Official BYC Poll: Do Your Chickens Go Inside Their Coop When It Snows?

[Farmgirl1878]

I will not find out with this storm because it's raining ice.

The chickens are safe in their coops. I am safe in my house. No going out for anyone when it's raining ice.

Stay safe my friend. We are supposed to get 5-10 inches of snow this afternoon with freezing rain at the start. My girls are safe in the coop and run for the duration. I will have to go out and close their pop door as the JVR auto door crapped out again. The dust and sand wear out the tiny motor every year or so. I’m thinking of going to a Pullet-Shut or an Ador1 door instead. Any suggestions?

 

[3KillerBs]

The dust and sand wear out the tiny motor every year or so. I’m thinking of going to a Pullet-Shut or an Ador1 door instead. Any suggestions?

I have no experience with auto-doors. That's interesting to note in re: the sand.

 

[Suzz]

I will not find out with this storm because it's raining ice.

The chickens are safe in their coops. I am safe in my house. No going out for anyone when it's raining ice.

We always call it dippin dots like the ice cream when it rains ice its good to be safe and cozy in your house!

 

[3KillerBs]

I didn't open the coop yesterday while it was icing because I couldn't walk out there safely. This morning I opened up, they came out, they pecked at the mess to see if it was good to eat, then went about their chicken business.

 

[3KillerBs]

 

[Farmgirl1878]

Glad you were able to get to the coop @3KillerBs! Hubby and I are both fighting colds or omicron, so he went and opened the pop door this morning. The girls were not enthused about going out in the TEN INCHES of snow we got overnight! I went out later to feed them some scrambled eggs and hot mash and they were bright and cheery as usual, but not wanting to go out. They each stood at the door for a while and looked out, but only Ginger ventured out and into the area I’d shoveled out so I could open the door.

Lily was eating the snow off my boots…

And everyone got excited when I brought a tray of snow inside the run!

They‘re so funny! ️

 

[Alohacayo]

What’s snow?

I moved back “home” to never deal with snow ever again.

*I* sometimes miss it… but then it gets to almost frost temperature and I have to trundle out in every sweater I own and 6 layers of pants, so yeah nope, nope, nope.

For the girls, it’s their first year, and for the first rain (we got 7” in 5 days) they literally hid out under/in everything they could. Then they got hungry and decided rain wouldn’t melt them…

Heat and brutal sun is 90% our issue.

Solidarity to y’all in cold country, and I love looking at your photos, but I’ll keep my tomatoes in February …

FTR, I raised parrots in greenhouses for a few decades in a far north zone, and honestly, cold is slightly easier to deal with if you’ve got access to a good setup with power supply and $ for equipment. For birds, heat/shade/greens has been more of a struggle.

 

[Isadora]

We've only had one day where there was enough snow for the chickens to hesitate when I opened the door. I opened the pop door and the first chicken who stuck her head out looked at me as if to say, "what kind of a cruel joke is this?"
They did eventually all come out and step to the areas that were not as snowy.
I will vote later on after it has snowed more and I see what my flock tends to do.

 

[RubelliteRose]

I'm not really sure what my flock will do if it snows. The oldest hens have only seen snow for two days and it was already on the ground when they woke up. The first day, they refused to leave the coop. I finally took pity on them and moved their food into the coop for the day. By the second day, some of the snow had melted so they left the coop and even ventured outside of the run - making sure not to step in the snow itself of course

To answer the question: With a dusting of snow, my younger birds will leave their nice 8x10 coop and fly over the snow towards our older coop. (Wait until they see the 6" we should be getting later today )The older girls will refuse to leave their coop so the younger birds will join them. Even though I spread hay over the offending snow, I now have 14 chickens crammed into a 4x6 coop and no chickens in the large coop
As soon as my toes thaw, I'm going to hand carry everyone back over to the old coop so we don't have to deal with frostbite and poopy feathers.

 

[3KillerBs]

Between 2-3 inches last night.

Feather-footed French Marans and Langshans are, apparently, indifferent to snow.

And teenage Australorps are, like teens everywhere in the south, ready to play in it:

It was hilarious to see one of the Mottled Java pullets fly over the snow to land on top of the feeder shelter -- only to find herself in even deeper snow. I didn't get a photo of that since it happened so fast.