You'll need a good shovel. They like paths. They do not like deep snow at all.
After watching one of my girls "step, sink, step, sink" in a couple of inches of snow last week, I was thinking we need chicken snow shoes
Hard to say how much snow fell and how much blew
Our chicken's coop is a converted 9.5'x12'x7' high horse stall half way down the alley in the lower part of a very old bank barn. The lower part is the "new" part, probably only 80 or 90 years old. The nipple water pipe is on the left, it will be referenced again further down. The hanging pipe is their feeder and it always has food in it. I'm using layer "crumblets" which I gather are basically pellets only smaller. The front of the coop above the walls is only wire both sides of the door. There is about a foot open at the top of the sides that has no clear plastic covering (winter only) and the ceiling is open between the joists for the floor above. This is for ventilation and as the roosts are 4' high, there should be no breeze blowing over them. There is 1/2" hardware cloth on the floor (to keep the voles and ERMINES! out), as well as the "ceiling" and all other openings.
I hinged the chicken door (made from a double pane window "insert" that was in the barn, unused) from the bottom so the little 4 week old chickens wouldn't have to get up over the 1x6 keeping the deep litter in. Don't do this, chickens poop EVERYWHERE. They couldn't see out their chicken door and it is now hinged on the side. If I get more little ones, I'll get them a "step stool".
There are currently no other animals (at least not ones WE put in there, we do have chipmunks and voles). I put a gate across the alley to the outside wall from one corner of the coop and rolled out some 2x4 4' welded wire fence to the wall from the other corner (too cheap to cut it off since this is long term temporary). This is their indoor run with a ladder to the outdoor run via the 6 pane window that was missing a pane. Very convenient chicken door opening
Come to find out a 4' fence keeps a chicken exactly where IT wants to be. I put the wood across the top of the chicken wire on the gate because they WERE landing on it and flattening it down. I was afraid they might get their toes caught in and hurt themselves. So I then got:
Zia (Ancona) Peep and Fae the Cubalayas
Thus, they have an 8'x12' indoor run that doesn't keep them in unless that is where they want to be
Their day (as far as WE control it) generally begins around 8:30 or 9 this time of year when someone goes out and opens the people door. Sometimes we open the chicken door as well but they don't need it as we leave the people door open for more daytime ventilation. The nipples in the water pipe froze a couple of weeks ago when it was down below 10F (don't know what temp they actually froze) so we've been bringing warm water out in their brooder waterer. They really seem to like it as they all come running out of the coop to get to it so we've been doing it even when it isn't cold enough to freeze the nipples. They all know how to use the nipples and do so other times of the day. Maybe this is their morning "hot tea". That white thing on the ground is the first egg we got before I finished the nest box.
So I made this "radiant floor/nipple waterer" nest box and put the water pipe in it. You can read details here https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/728396/freeze-proof-automatic-watering-system/10#post_10149098
The water is pumped to the pipe from the orange container you can just see on behind the wall. It has a 250W stock tank heater in it and as measured yesterday is 55F. Of course, I have no idea what temps this will handle before the nipples freeze anyway
These are the people and chicken doors at the end of the barn alley (opposite end from the inside pictures). To specifically answer your question, if someone is home at least the chicken door is open. If the weather is good (not snowing heavily or blowing and especially if the sun is out) the people door is left open as this is the south end of the barn. No direct light into the barn until well past noon otherwise. So the girls can choose to stay in the barn or not, as they please. We've not had any daytime predators YET and hopefully we WON'T and they have yet to find out for themselves "Why did the chicken cross the road?". They have plenty of roaming space without going there. If we aren't home, the barn doors are closed and they just go (and "go" if you get my drift) wherever they want in the lower part of the barn. Tough life for those chickens! Any vegan can be assured an egg coming out of these girls is NOT the result of cruel inhumane (inchickene?) treatment.
They put themselves to bed as it gets dark. If I get there first, I'll toss some scratch on the coop floor. They like it and it gets them in if I don't want to wait for THEM to decide it is bed time
I made this outdoor run and they used it when they were younger and we weren't letting them roam the barn. As you can see, they were outside the run, but that is because we opened the "gate". The sun shade thing is now a mess because the wind lifted it off the side of the barn (it was not nailed in). If we decide we can't let them run loose, or want them to be able to be outside but safe and enclosed, I'll have to make a serious out door run with real walls and aerial predator protection.
Bruce
