I am sooooo glad I made a larger coop... 8 inches of snow and more!!!

[LovinMyHensInNC!]

My chickens are definitely enjoying their new coop! They haven't left it all day! I have never seen this much snow where I live! No matter what the temperatures are, they are always outside... they must not like snow!

 

[CheerfulHeart2]

How exciting to have a new home for them and to see them enjoying it!

 

[fldiver97]

I can imagine your chickens not neing so thrilled having snow. I started with a 4x5 prefab coop and made a4x8 run attached to it. I planned on 3 -4 chickens. Well, I got 5....It was OK as long as the weather wa fine. But last year we had a record of 100+ inches of snow and I was so worried about having enough room, getting the coop at least somewhat insulated and being able to keep the small coop clean during the winter that I decided to convert the 8x12 wooden gardenshed into a coop and also attached a covered 4x12 run to it. The first time we had about max of an inch of snow the girls did not want anything to do with it. Eventually 4 out of the 5 girls decided they could just make a run across to their beloved dirtpaych under the big junipers against the house. The other 2 did not, the EE was screaming bloody murder because she was left behind. Well, last week I opened their coop door to a pristine white 14 - 15 inches of new snow.....needless to say not one of them will set foot out the coop door. So I am very happy that the chickens have almost 20 square feet inside and the run if they feel like going out and playing in the snow-free, leaf covered run....

 

[CloggingChicken]

Mine didn't go out all day. I opened the door at 6:30 this morning with a heavy snow and one of the roosters attempted to go out after sunrise. According to my wife he slid down the ramp and ran back inside. The rest of the day he saw it as protecting the ladies and chased anyone away from the door when they ventured near. I thought it was funny that he saw himself as the protector by keeping them from slipping. I would have thought that they would like to play in it and explore. We have only had about 8-9 inches up here for the day.
My daughter had joked the other day that if the chickens went out and froze to the roost in the run then we could just pick them up by the legs and have our own chickensicles. I don't know if they'd be that great with the feathers.

Bill

 

[chookchick]

That must be a pretty common scenario...I started with a cute little "playhouse" type coop. Realized it was too small by the time they were 2 months old. Built a 6 by 8 run. Moved it and built a 6 by 12 run. Donated the playhouse and built an 8 by 8 coop. Expanded the run to 12 by 12 (6 chickens so far). I can only imagine what will be built next summer....But at least they have a fairly good size place to hang out in bad weather.