Snow rescues today! Anyone else?

[2DogsFarm]

My girls haven't left the coop since Sunday when we had a gorgeous day with sun & near 40F
They HATE the snow in their yard and have not been shy about letting me know this.
I've been putting out hay for them to walk on, but this is not totally satisfactory. I get a lot of chicken grumbling when I open the door to the yard & they see the snow is still there after they've TOLD me to make it G-O-N-E!

Since a lot of the ground was bare Sunday they wandered all over, happy as clams.
Then Monday morning I notice these huge 3-toed tracks in the snow by the front of the house...
"Wow!" I thought "that was some huge bird!"
Then I realized whose tracks those were...CHICKENS!

Sure...they can walk in it when it's not in their yard!

 

[iluvcks]

That is so funny. My girls haven't walked around their run since December either. But they free range, all over the fenced in yard. The first time it snowed was so funny. They were not so sure about all of it.They walked just far enough out in it so that they could fly to a grassy area under a pine tree. Now they really don't care, unless it windy.

 

[Cindy in PA]

We only had 10 inches on Saturday & I was so proud that I cleaned the tractor run & the big chicken run down to the ground. Well yesterday we had about 2 feet, but the worst part was the 4 foot drifts completely surronding my house & most areas on the way to the big coop. You couldn't get more than 2 feet out any door, just like the blizzard of 1996, except then the drifts were 7 feet high. I shoveled a path to my tractor & then to the big coop. Managed to clear out the tractor (not easy since the yard is only 4 feet high & using the shovel is difficult). The big run had a pile about 3 feet high that dropped from the netting right in front of the pop door. I shoveled out the door and a two foot path, but the other piles will be done another day. The bantams in the tractor actually were all out today, but the big chickens spent their second day in the coop. I did have to trudge through a few feet of hip high drifts, as my little foot path blew in going to the coop. Will try to snow blow a path out tomorrow, but that didn't work well today. I am so over winter.

 

[they'reHISchickens]

This morning we shoveled our paths into the coop areas. Thank heavens for SILs with snow plows!! We aren't going to shovel out the run area but I did get them access to under the coops where they like to dustbathe. Our one coop is a bit sheltered by the hill behind it so we opened the full size door and let the sunshine in! The EEs seemed to appreciate it and by afternoon, they asked to go out through the 2 ft wide snowpath to the plowed area where they could find some grit.
Our BOs are still separated because I don't want cock fights between Mr Blue and Houdini. I did find that a snow bank is an excellent place to toss a mean roo when he attacks. I am waiting for someone to go broody so I can set some BO eggs then dispose of nasty old Blue. It's getting to the point where we may just make an incubator and hatch a huge bunch. Mr Blue can find a suitable stock pot and we can merge the flocks. I am really tired of being ambushed daily and it's to the point where our dog knows she has to accompany us to that coop to back down the darn roo.
Rumor has it that schools will open tomorrow. I am not sure how since many fo the roads are still mostly 1 lane.

 

[chickenannie]

I am sooooo over winter too.

My banties tried to fly out over the snow! Actually the big chooks have been flying more too. Tonight one escapee settled down to roost on top of a giant pile of snow that had hardened at the top. I had to tell her, her feet would either be frozen by morning or her body heat would melt her down into the snowdrift, but she wouldn't listen. (I put her in the coop, then, with the others.)

 

[Three Cedars Silkies]

I didn't let our girls out today because quite a few of them are molting...bad

...and it poured rain all day with the temp hovering at around 41-43 degrees. Nothing like the snow you guys are getting, but a VERY cold rain for us.