- Mar 19, 2008
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Ive had chickens for the past 6 or 7 years. for the first 5 years or so, they didnt have free range of the yard. They would live in an outside coop during the spring, summer and fall, and would spend the winter months in the garage coop. This past year, I constructed a year -round outdoor coop, heated, lights . weather protected ..... The chickens now have free range of the yard, and have returned to the coop every single night, with no exceptions. This being said, they have never experienced snow until a few days ago, when we got about 2 feet of snow. I went to check the chickens this morning ( about 4 days after the storm) when i noticed a chicken poking its head out from the snow. I walked over to it, picked it up ( it seemed confused, but healthy), and placed it back into the coop. I looked at the spot where it was sitting, and it was down the the dirt / leaves. The spot where i found the chicken was only about 20 feet from the entrance of the coop ( they lived in this coop since march or april).
So, my question is, do you think the chicken figured out a storm was coming, and just let the snow fall until it was completely covered, and has been there for the past 3 days ??? Or did it wander around after the storm, maybe got disoriented, and by laying in the snow for a period of time, its own body temperature melted the now beneath it until it eventually reached the ground level??
As mentioned earlier, it was only about 20 feet from the entrance of the coop, there were no chicken foot prints anywhere around the snow hole it was laying in, the hole in the snow was down to the dirt level, there was also snow on the back of the chicken, the chicken let me walk over and pick her up ( although usually friendly, the never let me just walk over to them and pick them up), the temps have been about 35 F day/ 20 F night, there was a decent amount of chicken poop in the hole it was laying in, so i know it was there for a little bit.
Im just curious what the normal chicken behavior would be when a significant snow storm approaches
thanks ,,
Phrank
So, my question is, do you think the chicken figured out a storm was coming, and just let the snow fall until it was completely covered, and has been there for the past 3 days ??? Or did it wander around after the storm, maybe got disoriented, and by laying in the snow for a period of time, its own body temperature melted the now beneath it until it eventually reached the ground level??
As mentioned earlier, it was only about 20 feet from the entrance of the coop, there were no chicken foot prints anywhere around the snow hole it was laying in, the hole in the snow was down to the dirt level, there was also snow on the back of the chicken, the chicken let me walk over and pick her up ( although usually friendly, the never let me just walk over to them and pick them up), the temps have been about 35 F day/ 20 F night, there was a decent amount of chicken poop in the hole it was laying in, so i know it was there for a little bit.
Im just curious what the normal chicken behavior would be when a significant snow storm approaches
thanks ,,
Phrank