???Chicken run for the winter???

[Chad the Chicken Man]

Hi, I am in the process of building a 8x8 coop and the chickens will be free ranging, raising chickens is all new to me and was told that chickens dont really like to roam around in the winter months, I live in southern wisconsin and the winters can get pretty harsh. So I was planning on useing a 6X12 dog kennel for the attatched run. will this work for 15 birds? once again it would only be for the winter, other wise they will always be free ranging.
thank you much for your all your guys info
chad

 

[faykokoWV]

Is there any reason you wouldn't just let them continue to free range in the winter? Like you said, they don't really like to roam that far in the snow, so it would seem like the run would be less needed then.

 

[wildorchid053]

we average about 210" of snow and plan on snowblowing the run so they can get out.. i am worried a little about frost bite on the roos combs so trying vasoline on them will let you know how it all works out

 

[CityChook]

My girls didn't really like going out in the winter. They would walk along the shoveled path that I took (backdoor to the coop) and follow it to the cleared back patio and hang out. And poo. And poo some more. They didn't like falling through the snow (with ice on top) so they didn't range much. Their run is covered, but they rarely used it last winter. Princesses.