Adapting to spring snow

 As I have said many times, the chickens do not like snow.  After waking the girls (unnecessarily) for school I had gone outside to find the hen yard empty.

With now 30 chickens in our coop that is truly maxed at 15, I needed at least the older flock to go outside.

By the house they have a tarp covered area that stays mostly clear - even with the wind blowing the snow around it is protected.  But it was also all the way across their yard.

I have 3 words.  Frosted Mini Wheats.  At the bottom of every box there is an inch or so of "leavings" that no one eats.  Sometimes I use it in apple crisp or a muffin recipe, but sometimes it gets lost in the back of the cupboard and found only after it is long stale.

But the hens enjoy it.

After spreading a couple sections of straw in their covered area I made a path with the crushed cereal.  As you can see, all the hens were enticed out.

Then I made an area for the pullets.

A folding card table, some more straw, and a waterproof table cloth is a little ghetto, but it works.  Because of their age the light is on 24/7 in the coop, but this should encourage them out a bit also.

It kinda reminds me of the annex for the Minneapolis flock.