Hens won't go out in the snow!

[spikennipper]

I wish the UK would get some snow as it would be lovely to have a white Christmas!

 

[3forfree]

every time it snows my birds refuse to leave the coop. If I move some of the snow from the ramp they will go out on the ramp but will not go down into the snow to get under the coop where there isn't any. We got more snow yesterday and I will remove some snow from the ramp and tamp down an area that they can jump from the ramp to the ground and go under the coop.

 

[spotsplus]

All of mine except the Silkies choose to stay in. The Silkies don't seem to mind it too much and will venture out on thier own (they also like to stand out in the rain). This past snowfall we had snow on the ground for almost a week and they didn't venture outside at all even though we snowblowed a path around the yard (except those silkies!).

 

[Hokum Coco]

My girls won't go outside in their run because of the snow and I don't know what to do. April usually fixes that for me all it takes is a few fresh sprigs of green grass.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

I wish the UK would get some snow as it would be lovely to have a white Christmas!

Didn't you enjoy enough snow last year or did it just arrive at the wrong time of the year?

 

[scooter147]

I've been raising chickens for 40+ years and have found very few that like it. I think it messes with their depth perception. I have no scientific proof to back it up but in many years of raising chickens and going to the henhouse and opening the door with enough snow on the ground in which the birds cannot see anything but white and then have some pushed out by the hens behind them they seem confused. They will try to fly to the fence or a outdoor roost in which the wire or wood is still exposed. If that is not possible they will flap their wings wildly and then just before they are about to meet the snow they stop and just fall to the earth as if they don't know where the ground is.
That's my theory.

 

[3forfree]

This is all the farther mine will go

 

[Rosaleen]

I always put old hay out after each snowfall. I save the hay I sweep up in the barn and store it in old plastic trash bins throughout the barn. It's too dusty to give to the horse or goats so I save it for snowy days around the coop. In the spring I rake it all up and deposit it into the compost. I also recycled an old piano bench....I removed the top and bottom and nailed two 2x4s (that extend out about a foot on either side) to the top perimeter. The girls like to sit up above the snow on these make-shift perches and can hop down onto the hay. They have access to their coop whenever they want to go inside to the nesting boxes or food. They also have a 'patio' with three roosting perches attached to their coop whenever they want a roof over their heads.

 

[3forfree]

We just got another 8in of snow in and around the coop and run, and the girls will not leave the coop. This summer I'm going to make an elevated run for them where they can go during the winter. I'm going to put a roof over it cover the sides with tarps. Now that I think of it I'm tired of the tin roof sweating in the summer and winter and dripping water inside the coop so I'm going to extend the roof of the coop to cover the elevated run area, and shingle it.

 

[DWolf]

Mine will not either, there run is clear though and the door open. If your hens want to they will, they are smarter than you think, The ground is probably to cold and can damage their feet? Even my dogs do not want to be out long in the snow, to cold.
My hens love being out so this is the first they have not gone out on their own.
Its all normal its all good and don't make them be out...