My neighbor's 80 year old mom showed me how she still collects eggs from her Rhode Island Reds like it's 1950

She said she's never once bought a heat lamp or medicated feed and her hens have outlived two of my flocks, so why do we overcomplicate things with all these gadgets and supplements?

3 comments

3 Comments

mason84711d ago

Swear to god I read that and dropped my phone. No heat lamp? Ever? That's insane in the best way.

paulw6311d ago

Right? I mean you think about it, chickens have been surviving outside for thousands of years without someone plugging in a bulb for them. They just huddle together and fluff up their feathers for insulation. I've got a buddy up in Maine who keeps his birds in an uninsulated shed all winter, no heat, and they do fine as long as the coop isn't drafty and wet. It's crazy how tough these animals actually are when you let them be.

maryh9610d ago

Wait, is that true about the huddling and fluffing? I had a friend in Vermont who swore by putting a big pile of straw in the corner and letting them just burrow into it at night. She said they basically turned into a chicken pile and the ones in the middle stayed toasty warm. But here's the thing, I once accidentally left the coop door open a crack during a blizzard and came out to find them all looking perfectly fine, just kind of annoyed at me for letting the snow drift in. They're way hardier than people give them credit for, I guess that's why they survived all those ice ages and stuff.