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MotorcycleChick said:
19 total made it to day 18. Hens had 1/3 out yesterday morning. So eight or more have hatched.
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Great numbers Abi!!...
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...Hope most are girls for ya!

In less exciting news..got the onions braided and hung. Thank you for the info about braiding them, i am sorry I can not remember who had gotten back to me about that. Senior moments and all...
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LittleMissPurdy said:
thank you so much for explaining to me!! I was surprised when I was told this would survive the winter in the first place, especially up here...
YES, I would love any & all suggestions...this is how I learn, and of course actual hands on.
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Surviving the winter is less about keeping warm than about drying out or getting eaten. Soils tend to saturate around here in winter, until the soil freezes, that is a good thing, but once frozen, the plant can't pull water up from the frozen soil and roots, so a windy day will pull water from the leaves, with no replenishment from the roots, giving a freezer burn type effect.

To maximize survival:
1. don't mulch or do anything until the soil freezes deep. Some winters this barely happens at all. If you can push a spade into the soil, it's not frozen yet. A little frozen crust does not count. This prevents rodents from choosing your garden as an overwintering spot, by the time is freezes deep, they have dug in somewhere else and are unlikely to relocate.
2. when the ground is frozen, take steps to reduce the wind and sun on the leaves. Mulch that is light and airy is good, like tree leaves or straw. Windbreaks of some sort are also good.You can cover the leaves of the plants since they are dormant now, buy avoid crushing them.
3. as soon as the ground starts to thaw, remove the covering. Don't wait to see growth, the warm sun will start the plants growing quite early. Don't worry about frosts, these are tough plants and even the new growth is pretty freeze tolerant. If you hear of a hard freeze coming. hargest heavily to prevent the food from getting damaged and the plant will regrow after the cold spell.

Besides rats and mice, deer, squirrels and rabbits can all be a problem in the winter, and groundhogs in early spring.

I overwintered spinach one year and the amount it produced in the spring, starting about the beginning of March was amazing to us.
 
For all the things I expected to find in the nest outside, what I found was not it!
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Doesn't cover it.
I was pitching dirty bedding, and found a pile of maggots. I got that removed.
I moved the wall, and got it secured. No peeping still from the chick.
I removed the nest box, and there is one egg. I think it is still going to hatch. I could not find the chick anywhere! Or the other egg, but one looked like it had stopped developing, so they may have kicked it out, and that is what the maggots were feasting on.
The chick was finally found. Flat as a pancake (flatter) and glued to the wall by its blood.
 

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