Winter is pretty....long.

"Maybe we could wrap the whole thing in plastic wrap?" N said to me last night, as we were mulling over the impending cold weather and the utterly repulsive prospect of bringing in the chickens for yet another night in the guest bedroom.  "No," I said firmly.  "I'm putting a lamp in there and they're going to be fine."  This morning I woke up to such a pretty sight:

Backyard covered in snow

and couldn't help but wonder if I had been a cruel, thoughtless fool.  At four and a half weeks old they are technically old enough to be outside, but in weather this cold it is probably ill advised.

But the chickens were utterly fine, happily peeping and gobbling down food.

Happy, warm chicks crowding around the door of the coop

 I think they're a little tired of being cooped up (ha!), but otherwise doing really well.  A few of them have even figured out how to use the roosting bar and have been roosting up there well away from the heater.  They're all grown up!