Well Brrrrrrrr!

Windy and cold here this morning.  Got down into the 30's over night and will be down to 29 tonight.  The current wind chill in Atlanta is 29 degrees. We are about 1.5 hours north of them and more rural so less concrete to hold heat so I am figuring we are a couple of degrees cooler.  Dh just put on his jacket to go see to the chickens and commented "maybe it just seems to be colder outside than it really is".  My response?  "once you go outside I think you will say "" nope it is just as cold as I thought it was"". 

I love cooler weather.  But usually we are done with outdoor work and can be warm and cozy inside.  Unfortunately, this colder weather has caught us by surprise and we still have more to do outside.  We are currently trying to decide if we want to try and revamp the old coop.  The advantage would be a quicker way for chicken maintenance/egg collection.  Plus with the thicker walls, the chickies will have a warmer shelter.  The disadvantage is having to do this in the cold, and well the work.  For my Alaskan, Canadian, and Yankee friends, these temps might be spring to you but it is cold to us! 

We have been able to take the divider down between the two chicken flocks sharing one new run.  They are slowly but surely mingling.  We are hoping we can get them together so everyone can enjoy the shelter of the new coop.  Until then we have a tarp covering one end of the run in order to give the chicks some form of wind break/shelter.  Fortunately these are cold hardy chickens.  That doesn't mean I want them to have to use that ability.  I am sure they would rather be warm. 

So in addition to that decision, is the fact that I need to make bread for the coming week.  That is much nicer to do when it is cold outside because it heats up the house.  It is definitely a cozy chore in fall/winter, and more of a hot job in the summer.  But I feel good about it.  DH told me the other day he loves my bread.  That makes it all worth while. 

So Dh has come back in from chicken duty and has confirmed our suspicions.  It is cold outside.   Big surprise.  Now I head off to get started with my day.  Not a barn burner today, but if we do the revamp, I will have more to post.  Have a great day!

12 hours later...... well we did it!  We muscled our energy, lacking though it was cause we did not sleep well last night (Mona our pitbull was afraid of a noise from outside due to the wind.  Go figure), and went to Lowes.  We bought our materials and went to it.  The old coop now has a back door similar to the new coop.  This will make it so much easier and faster to collect eggs, clean, etc. 

Isn't it cute!  Once we have the flock all organized, the PVC run (which you currently can't see cause this is the back of the coop) will be taken down and the two coops will be attached to the larger newer run with a divider in the middle.  It will be like a little subdivision!  Lol.  The Rubbermaid container next to the coop is for hay storage.  Works pretty good and keeps the hay convenient to the coops.

Okay, so finally there is the update!  WHEW!