It is freezing again this morning!  I need to try to get out sooner to thaw the birds water but I don't want to hurt my lungs more. When I took the dogs out this morning It really hurt!  I had pnemonia last winter and developed  chronic Costochrondritus from it, which is recurrent inflammation of the rib cage and the extreme cold makes it worse among other things.  I haven't been taking my supplements like I need to be I will try to get them all in today for sure!

This cold front is really hanging on. I think about the new baby goats and lambs at our friends farm and know that I will surely worry about them here next winter when we have them.   A 2 pound doe was born to one of our friends does a few days ago along with her much bigger buck brother , I hope they are able to deep her warm enough.  She is so tiny for a Nubian!

Our chickens are  fairing much better this year with no light on them. For those of you debating wether our not to supplement light for your birds during the winter in my experience don't. God made them to have a break form laying and keeping them going gives all kind of health problems. I lost 6 hens last year die to egg laying problems like bindng up or reverse egg laying plus they got respitory problems and  never adjusted to the cold so that made them all sick.   If you get new chicks every spring  or hatch out new  ones the pullets should keep you in eggs for the winter if you have a winter hardy breed.   We got six new hens last year , 3 of them layed  everyday through the early darkest part of the winter then the other 3 kicked in by Jan. That was enough to kee[p our family in eggs and my customers got the heads up that  we wouldn't have eggs for sale untill production picked up agian which was Jan. so it wasn't that long . So , save the health of your birds and save on electricity. Don't supplement with lights for laying!

Don't you love how we have the long winter to rest to a certain degree then late winter and early spring hit and your overwhelmed!  Everything needs done!  We have the barn  and fences to ready for the animals in 7 weeks and then we have the greenhouse I am trying to put up which  it looks like we will be doing in the snow!

I need to plan out the garden I think I will do that this Sunday. We are going to the goat farm agian on Sat weather permitting.  SO much to do!

Have a productive weekend everyone!

God's Blessings to you all!

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Posted by busybeemama

Hi, thanks for sharing the details about your farm. We are adding chickens this year. My father in law has kept them for years and we always got eggs from him. We have moved from our hometown and sure miss those eggs! Have a great day!

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