After Christmas

My girls got a good breakfast on Christmas morning.  I made a big bowl of oatmeal for myself and had just a bit leftover in the box so made it all up.  They at first tasted it and then dug in.  I can now see that the Aracauna's are not as jumpy as they were when Red was here.  They wouldn't have gotten up to the bowl with Red here.  They ate right alongside the other girls, the only thing that happened is Princess had oatmeal on her beak and one of the barred rocks reached over and cleaned it off and Princess froze because she thought the picking would begin but the barred rock went back to eating the oatmeal and Princess resumed eating.  If Red were here that would not have happened so I'm happy I found her a new home.
I went out on the back porch to eat a pomegranate yesterday while my girls were loose.  I was eating it over the sink and decided to go out back instead.  As I dropped pieces, they scarfed them up.  They really liked it.
The only problem I see for now is:  we have a 5 gallon bucket for their water with pipes coming out with the waterer's on the inside of the coop.  We have insulated the pipes and the bucket and have a heat tape on the pipes but the waterers themselves are freezing so I am having to go out first thing in the morning and pouring warm water on the bowls to un-thaw the levers.  I'm thinking I might put a waterer inside the coop for the winter with a cookie tin with a light fixture inside to keep it from freezing and put it on a timer so have it turn off before the sun comes up or so.    Then they would have water before I get out there when they wake up. 
I have been on BackYardChickens looking at all the coop designs there.    I'm up to page 76, only 100 pages to go!  One of the ideas I like is the square poles.  I hate the ladder we have in ours.  I also see the big coop for the chickens.  Mine only go inside the coop at night or to lay their eggs in the nest box.  They live inside the run.  I plan on making the run bigger this next spring/summer.
I am using wood pellets in the coop and have just been turning it so far.  Before we go to Quartzite on Jan. 17th, I plan on cleaning out the coop and putting in new pellets.  It will have been in there about 6 weeks and should be ready for a change then.
We are still planning on putting a camera inside the coop but have to find just the right one first. :)