The Day At The Homestead.

The weather has changed to cold or I should say winter temps. The hens are still free ranging awhile outside. They stay near the coop more than wonder around. The ducks still come out and then go back inside the coop. We had insulated the chicken coop for the hens this year. The temp inside was 45 degrees while the outdoor temp was in the 30's. At night it gets warmer because of all the heat the hens give off. As soon as there is snow on the ground the hens and ducks will stay indoors for the winter. We will have to supplement alfalfa for grass they feed off in the summer.

I have to post more later on how the hens are doing! We have 41 hens, 1 rooster, and 4 duck!

The Free 2.4 kW Solar Array

Two more months and the Solar Array will be one year's old! The array has produced an average kWh per day of about 13kWh. This summer we had money come back to us through EARP from Consumers Energy. The end of the year I estimate that the array will produce a whooping 3300kWh total. That will be about 65% of the total use of electricity that we would have had from Consumers Energy. www.consumersenergy.com

This is the picture of the Solar Array from SERC through MOCAP's Weatherization Program. www.mocap1.org. I love them because my brother got them free from the Government! We are still amazed that he got them for free! The total cost for this array would have been $17,500.