I really enjoyed the fresh eggs - highest protein of any food group
Glad to hear that you are back up and fully active.
One Fall, I moved the chickens from the henhouse into the barn(where there was power), but didn't keep an active count of the roosters and layers.
Then I noticed that the number of eggs each day was lower, and that I was missing some layers that we allowed to roam the yard during the day, figured they stayed out overnight.
With power to the barn, I provided extra light (brooder light 75 watt) but turned it off around 10 PM each night until I found even fewer layers.
As a lark, I left the light on overnight and plugged in the 'baby monitor' in the barn, with the receiver in the bedroom.
Around 1:00AM I heard a ruckus in the barn which awakened me from all the excited squawks from the layers, and ran to the barn in pj's and slippers enough to see an opossum.
My presence scared it away, so I returned to the house, got out the 12 ga., loaded it with shot, and returned to bed .
An hour later I awakened to squawking again, grabbed the 12 ga., saw the opposum near a small hole in the back barn door, took aim, shot (full choke)
..and missed the opossum, but I bagged and dented the 30 gallon milk can we used to store the laying mash.
An hour later it returned, I heard the squawking, exited the farmhouse in pjs, leaned up against the house to steady the shot, and I "celestialized" it from about 60 yards away.
(A)I learned the 'hard way' that when it comes to protecting livestock, a 'baby monitor' in the bedroom can be very helpful as a burglar alarm.
(B) That chickens ,without any light, can't see a predator coming and are at risk.
(C) That layers will continue to produce if you give them +15 hours of light, although production reduces as weather gets colder and stays below freezing.
(D) That spaggetti squash, raked with a fork into long strands, makes for good, cheap winter vegetable feed for chickens, especially with the seeds remaining.
(E) That at +15 degrees, with wind, neither man nor chicken wants to leave the house.
Good lessons, all.
My chickens are Black Jersey Giants, which are a good cold weather breed; more cold tolerant. Downside is that they are lousy brooders, rarely hatching an egg.
The henhouse is insulated, and has a storm door that is closed in winter...and we doesn’t gots possums. Oregon had them because the hillbillies who settled there missed possum hunting, so imported them in the early 1900s.
Today, I did use the double 12 to take out two attic/tree rats, AKA red squirrels. It’s bad enough that when they chew their way in that they tear up the insulation for nesting material, but they love chewing the outer covering off of electrical wiring, though rarely damaging the inner insulation on the individual wires inside. They do a lot of damage in the barns, given a chance, too. I’ve replaced a lot of wire over the years. Plug a hole, and in 6 months or less they’ve made a new entrance under the eaves.