Baby, It's Cold Outside

Despite my ardent wishing for the 70 degree weather to stay around until March, it looks like Old Man Winter is finally here for a visit.  He's a most unwelcome guest in my book.  The mercury is dipping all the way down into the 30's at night and tonight it's even supposed to go to 23 degrees. 

The coop seems to be about 4 to 5 degrees warmer than the the outside temp without any kind of intervention.  I certainly don't want the girls to suffer from any frozen feet or combs and I'd rather avoid having their water freeze up, so I hit Target and found this little mini heater that I setup for them. It's got a fan and a thermostat which I set at 60 degrees, the lowest setting.  I just stuck it in one of built-in nesting boxes that they refuse to use right now.  I hate doing this at the last minute after they've already roosted for the night, and I hope they're not disturbed by the fan (it seems to be pretty darn quiet.)  That'll have to work until the weekend when I can get a timer on it rather than using the thermostat.  

Wishing for warmer weather,