Starting in September, I began to prepare for the upcoming months of winter. A few of the tasks were:
Cutting, hauling, splitting and stacking firewood...
Shifting the portable solar kit and heat lamp to the pump house...
And adding some extra weather protection for the chicken coop...
Our chicken guru (Harvey Ussery, who wrote "The Small Scale Poultry Flock") suggests that cold hardy breeds such as our Barred Plymouth Rocks do quite well without an auxiliary heat source as long as you protect the birds from drafts and humidity. I initially thought about building a winter coop, but ultimately decided on a wall tent that I could set up in the cold months and pack away during the other three seasons. Time will tell if my plan is successful.
