We’ve been hit with some relatively early cold weather this week. (Fourteen below (-25C) in mid-December is only unusual by 21st century standards. Remember, “over the river and through the woods” is about Thanksgiving.)
Our Brazilian ducks finally got the hint and went into the barn. Buffy went into the barn. Maggie has been sleeping there for a while, but she doesn’t have a purple palace. To the best of my knowledge, only four chickens insisted on roosting in the tree, and all of them made it. The geese are sleeping just uphill from the chicken coop. They did sleep in a bit late. The tom turkeys are doing their macho thing. The hens went in and bunked with Maggie.
I have to say great things about Blue Seal Multi-Flock pellets. We are wintering over more birds than ever before, and day after day, there are pellets left over in the morning. This did not happen with Agway Egg Producer. I’m also happy to report that the price of poultry feed has fallen for the first time since we got chickens in 2007. Plain vanilla layer pellets were $8.00 then. They maxed at $16.00 this spring and are back down to $12.00. Multi-Flock is still $15, but it seems worth it. Instead of turkeys eating dog food (at $40/bag), we have dogs eating bird food.