It's supposed to be going down to 15 here tonight. I have my favorite Barred Rock hen, the famous Lexie, 2 years old, who is still almost bald from her molt. She has been this way for months on end because she kept laying almost every day-she just kept getting more and more bare. She quit laying about two weeks ago, maybe three, and since then, her quills are coming in and she looks like a barred porcupine, but still, mostly bare, and Lexie is small for a standard Barred Rock, only a little over 5 lbs. I put a 250 watt heat bulb over the waterer and offset so some of them could stand under it if they wanted to and she'd been standing under it all day long. Tonight I go out and she is standing on the roost alone, hunched up against the cold, with no way to keep her feet warm and no one to snuggle with-Hawkeye is spending the night elsewhere due to them pecking his comb or she'd be by him. I decided to bring her in the house and let her spend the night in the pet carrier. As soon as she was put in it, she settled down and basically passed out, probably exhausted from trying to keep warm, poor baby. I can't lose my Lexie, so cross your fingers that she makes it through this winter molt.
