Since they would never dream of putting their sweet little tootsies in the cold snow,we decided to put a roof up off the back of the coop.They have full run of the yard all day,but wont come out of the coop in wet weather.
The roof is also ideal for shade in the hot months! Our chickens love to be outside in the rain and hop around in the snow! They stay close to the coop though in deep snow (Buff Orp, Plymoth Rocks, and Rhode Island Reds).... I had to shovel snow drifts out of the run several time this winter even though it has a nice roof (drifting snow). The nice thing is that the coop is built well enough so that I don't get any snow drifting into the coop during a blizzard.