15 eggs today, not bad for 32 below for the low and 14 below for the high. A good coop helps. I would guess we will be about 25 below tonight for the low, but it shows a warm up starting Tuesday. Above 0 day and night. If the chickens like that as much as I do there will be more eggs per day.

Nice! The grouse were in the apple trees pigging out when it was still dark out. They were hungry!

28 so far today, probably get a few more when I check in an hour or so.

Very nice.

Nice! How many hens?

Just guessing I would say 20 hens. They free range during the day and good weather. So we know what we started with, but any day they are out yo can loose one. In weather like this we keep them closed up. If it gets up about freezing we open the door and they can go out if they want. With snow and cold they don't want out anyway, so you may as well close the door and hold the heat in.

That's a very good lay rate for temperatures that cold. You have done a great job making your hens comfortable.

Keith

KeithC you should hear them when you go in to feed them. They are pretty pleased, lots of soft sounds. They get fed better then most chickens. Yesterday and this morning they got the cracklings from making beef tallow. They get pretty serous going after that. My coop has 2x6 walls with glass insulation 9" in the ceiling. Double pane windows on the south side and a glass door. It helps get some light into them. I built the coop years ago. 1x12 ship lip on the out side then tar paper and covered with pole barn steel over it. Plywood inside on the walls and ceiling, painted white. It is 12 x12 with a six foot wall, sloped roof.

Dang, thats built better than my house!, lol

Better then mine too. But I didn't build my house. I wish now I would have when I was younger. I am to old to start that project now. We always joke if we have to we can move in the chicken coop if times get bad. I built my wife a shop to do her glass work in and it has six inches of glass in the walls and a inch and a half of foam. 15" of blow in the ceiling. It heats way better then the house.

27 eggs today out of 34 hens. It was 11 below with a high of 5 today. We have 2 coops each with its own run. The runs have a tarp on top and clear plastic all around for the winter.They are out in the runs till dark on days like this. These hens get canned corn and peas every night for a treat spoiled like pets. Tonight wiil be 18 below so they got sunflower seeds and some canned catfood for extra protien. We really baby them but they keep producing because of it.

I am down to 24 below already and dropping. Mine get a fair amount of sunflower seeds year around. They really like them.

When you guys feed the meat products does it change the taste of the egg?

Have not noticed any differance. They have been picking at 2 deer rib cages and leg bones since deer season when they free range on nice days. When I have a soup can full of sunflowers seeds and shake it they come running lol. They were all under foot friday when I was splitting wood, they love the ants and grub looking things in the wood.

I have never seen a difference in the taste of eggs from meat. I used to get the cleanings out of the band saw at the meat shop. Fine ground meat, fat and bone. They loved it. It is down to -25 now. It show it warming up over night. Here is to hoping.

LOL I remember readding a very long time ago , to put your stretched muskrat skins in the chicken coop , they would flesh them for you!
I know they're cannibals , if one is molting and another pecks at the tail feathers, and draws blood, they all peck it to death.

24 hens and we only avg. about 8-9 per day. Also free range with door open slightly

Do you have light on them?

Factory farms run lights 24/7 , the hens lay an egg a day on average.
Their average life time in 12 months!

Lights help as we used them, but not 24/7 , just an extra 6 hours during the winter.