COOPED UP!

The temperatures for the Piedmont region of North Carolina have been in the single digits at night this week and only in the teens and 20's during the day. Being a "Newbie" to raising chickens, and also not accustom to single digit temperatures, this " Chick" and her chickens have been spending much more time "Cooped Up"...the house for me and the Chick-Inn for the girls.
While I'm quite satisfied staying inside, I have found that my 12 girls would much rather spend their time in the outdoors doing what chickens do...scratching for bits of food, dust bathing and roosting on their favorite outdoor roosts. Tensions in the Chick-Inn were reaching a high by 1:00 pm each day and my partridge cochin, Clarabel, could no longer resist the urge to reach out and snatch one or two of Sophie's feathers. Poor Sophie! My reluctant solution was to open the chicken door and let the girls out when temperatures ranged from the low to mid 20's. Luckily for them, there was little to no wind or they would have been staying inside for the remainder of the day.  Guess what? To my amazement they all did fine, no frozen feet, frostbit combs, and no falling over dead from a 15 degree difference in inside and outside temperatures. ( Yes, I do have to admit that I'm a bit paranoid after reading many internet stories of what could happen to your chickens in similar circumstances.)  After searching the ground in the run for goodies, they busied themselves with dust baths and roosting. Lesson learned: While I don't enjoy 20 degree temperatures, the chickens treat it as just another day having... Fun in the Run!