an egg and hatched out by us in an incubator, so he lived his entire life with us. He ended up getting chosen to be our new rooster and enjoyed free range life with 12 hens. We choose Wyatt because of his calm demeanor and protectiveness of the flock. He was truly the dream rooster! Wyatt died bravely defending a hen from a big hawk. Thankfully, we had just chosen one of his sons, Carter, to be our backup rooster in case something like this happened….. thank the lord we did or we would be without a rooster right now. However, Wyatt was so amazing that we want more chicks from him, so we recently put in 23 eggs(fathered by Wyatt) and 18 Bantam eggs in the incubator. They should hatch in early March.
We hope to get at least 8 hens that we can keep for our own flock while also selling a lot of chicks for other breeders looking for some stunning hens or/and roosters. Wyatt’s Legacy will continue to live on by his offspring. RIP Wyatt!

Before we get started, a good thing to know is that a chicken’s preferred temperature is 70 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit, but the 50s to 80s if fine too. If you live in an area where the temperature only ranges in those degrees, then don’t even mind reading this! Your chickens will be fine-they will be great!

When is it too hot for my chickens?

If the temperature is over 97 degrees Fahrenheit, the risk of heat stroke and major dehydration goes way up. If not kept cool, your chicken could even die due to getting too hot. If your chicken’s free range, there are a lot more natural ways for them to cool down, but if your chickens live in a coop, they might strugle to cool down. There are many ways to keep your chickens cool. Some examples are:

~ Provide shade = If you let your chickens free range, then this shouldn’t be too big of a problem. As mentioned above, there will be a lot more natural resources such as bushes and trees for them to shelter under. However, if you keep your chicken in a coop, try building a covered area for them to find shade. This will also be a good place to shelter during rain.

~ Cold treats = consider freezing some fresh fruit such as strawberries, watermelon, banana and pineapples to give to your chickens. Each chicken will prefer a different fruit, so if your chickens don’t like any of the options we gave, try giving them other fruits and find the one your flock loves! The cold treat will help bring down their body temperature. Plus, it’s super fun for a chicken to peck on fruits like this and it also is good for their brains to try and get some.

~ Provide dust bath areas = have you ever seen your chicken rolling around in a pile of dust? Nothing to worry about! In fact, this is a completely normal thing chickens do to clean themselves and/or cool off. The dust is very nice and cool, so your chicken will definitely enjoy a nice roll around in it if they are too hot. If your chickens free roam, they will naturally find areas that have some soft dirt, but if your chickens are in a coop, the ground will most likely be pretty hard/solid, so consider digging up an area for them and adding some soft dirt for them to have a great time in!

Naturally, some chicken breeds do better than others in the heat. If you live in very hot climates, these chickens will work great for you:

• Bielefelder

• Whiting True Blue

• Wyandotte

• Americana

When is it too cold for my chickens?

Chickens are very hardy animals and therefor can tolerate pretty cold temperatures. However, if it gets down into the low 30s and below, your chickens will start to get a little cold. This may be surprising, but the best way to keep your chicken warm is to have more chickens. Chickens stay warm by huddling together, so if there are 8 or so chickens, they will be able to make enough body heat to stay warm enough during really cold nights.
However, if temperatures reach into the single digits or even the negatives, we recommend checking on your chickens a lot. If you notice a chicken hiding in a corner or walking very stiffly, then consider bringing your chicken indoors. If you have a garage, basement or mud room, grab a box and bring that chicken inside to warm up.

You might be worried about your young chicks during these cold winter nights, right? Actually, mama hens are very capable of keeping her babies warm. The only way that the chicks will suffer is if they get somehow separated from their mom. For example, we have a young batch of Bantam chicks and their mom in with the rest of our Bantams. The hen has to climb up a little ramp to get up into her nesting area. If the babies were unable to get up the ramp and into the nesting area, they would most likely pass away due to being too cold. So, just make sure you check that all the chicks are nice and warm in with their mama.

Surprisingly, most chickens due pretty well with the cold, so we won’t make a list. However, feel free to research about the chicken breed you are interested in and find out if that chicken does well in the cold or not. If the first source you use says that that chicken breed does horrible in the cold, check out at leats three other sources to see what other people have to say. Even if the idea that the chicken breed you want doesn’t do well in the cold, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t get them if you live in a cold climate area. You will just have to take more precautions.