Oh No Not Snow!! Chickens Venture Out Into the Artic...

Chickens are funny creatures. They are bright, inquisitive, and just fun to have around....but there is one thing a lot of chickens aren't real fond of and that's SNOW!!!! There are several "cold weather" chicken breeds and of course, being from Southwestern Ohio, we made sure we only purchased breeds that do good in cold weather. Chickens are like ducks, they fluff out to keep themselves nice and toasty... you'd be surprised how warm their bodies are even when it's blistering cold out. Sure, it takes a bit more chow to keep them happy but overall, the key is to have good ventilation and a dry area.
Soo, while chickens can do marvelously in the cold... that does not guarantee that they won't look at that first fall of white stuff and think the Apocalypse has hit!
Our girls (and one fella) have been keeping in the enclosed run since it first snowed a few days ago.


I've had a couple venture out, even some 7 month old newbies.

CHECK US OUT!!! WAIT FOR IT......
Here we come!!!!!!! 

Most impressively are my 3 Buckeyes... They are a bit of a rare breed, coming about in the early 1900's by a happenstance woman, from where? Ohio!
I went out today to bring a bale of hay to put in the run for them to munch on and stratch around with. No sooner had I set it down for a second outside the run then I had nearly 9 birds on one bale... It got me thinking that they wanted out but that snow was just tooo scarrryyy!! So I began to turn some of the compost area over which brought up tons of seed sprouts! The girls get several handfuls of soaked seeds every morning and while they don't eat them all, none seem to go to waste, even in the winter as they sprout!

Beautiful Buckeye

Through trial and error, they selectively bred an all purpose bird...dark as not to attract hawks, fantastic layers, good mothers, nice temperament, heavy enough to be a good meat bird, and of course, COLD HARDY! So, when the three of them ventured out I could hear them singing "we love Ohio!" Ha...

Peas, millet, sunflowers, flax, wheat, and barley...

Boy we are having fun!!!!