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- #61
Integration is going super well-- they are spending several hours out in the run together, with both groups having access to the coop. I still separate at night.... Two of the younger group have started laying- Bernice and Fancy. Sadly this winter weather is going to put a cramp in all this good stuff. Today it was 60. Tomorrow it rains til the temps drop, then it will be ice or snow. Friday low 22, Sat down to 8, Sunday high of 20 low of 14-- and still snowing. Monday the precipitation stops but we don't get up to freezing. So tonight I moved them all to my horse barn. I don't trust integration enough to confine them all together, so each group has a stall with a makeshift roost, water, feed, makeshift laying boxes, a snuggle box. I will use the LED panel heaters behind the roosts. If the barn gets too cold, I will use red heat lamps in those fixtures with a wire basket to make a small warm spot available. I know lots of chickens would handle this-- but these chickens have not acclimated to anything close to this kind of weather. They've had mid-20's with LED heat, but seriously, we've been 60-70 degrees and this is just too dramatic. Once the storm is over we'll be high's around 40 and low's mid-20's -- they can go back to the coop and run for that. Hopefully a few more days of full integration in the run, and I can remove all the dividers in the coop. Life will be SO much easier when that's the situation.
