It is freezing. Quite literally. We’ve not had more than three degrees on the thermometer out in the outhouse for weeks now, despite keeping a little oil radiator in there. Outside it’s bitter, with 5in of snow on the plot and not much less on the road: the gritters have been out every night for the last three weeks, but obviously they haven’t come up our side street.

The chickens don’t seem to have noticed. How, I don’t know, as there’s not much flesh on those scaly legs of theirs.

We have, though, as it means for extra work in the mornings as their water is freezing solid overnight and needs defrosting with a good dose of boiling water from the kettle. Even then it only loosens it up enough to tip the block of ice out onto the ground. The picture above is the chunk tipped out on Tuesday morning. It’s now Sunday and it’s no smaller than it was at the start of the week.

Related posts:

1. The chickens and the cold
2. A second snow for 2009
3. Paper bedding for the chickens