Mother-Hen-Michele
Crowing
I have one who HATES to be handled, when she lets me pick her up I start praying for her. She is in rough shape by the time we get to that.It doesn't get very cold here in Georgia but the other night as it fell to 12°F (negative with the wind chill, that wind was intense), I went to check on my 6 EEs and I could see that they were visibly uncomfortable. This is my first year of having chickens, their first winter, first coop... so I'm learning a lot. I really had no idea how warm they'd stay but just in case I had the coop packed full, the vents closed a bit to try to keep out the draft, cardboard around the run to keep wind from whipping up inside and around the coop, a tarp over the roof... I was in full panic mode, haha. I tried to put petroleum jelly on their combs/waddles but they were being weird about me putting stuff on them. Figured it was worth a try. They were out of the wind and their coop was dry.
But still, they looked so miserable I went ahead and brought them in. Even my feistiest girl (who'll avoid me picking her up and will pinch me because she's a brat and the boss of the group) huddled into my arms like a big baby when I scooped her out of the coop. Each let me cuddle them as I brought them inside (and really only two of my six are cuddly so that says a lot to me). I like to err on the side of caution myself. It at least eases my anxiety and helps me sleep at night. Plus, I like to save money so usually it's only in the 50s Fahrenheit in my own home so they still get some cold. And it's not too different from the 30s-40s outside usually is.