The flocks first winter

[WickedChicksNH]

I have 10 chickens outdoors, 9 out of the 10 has never seen snow before , so they just look outside when I opened the coop and llle nope..
Today i did a little shoveling in the run, they got a little braver and walked part way down ramp.
And wouldn't you know it, the littlest daintist (is that a word? Danty..ist)
One was the first one to brave it.
She is my little polish Daphane

So I start picking each one up and putting them on the ground, and to their surprise the snow wasnt scary at all, so after a week of not wanting to come out of the coop they got to stretch their legs.

I tossed some hay around so they could keep their feet off the snow.
The silkies pretty much were not interested

 

[cluckmecoop7]

My chickens wouldn't come out for two days. (Also there first time with snow.) I finally shoveled some of the run, then they came out, but would not walk in the deep snow. The next day I went out and shoveled almost the whole run. Now they enjoy being outside all day every day - pretty much.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

First experience is a shock.
I put straw on snow so they can walk around in comfort.
It is a word and the spelling is daintiest.

 

[Chickencrazy21043]

My girls 2nd dusting

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

My flock does not like the snow at all. We've had 2 1/2 feet of snow so far and another 4 to 6 inches coming in tomorrow. I leave the door to the run open when I'm cleaning the coop but they rarely venture out anymore. The snow has melted, then returned, and melted again and they are not liking it. I even put some butternut squash out in the grass for them and they came out for a quick nibble then ran back to the run.

 

[Diana_burns04]

My hens loved the snow

 

[AllenK RGV]

I'm sure my chicken would do the chicken little thing watching snow flakes falling from the sky. I imagine there would be some dramatic alarm calls. In 2017 mine were unfazed as the snow that dusted us one morning it was quite fine and lasted a couple hours on the metal fence poles.

 

[NHMountainMan]

Mine got used to it really quickly. I enticed them with a pumpkin and before long they came out. Now they're out all day as long as the wind isn't too bad. We had gusts in the 50-60 mph yesterday and they decided to stay in the run.

Supposed to see more snow and sub zero temps later this week - well see how they'll like that.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I think snow depth is the critical issue. A dusting is nothing. A couple feet of powder snow isn't doable for them.
We don't have that much yet but by midnight we'll likely have more than a foot of soft snow they'll sink into.

 

[Shadrach]

I think snow depth is the critical issue. A dusting is nothing. A couple feet of powder snow isn't doable for them.
We don't have that much yet but by midnight we'll likely have more than a foot of soft snow they'll sink into.

There are some breeds that do manage on deep snow; the Finnish Landrace and some of the Swedish landrace breeds for examples.
There are also local breeds in Afghanistan and Northern China that are reported to cope well in deep snow.