Its a lovely day today. Got a few pics of the last few peeps and posted those. The sun is shining after a full day of rain. We went from rock hard, frozen ground to sloppy wet mud. But its so much nicer with the warmth.

The birds have been allowed a ton more outside time. Not sure how that makes them feel but it makes me feel virtuous that they can spend some time playing in the mud. Several of them will be a mess when they're done but at least they got to play in it.

The Faverolles and the d'Uccles are laying. The two LF egg layers have not missed a beat although I have during the cold weather. I have Silkie girls sitting on nests. That's not really surprising given that they are Silkies. 

Its best I get outside and accomplish some more mud slopping. We have to grab this wonderful weather every time it comes around.

Most of the country is suffering from the intense cold and snowy or icy days. It is beyond belief that this area could see this kind of extended cold air.

So far my troops are hanging in but not without a ton of work and worry on my part. Tonight is supposed to be the coldest so far, which is in the single digits. So I did something I've never done, I added new shavings on top of old. I felt the need to elevate the birds even further from the floors to hopefully protect them some what.

I discovered that leaving the red lights on all day without natural sun light to brighten things up reduced the amount of feed my birds ate. Not something I want to happen when the warmest it gets during the day is the mid 20's. So to fix that problem I put regular incandscent bulbs in the light fixtures and switch them back to red for night time. 

I almost lost an old Hamburg roo the first painfully cold night. Poor old man was not doing well when I found him the next morning. Brought him in to the house, fixed him a warm breakfast and when he was done he crowed. I thought about what would be best for him, I decided that he and his old mate could spend time in the Silkie coop until this cold front left town. The Silkie coop is heated enough to keep the waterers from freezing and is warm enough to keep his old bones warm enough. He felt so good today he was chasing his girl down the aisle of the Silkie coop today.

The Wild Life Officer that was shot by the three men I mentioned last time? He's doing very well. The three men, a father and two sons, are still sitting in jail. I can't think of a better place for them.

The husband finally saw our doe again today, her fawn is still with her. Hunting season sends them in to hiding until the guns quit. Hopefully, she's hiding on our property because being fenced its a little harder for someone to get to her.

Its been a long day with all the back and forth for the birds with at least one more day of it. I'm tired so I will wish you well and hope that you are remaining warm.