Do you let your chickens out in the rain?

[Messipaw]

do you let your chickens out in the rain? Mine go out in their pen and free range as well. Is them being in the rain bad?

 

[msmolly]

I have 2 Buff Orpington's and i thought i read somewhere that they cant go out in the rain. Is this true?

Chickens love going out in the rain as it is great worm catching weather. They do need to have access to run for cover, under a bush or table, even a patio umbrella.
Not only can Buff Orpington's tolerate the rain- they can tolerate floods(as mine have done on occasion) and... look at this.... they are apparently quite the swimmers.

 

[Den in Penn]

My chickens would have died a while ago if a little rain could hurt them. I leave the option for them to decide to go in the rain or not. They like to go out in light rain and come in when the rain gets heavy. Bugs and other crawlies don't do well in the rain around here.

 

[iheartnh]

Mine have the option to go out in the rain, and they do when it's drizzle but anything heavier than that, they head inside. I don't worry much about them being wet unless it's cold out or 'bedtime' - then I put on the heat lamps. They are still young - about 14 weeks - and I'm probably babying them more than they need. But they just look pathetic when they're wet .

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

4 days? I guess I've been misled about the sturdiness of chicks. Wow.

Chicks are tough little beasties. They don't need a heat lamp over their entire brooder, just a place where they can go to warm up if necessary and a place that's out of the wind. It doesn't even have to be a specific temperature (like 95 degrees the first week, 90 the second, stepping down) if you look at how the chicks behave. If the all huddle under the light, lower the light. If they all fall asleep in a circle around the edges of the light, raise the light. If they are sort of evenly scattered all over the brooder, everything is fine.

I used to do the stepped-down temperature thing, but then I saw how my broodies handled chicks and talked to some old-timers, and now I'm a lot more relaxed.

 

[Big Bubba]

My girls are still young and the food, sometimes, stays out in the rain. They're hilarious how they can't take 5 minutes without a bite to eat. They hang out in the coop and then run out into the rain for a bite only to return in a minute.

Now, when I know it's going to rain I move the food inside.

 

[dewdropsinwv]

I give mine the option to go out everyday. The will go out in light rain also and go in when it's too heavy for them. I keep their food in the coop. But keep extra water out in the run for them.

 

[Messipaw]

What do you all use in your coops and runs? I put woody chips in the run to help with the mud situatio. So ffar so good. What do you use. I might switch to sand in the coop.

 

[Messipaw]

WalkingOnSunshine--I've been reading a lot about using sand... I think I am going to try it as well after my next clean out. I'm going to put down a vinyl floor and use sand. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[PaulaSB12]

do you let your chickens out in the rain? Mine go out in their pen and free range as well. Is them being in the rain bad?

Mine have a coop and covered run, the initial idea was that they would stay in the run but they free range now, when it rains they stay in the run with w very accusing look of why are you making water fall on us look, any bad weather is my fault!