Understanding the Chickens Weather Forecast

It is going to be a very cold night! The gals are cuddled together in a pile in an effort to keep warm. Ernest remains at the opposite end of the henhouse, next to the door.
I was talking about this with my neighbour who explained that penguins also keep warm this way.
“The emperor penguins secret is huddling. Really just an extension of the "be big" method of surviving extreme cold. Emperor penguins have developed a social behaviour that when it gets cold, they huddle together in groups that may comprise several thousand penguins. That way for most of the group, where their feathers end, instead of all of them having to face the biting wind and relentless cold, most of them have another warm penguin blanket to shield them instead. The surface area of the group is greatly reduced and a great deal of warmth and body fat conserved. Of course it's not quite so great for the individuals on the outside of the group as they only have a part of their body protected and warmed by the other penguins. So there is a continual movement of penguins from the outside of the group to the centre so displacing the warmer and more protected penguins to the outside where they will take their turn in the worst places against the wind and raw cold.”

Fascinating!
We learn something new every day!
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