Arlo and Janis by Jimmy Johnson for March 18, 2015

Newcomers will assume Gene adopted the child from a foreign country. Longtime readers will wonder who kidnapped that adorable little girl Janis fell in love with.

Question for all you chicken knowledge experts – I really do not know the answer to this: In the winter do you need to heat the hen house or are chickens OK with the freezing cold? I had a distance neighbor who had chickens for eggs for the family (dozen or so chickens) but in the winter they all were gone, I assumed as food, but uncertain and as to why. (I have not bumped into him to ask is why I am asking here)

Pretty sure you have to keep the coop above freezing….

I got a baby duck for Easter one time….I learned they poop on you a lot….

One of our chickens loved McDonald’s cherry pies. Many hours of enjoyment watching the thing peck, frantically get the cherry syrup off her beak and then repeat.

I wouldn’t offer your chickens the Mc Nuggets though.

If you want to explain away the change in Meg. I can give a reason. I have noticed big changes in my friends kids when I don ‘t see them for a while. Especially when they get a growth spurt. Parents that see them everyday don’t notice the change like I do. So consider this an indication that time has passed and Meg is a little older.

(Until Jimmy draws her different in her next appearance after this arc is done.)

and if the namees shift around a bit, so what?

I miss her jawline, which is why Meg was so cute! Kids grow, sure, but the basic features stay the same. Did Jimmy just forget how to draw her face?

I wonder that as well. The original Meg was a darling but this one is kind of awkward looking.

Which one is KFC?

Meg, I hope you wwill still like them after you monitor the temp in the brooder for 6 weeks, clean and refresh their waterer and feeders 2-3 times a day, clean out and change the litter every other week. I hatch out chicks every few months and trust me, they are a lot of work. I checked the temp in the brooder last night at mid-night and this morning at 6:00am , BUT they are worth every bit of trouble. The eggs and meat are so much better than what can be bought.. Good luck Meg.<><me

Meg looks like a small Moe Howard.

From Dec’14

My neighbor has chickens as do several other farms around, and they all have heat lamps. Maybe because it get’s below zero frequently..

http://www.gocomics.com/arloandjanis/2010/09/07

Chicke4ns need to be kept from freezing to death. We use a flood light in the henhouse at night on days where it drops below freezing. Hens stop production of eggs based on the number of hours of light in a day, and you can force them to lay all year long if you use artificial lighting. It does, however lessen the number of years that they will produce eggs. It burns them out.

One of our local career park naturalist will NOT allow names for their exhibit animals. Guess it is a way to keep people from seeing them as pets. Gene should see where this is leading.

She IS a cartoon character!

They’re all cute when they’re little.My flock of 42 goes through nasty winters (down to minus 7 this year) with no supplemental heat. I block the worst air leaks, but they need fresh air, too. Supplemental heating, except for the water, would be ineffective. I give them extra scratch feed which helps them stay warm. I only had two die, one at the beginning and one at the end of winter, from old age or perhaps a hawk, in one case. On days below 20, or when the snow is up to their wingpits, I keep them inside. The only chicken we eat is from the grocery store. Egg production declines with age. It’s like Social Security: the young ones pay for the feed for the old ones.Now that Meg’s chickens are named, they are pets, and will never be eaten. I wish I only had 12 to take care of, considering that we’re just breaking even on feed costs versus egg sales, and I put at least 160 hours of work a year into it. I have better things to do. When I agreed to chickens, I didn’t imagine it like this. We were up to 79 at one point.

I agree that Meg has lost her jawline that gave her character. This round face does not look like the same Meg. I want the real Meg.

Aren’t cartoon characters based upon real people??

Where is her gigantic chin?

Never name an animal you will eventually eat (when the laying days wane…)

Those genetically bred chickens with the huge breasts have to be butchered at 7 weeks or they die. The weight of the breasts will make them unable to stand up and breathe. I knew somebody who used to raise them.

Going back a little further, here’s meg in 2009:

http://www.gocomics.com/arloandjanis/2009/06/12

In Wisconsin, my daughter’s chickens definitely need a heater in their coop – the temp gets down to -15 and below, and that’s not considering the wind chill.

To get a look-see at chicken-coop heaters, seehttps://www.google.com/search?site=&source=hp&q=heaters+for+chicken+coops&oq=heaters+for+chicken+coops&gs_l=hp.13..0l2j0i22i30l5.4698.10510.0.13015.28.25.0.3.3.0.360.3335.2j14j3j1.20.0.msedr…0…1c.1.62.hp..6.22.3132.0.QYl54fa7K2g

Seemingly many preteen girls, beginning around 10 years old, go through an awkward time, not as cute as they were before, nor nearly as attractive as they will be. Makes this strip realistic to me.

Ah yes, this is how my wife and I started out. We have 40 chickens now, 4 of them roosters.

We’ve been raising chickens over 3 years and they’re still pets. They provide eggs, and I’ve had to make chicken noodle soup out of a couple roosters that got mean.

Are they her 12 disciples?