We have experienced two snowfalls in Botetourt County over the course of the past week or so, and the precipitation has been very stressful for our quartet of hens. The first snow was the most traumatic as about three inches of very wet slush fell which caused the netting over the run to collapse.
The collapse of the netting caused the post where the solar unit is located to crumple, which, in turn, caused the solar unit, which protects the perimeter through the means of two wires, to fall to the ground. The falling of that post caused the gate to the run to not shut correctly.
So Elaine and I after dark that snowy day struggled to reset the solar unit post and to fix the gate to the run. When we peaked inside the hen house, we only saw three of the girls with Little Spotty Hen no where to be found. We feared that she had been injured or even killed by all the "collapsing" that was going on.
Finally, Elaine found Spotty under the hen house. The next day she was limping, so indeed she may have been injured.
Yet another snowfall took place this Friday with the hens spending much of the day either in their house or under it. It is very clear that our Rhode Island Reds do not like snow.
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