Well -- I expect many of us know your pain and frustration.
I will say this -- you'll not be happy switching to ducks -- they're REALLY messy, and if you get hens, they lay...where-ever-they-drop (my experience anyway).
In some ways I think you've answered your own question...
NOT that I didn't think they needed to be dried -- they just wanted no part of it. So.... you wanna be wet, ok.... LOL If it's too harsh, they get under cover. They look terrible soaking wet, but who am I to interfere if that's what they want to go and be in.
Really, other than being...
Chickens in general are well prepared for most weather. At least everything the extreme cold or heat....but they can take cold much better.
As for wetness... I've noted some of mine completely and utterly soaked.... half an hour later after the rain stopped.... barely they got wet in the...
My silkies LOVE the rain.... Secret duck lives maybe? They look aweful once they're wet, but as long as they CAN get out of the weather if they want, and that space is dry they should be just fine.
They're not into downpours, but the deep soaking just past sprinkles but hard, I cannot keep...
Honestly, I had to look it up.....
From what I can tell though, where you (and your ladies n gents) live could be cause for exposure. But that "where" you live part isn't specific. As in, if I lived closer to the city, I wouldn't be any more or less prone to it than if I lived in the...
I think your name here is because you have a hoard of chicks making you lose your voice!
Went right for the deep end! That's ok -- Me -- personally -- Not sure where you are, but if you're in USA, then there's no spaces I know where it's too cold anymore, so you have that to your advantage...
Where I am.... the heat with humidity makes it well into the 100's....
They have shade and plenty of water and loose ground they like to settle down into... I've found locking them out of the coop solved the flaw of them wanting to stay inside... I actually only needed to lock them out for a...
I've not raised chicks the way you're doing them, so I don't think I can offer sound options there -- Personally, after I get a new batch, I quarantine them for a while cuz I don't know what they brought home with em from where they came from. After that, I have a smaller "pen" that allows them...
I use Nutrena -- Dumor costs a lot more. My chickens won't eat it either....and they eat anything!
You'll want to consider though the All Flock is higher in some things than chicken feed.... My unscientific decision was let the ducks eat the same as the chickens, not the other way around.
We...
If your laundry room has your dryer -- I wouldn't recommend it.
I use 5 gal containers with lids -- I can fit 1 40# bag into 2 with a little left over.... The lids will keep the grain out of harms way, but you need to still consider excess humidity where they are.
I found that not buying more...
I live in the country and owls are EVERYWHERE. For me though, all my girls n boys are locked in coop at night. Hardware cloth is your friend.
However, I had a real problem with hawks during the day!
Until I caught it LIVE on a camera I was just guessing that was the killer. Trust me, until you...
I'm unfamiliar with that one -- but a quick review seems to suggest that since it doesn't rely on UV as the attractant, that it might be a possible solution. Alas, they do require electric to work, so that may be a limiting factor (it is for me).... Alas, I think I'd need multiples of them too...
As others have noted, when THEY are ready, as long as they know where to go, they'll be on their own bedtime plan.
I have found, also like others, when one decides, they'll all follow suit not wanting to be left out in the dark (so to speak). Really, chicks don't have working clock yet...