Last night it was cold here in Wisconsin. Really really cold. The temp got down to at least 1 below and the wind chill was supposed to have been 20-30 degrees below zero overnight. I put some extra insulation over the windows, mainly to seal up the drafts and re-arranged the lights with heat bulbs in them so when roosting, the 24 Wyandottes, Barred Rocks and 1 Leghorn could get a little relief overnight. The problem was I never took the timer off the lights so at 7PM when I was working they were on but at about 9PM they turned off and stayed off until about 4 o'clock this morning. I woke up at 5PM to fix the fire and realized what I'd done. I was sure I would go outside to find 24 birds on the floor dead and frozen solid but I didn't. They were all fine. Our Wyandottes survived the coldest night in 2 years here in southeast Wisconsin in an uninsulated/unheated building. Amazing. This morning I learned that Wyandottes are some tough birds and I will tout their hardiness to anyone and everyone.
I also learned to remember the timer!

