Chickens in the Snow

On Sunday the weather was nice enough that the chickens wanted to stay out and enjoy themselves. They were free most of the day. They've been cooped up so long because of the cold weather that I think they've lost muscle mass. They have the opportunity to go outside in their run whenever they want but they don't want to do that very much. When I clean their coop on weekends I set them on the roof of the coop so they can stretch their wings and get some fresh air. When it's cold, they're in a hurry to get back inside the fresh, warm coop. This Sunday was different. They enjoyed being out for once. At 4:30 I went out to put them to bed. Meredith and Pamela were sitting on top of the coop. I lifted them and put them inside. Kelly was sitting on the snow about 10 feet from the coop. I threw snow at her until she flew up and went inside. Where was Phyllis? I looked around and spotted Phyllis way past the east edge of the house, sitting in the snow. I have a path to my compost heap and she was about 15 paces off the path. I walked over on my path because the snow is hard enough to support my weight. I threw snow at her and she just looked at me; not moving. For God's sake, was I going to have to tromp through the deep snow to get her? I took one step. My sorel boot disappeared and the snow was nearly to my knees. Great. As I took the second step I imagined Phyllis waiting for me to get really close before moving out of my reach. I was going to be really mad if that happened. I tromped through the deep snow until I got within reach of Phyllis. She didn't move a muscle as I scooped her up, tucked her under my arm, and tromped back to the path. I put Phyllis back in the warm coop with the others and shut the door on them for the night. Chicken farmer duties were done for the day.