With the snow, that means lots of work for me, hauling water out for all 4 coops & keeping paths shoveled for the birds so they are able to go out. With the large coop I don't keep the water in the coop because of the shear number of birds. I don't want the extra moisture inside so I have a table of sorts that I cover 3 sides with dark plastic. That keeps the snow from drifting into the heated water dish. I have to keep a pretty good sized area shoveled out to encourage the chickens to come out in the snow. Whenever I need to do a coop cleanout I put the old shavings down in the run & pathways so its not so cold on their feet. I also put out a flock block that I cover with a plastic tub. When I want to encourage the birds to stay out on nicer days I uncover it for a while.Wow. That's a LOT of work and SO nice! What do they do when it snows? Boy, I get budget! We've been in a drought now for 6 years ant this winter they are predicting torrential rain and flooding till late spring. I have no shelter on the back of my barn stalls, so no dry run for chickens. They'll be fine inside, but no sun for months? Scrimping and scrounging.
All done sucking up the leaves in the parking lot. I am ashamed to say that I had to get help to start the bugger. My upper body strength sucks, usually if it doesn't have electric start I don't buy it. I am now even dustier then my living room. LOL blend right in with the dark walnut paneling.
