Top 5 Reasons Why Our Hens Have Made It Through the Winter

Reader Contribution by Backwoods Brandon
Published on March 2, 2015
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The winter in the Northern Lower Peninsula of Michigan is long, cold and tiring. It’s rough on everybody, sure. But it’s even tougher on the critters that don’t have a leather recliner to snuggle into by the wood-fired stove. The winter of 2014 took the heaviest toll on the chickens of Heavy Hardwood Corner. They were plagued with sickness, causing six of them to pay the ultimate sacrifice over the course of the cold months. Egg production stopped. The chickens were no longer pulling their weight. They were barely hanging on, just trying to survive until the spring sun warmed up the chicken park again.

During the spring and summer of 2014, we vowed to make changes. We didn’t want the flock to have to fight through the cold months like they did during one of the harshest winters on record. We raised a batch of brand new laying hens throughout the summer months, and we headed into the winter of 2014-2015 with 10 hens, optimistic that they’d stay healthy and productive.

They did. It’s now March, and we still have 10 hens. Throughout February, the coldest month of the year, they pumped out seven to 10 eggs daily. Even when the temperatures dipped to 25 degrees below zero, the chickens produced. Even when the winds whipped through the woods at a blistering 30 mph, the chickens clucked in the coop with a smile across their beaks.

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