Group dust baths

January 9, 2014 Posts 1 Comment
Group dust bath

Chicken flying onto chairJennifer emailed to share these beautiful photos as entries in our Winter Chicken Photo Contest.  She wrote:


“I have
a small backyard flock of 9 hens.  Winter is the only time my
small flock takes group dust baths! They are not the best of friends any
other season but I guess the cold temps bring them to a truce.”



Chickens in the snow

Chicken behavior

She continued:

“When
they are not having mass dust baths they are waiting for me to open the
back door so they can promptly spill out and hop from grass patch to
grass patch. They are not fans of the snow!“



Thanks for sharing these beautiful shots, Jennifer!  My vote doesn’t count, but if it did, you’d be in the lead so far.

Happy winter chickens

January 8, 2014 Posts No Comments
Orpingtons in the snow

The first entry in our Winter Chicken Contest comes Edith, who wrote in to share how her Buff Orpingtons are faring in this cold weather:


Winter poultry“It
was -5 this morning in Central Kansas with wind chills at around -30.
Kansas weather is like a roller coaster so it won’t stay this cold for
long…upper 30’s next week.

“My Chickens were tucked away in their cozy coop until emerging at around 8:00AM when my Husband did the chores.

“When they heard me a little later coming with their treats the racket
starts and they get very excited. They know when I’m coming with the red
coffee can. Some even looked into the can once I poured it out to see
if there was any more…see photo. They are supplemented with kitchen
scraps. This morning it was green peas, potato skins, oatmeal with some
molasses, apples, and whatever else was in there.”

—Edith



Don’t forget to like this
page on facebook or comment on it here or on facebook to vote for
Edith’s entry (and to pull out your camera and snap your own
shots!).  Stay tuned for more happy winter chickens in posts to
come.

winter chicken photo contest

January 6, 2014 Posts No Comments
Wet chickens

Whether your ground
freezes solid or you’re just dealing with cold rain, winter can be a
tough time for chickens and chicken keepers.  Our winter photo
contest asks you to illustrate happy chickens in the cold weather.

Leafy greens for chickensDo you bring your flock leafy greens or homegrown worms?  Have you come up with a great heated chicken waterer?  Do all of your feathered friends spend the winter in your greenhouse or garage, or maybe perching on your horse’s back?

Snap a shot and drop me a line with your answer and you might win our chick bundle
— two premade chicken waterers perfect for getting chicks off to a
good start, or for keeping your adult flock hydrated, a $90 value. 
The second-place
winner will choose between a 2 pack EZ Miser kit or a 5 pack Avian Aqua Miser original kit with drill bit.

The fine print: All entries
must reach my inbox (info@avianaquamiser.com) by Sunday (January 19) at midnight.  Be
sure to send photos one at a time if they’re larger than 2 MB
Grand prizeapiece. 
You can enter as many pictures as you want, but all of your photos will
be merged into one entry.  All photos and text will
become the property of Anna Hess, which means I might share them
with readers via our blogs or ebooks.



How to win: The winners will be chosen by votes from our readers.  I’ll post each entry on our blog and on facebook,
and each like or comment on facebook and each like on the blog will
count as one vote for that entry.  All votes must be in by January
25 at midnight.



I look forward to seeing how your chickens thrive in the cold!