Chickens during the snow!

[chicken_nugget]

I have one rooster, 4 Easter Eggers and one silkie (with two chicks) that have stubbornly decided to all huddle in the corner of the house outside. Now it’s snowing with temps going down in the twenties. I drapped over this...I guess some kinda roofing material...up against the house to keep them dry and stuck a heat lamp over them to help keep warm. Do they have a fighting chance?? Or should I “make” them go inside the coop that they refuse to use??

 

[WunnySharbit]

I had a similar problem. I just waited until they went to bed for the night, then took them to their (new) coop. Since it was cold with 6" of snow on the ground, I just locked them in for a couple of days. Now they willingly go in--it's much warmer than roosting 20' up an apple tree! I also feed and water them in the coop, so they have to go in during the day. That said, I would check the coop out first. They could be startled by mice/rats, little birds, predators (eg cats, snakes). They may not like their bedding, especially if its been changed, or if the coop has been rearranged. Unbeknownst to me, a leak had occurred and the floor under the bedding was soaked and muddy. They were much happier after I fixed that. You may consider getting down to bird level......? Also, each flock has a "bedtime" leader that tells everyone when it's bedtime and where to roost. Finding out who that is would be helpful. Since everyone else is just following her lead, you may just have to convince her. Good Luck!

 

[Kris5902]

So far I’ve just had to grab and relocate my chickens into their coop area two or three times at bedtime (around twilight) and they figured it out and have complied on their own after that. I gently shove them through their door so they can get the idea.

My mixed flock took about 6 days to figure out getting onto the roosts, but my little Sapphire prodigies (they are full on crowing at 9 weeks!) had the roosts figured out tonight (their second in the new housing and first time on real elevated roosts.

I suppose it depends on the chickens mostly... but I would try to gently redirect them to an appropriate night time resting place!

 

[50-45-1]

Were they using the coop before?
You need to make sure they are safe from preditors at night, a leanto set up with a heat lamp is not sufficent.
Make sure your coop whatever it is, is preditor proof and safe. Put them inside each night and lock them in.
They will get the idea.
If chickens get spooked or scared in there coop they become untrustful of it and will seek alternatives.

 

[aart]

The snow may have 'trapped' them with fear of that falling stuff.
Hopefully you did put them back into the coop.

 

[Kris5902]

One other thing I do when they are first getting settled/moved in... I hang a small LED camp lantern (completely safe as it’s sealed plastic and runs cool off 4 D cell batteries) so there is a little light shining in the window for an extra hour or so they have time to get nicely settled in and figure out the roost situation while they can see. So they don’t get spooked or traumatized by being “helped” into the dark box with all the strange bars!