During the winter do you keep food and water inside the coop? and how do you get them outside?

[Beekissed]

Yes! Old birds have something to teach if the youngsters only pay attention!

 

[ElCerritoPlace]

I never thought of that Beekissed, thanks. Great pictures! My birds foraged good in the summer time but as soon as the snow hit they said no way! I'll work thru this winter, and work on keeping them outside next winter. I'll try dumping the scoops from the coop in the run, thats a good idea rojororeo. That might help them for the rest of this winter.

 

[rojororeo]

I never thought of that Beekissed, thanks. Great pictures! My birds foraged good in the summer time but as soon as the snow hit they said no way! I'll work thru this winter, and work on keeping them outside next winter. I'll try dumping the scoops from the coop in the run, thats a good idea rojororeo. That might help them for the rest of this winter.

Good luck with it! It definitely helps our flock.

 

[Gldnrose]

I keep food and water inside coop. My chickens come out every single day. They are all waiting at the door in the morning, one in particular jumps up and scratches the door when she hears me enter the run. I think they would go batty if I made them stay in the coop. I always toss them some scratch or BOSS every morning, and they know it too so that might be their incentive to get out into run asap! Also, my run is covered on the roof and all around the sides, so they are blocked by wind, snow and rain. I am sure that makes a difference. Funny story, we had the entire run covered, husband and I spent all that time attaching the tarp (we use a clearish kind so they still get light) and we stepped into the run and it had already felt like a stuffy greenhouse, so we "cut" windows out all around it so now only the roof and bottom sides are blocked. Live and learn I guess. I wish I had pics to post. I do let them out of their run to roam the yard and I have even seen them eating snow, but that is supervised and not every day.
Like stated in other replies, I would try tossing them some treats and see if that helps.
Good luck )

 

[ElCerritoPlace]

I have tossed scratch, we used to do it every morning in the summer, so I still did it early winter. But they poked their heads out, looked at me and went back inside. I even tried to make a trail down the ramp but they would just stick their heads out as far as they could to get what they could and that was it. so I stopped wasting the scratch because it just sat there until it got covered with snow.

 

[ElCerritoPlace]

Just thought I'd update, I did toss the scoopings from the coop litter out on the snow. And today it was sunny but still single digits and my 3 orpingtons came outside on their own. They took a dust bath and scratched up the littler in the snow. Thanks for the tip!

 

[TTracy]

I am glad that worked!! They got some fresh air and sunshine!!