Six inches short in Norwalk, sounds like a normal Tuesday to me.

That "half were burnt and half were raw" thing happened to me too until I started spreading them out on a sheet pan instead of crowding the basket. After that I never went back to dumping the whole bag in. Two batches takes a few extra minutes but the fries actually taste like fries.

Have you noticed how much the deep bedding actually heats things up on its own? The stuff breaks down and puts off real warmth, so by the time it is really cold out my coop stays right around freezing even when it is way below zero outside. One thing that saved me is making sure the coop vents up high so the wet air can escape, because that trapped moisture from plastic is what really causes frostbite, not the cold itself. I also switched to rubber bowls for water and just swap them out a couple times a day, way easier than hauling a heated one around. Been running no heat for years now and my girls do fine, so you are not setting yourself up for anything bad as long as they can stay dry and out of the wind.