Enter autumn

Cold this morning... 24 F. Forecast low was 40 F, so even with my usual 10 degree allowance for the fact that the NWS is full of shit, this caught me by surprise. Didn't adequately cover one of the chicken pens and had a couple of dead birds this morning (not from hypothermia, but from "piling": they all huddle together so tightly the botom birds suffocate). Water lines ot the pens were frozen too, but they thawed by mid-day. Gray and in the 40s with a penetrating breeze now.

Am understanding why most people shut down their pastured chicken operations by this time of year... but I agreed to push one late batch through to help with the stockpiles for winter. Between increased mortality and increased feed consumption I may not make a profit at this final batch. So it goes.