The chickens really do not like to walk around in the snow so they spend a lot more time in the coop in the winter here in Michigan. I gathered bags of leaves from the curb in the fall and that is what I used for bedding for the first part of the winter. I didn’t have enough to last so now I am adding straw.
The chickens love it when more bedding is added as it gives them something to scratch at. I don’t do much more than cut the twine and throw some scratch grain on top, in less than a day it will be spread all through the coop. I make it a practice to trow some scratch in the bedding every day so they keep turning it over.