Winter Wonderland
We raise chickens on pasture; rotating pastures all summer and fall is easy. But what about winter? Our ‘chicken hoop’ is a 14’x24′ hoop on skids; it houses the hanging next boxes, keeps feed dry, and has roosts for ~80 hens for the night. And light through the white covering seems to help the hens keep laying when days are short and nights are long and dark. Chickens range inside a large yard for the winter…looking for bugs, of course. We bring the hens hay/alfalfa left from the goats’ feeders a few times weekly, full of bugs and ‘waste’ from the goats…perfect for scratching and pecking to find treasures.
As our temperatures rarely rise above freezing all animals have constantly-running fresh waterers…cold but fresh.
We can’t think of a better winter morning than waking up, stoking the fire, going for a snowshoe walk in the serene forest, and cooking up some eggs from the farm. We hope to see you and your family this winter at Willow-Witt Ranch!
The Willow-Witt Ranch Team
