Long overdue updates on the girls

In my absence of writing, "the girls" have been one of the categories or subjects that I have not written about. I want to give you some updates on "the girls".

It has been a long cold winter here in the United States. A majority of us have gone through some below freezing temperatures for long length of time, and Oklahoma has been hit with it also. Not as bad as those in the North and East have had. 
Poor girls they were just not happy with this weather. When it snows and such like that, they won't even leave the house, they hate the snow. I do not have a covered run for them because they spend most of their day running free around the farm. True free-ranged chicken 

So I wanted to give you some update on my girls.

I do not have a light or heater out in the hen house and I was so worried about how they were going to fare with the temps in the single digits and below zero we had had this winner. Well I like to tell you that they did well. I had lost only one, my red hen, she was one of my older hen I have. 

Pretty Red Hen

She was looking poorly before it got cold and that's all I took was this nasty weather and she just couldn't hold up

My production really went down as well but that is to be expected  it always does in the winter. There are a few reasons, the cold weather has something to do with it, plus I do not have a light in my hen house so I can't give them some artificial like to help induce a production. So I was down to 2 eggs a day. Sometimes nothing.

But I am happy to say, the past couple weeks we have had more normal and springlike temperatures here in the northeast part of Oklahoma. So I have been getting, on the average, 10 eggs a day now. I had someone say to me the other day  "well they had all those eggs stored up inside and now they are just trying release all those stored up eggs and laying like crazy". I don't about that but they are blessing us with such beautiful eggs.

I've decided not to get any chicks this year, I do have 18 hens and most of them are in the very good laying eggs stage.

 I'll keep you updated on that one.

I am thinking about getting a batch of chicks to raise for eating. Did that once before and we did our own butchering, but we do not want to have to do that again if we don't have to. It has been hard to find a place to process them for us but I have learned there is a place around us that will. I'll have to wait till after the "little dudes" birthday in May.