newsletter Baby, It’s Cold Outside

Wow. It is really cold out there!

I won’t lie... as a farmer, freezing temps always bring a little extra anxiety. Every single year, when it gets this cold, I worry about walking out to a yard full of popsicles!

And every single year… I walk out, and everyone is just fine.

So how do chickens handle weather like this?

Here’s the cool (literally) part of chicken biology — and why you don’t need to worry about them the way I do 😊

Chickens are basically wearing built-in down coats. Their feathers trap warm air close to their bodies, acting like insulation. When it’s cold, they fluff up even more to hold in heat. Add in a fast metabolism (they burn a lot of calories just staying warm), healthy fat reserves, dry bedding, and protection from wind — and they’re surprisingly tough little birds.

Cold is actually less stressful for chickens than heat. As long as they’re dry, well-fed, and out of the wind, freezing temps are something they’re designed to handle. It still makes me nervous every year… but the chickens? Totally unbothered.

🧣 Biggest Farm Market Day Yet!

Despite the cold, we still had the farm market opened today, and it was the BIGGEST day yet. More sales and more customers than ever before.

A couple weeks ago I mentioned I’m trying to lean into short-form videos — you know, TikTok, Reels, that whole thing. Last week I posted a quick farm market video that almost hit 100,000 views 🤯

👉 Check it out here:
https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1DD9uE2wNS/

So thank you all who showed up despite the cold!

🥚 Egg Update (Good News!)

I’m really happy to report that egg production is starting to tick back up again.

A couple weeks ago, production dropped suddenly with no obvious explanation — which is always frustrating. Thankfully, the girls seem to be settling back into a rhythm just in time for this cold snap. Short days + cold temps usually slow things down, so this timing couldn’t be better.

🏈 Cold Weather = Wing Season

Chicken wings help to warm up on cold days!

Our pasture-raised wings are perfect for the big game:
👉 https://kakadoodle.com/shop/product/364

And this is hands-down one of our favorite ways to make them:
👉 https://kakadoodle.com/post/Pasture-Raised+Oven-Baked+Chicken+Wings+Recipe

Simple, and made with chicken you actually feel good feeding your family.

🐶 And yes… the dogs can join in too

Our dog treats have been a hit. This week we've got a fresh batch of wings for them as well! 👉 https://kakadoodle.com/shop/product/607

🥓 Let’s Talk Bacon (This One Matters)

It feels like bacon should be simple… but it turns out, it really isn’t.

Over the years, one of our guiding rules has been uncured bacon only. It felt like the safest, cleanest option. But as we’ve grown and worked with more processors, sourcing uncured bacon consistently became harder — and instead of quietly changing anything, we hit pause and dug deeper.

We started asking some uncomfortable (but necessary) questions:

What do nitrates actually do?
Does “uncured” mean what most of us think it means?
And how does bacon really fit into a chemical-free standard we take very seriously?

The answers weren’t as black-and-white as we expected.

This article is the result of a lot of learning, honest reflection, and conversations with people we trust inside the food system. Our goal isn’t to tell you what to think — it’s to be transparent about how we make decisions, why labels can be confusing, and what chemical-free truly means to us.

If you’ve ever stood in the grocery store staring at bacon labels wondering what’s real and what’s just marketing… this one’s for you.

👉 Read the full post here:
https://kakadoodle.com/post/Nitrates%2C+Bacon%2C+and+What+%E2%80%9CChemical-Free%E2%80%9D+Means+to+Us

❤️ Thanks for Supporting Local (Even When It’s Freezing)

Every order you place with Kakadoodle supports local farmers who are doing the hard work of raising food without unnecessary chemicals — even in weather like this.

Choosing clean, chemical-free food isn’t just about taste (though it definitely tastes better 😉). It’s about investing in your family’s health and keeping regenerative, local farms strong for the next generation.

Stay warm,
💙❄️