Babysitting chickens in Florida

[Chickensitter2]

Hi all! I am watching over 4 ameraucana chickens for a friend as she travels to the Northeast each summer (lucky her!). We moved their coop to my back yard and put up a temporary fence to keep my labradors away. They free range in the yard all day and roost on top of their coop at night. My concern is that they refuse to come in out of the rain. The coop door is open and their feed is in there, but they will eat and go back out to stand in the rain all day! I've read that wet chickens aren't happy chickens, but what do you do if they have no interest in keeping dry? We have had a lot of rain here recently, and I am concerned about their health. Has anyone had experience with this? Seems logical that they would go inside when it rains, but I am finding out that chickens aren't logical!

 

[miss_thenorth]

Hi and welcome!!

Don't worry about chickens and rain, they don't mind getting wet, cuz that is when ll the worms come out.

they will know when to come in to dry off.

Enjoy your chickens--you know that when they go, you will just have to get your own

 

[Cadjien_De_Louisiane]

Welcome from Louisiana

 

[Desert Rooster]

Hello

from Hesperia,CA and

 

[texasgal]

A big Texas-sized

 

[4-H chicken mom]

and

from Ohio. So glad you joined.

 

[welasharon]

Can you rig a tarp up?

 

[dawg53]

Welcome to BYC. I recommend that you put them inside their house for the night and lock them inside it. Mosquitos will be big problem especially after rain. Mosquitos carry diseases that can be transmitted to chickens.

 

[zazouse]

It don't matter if it rains, hails or snows my chickens will be out in it,even my peafowl and guineas stay out in it and of course my geese and ducks love it.
Enjoy the chickens you may find ya kinda like um and get some of your own one day

 

[Judy]

It is probably cooler where they roost, and being wet helps, too. Chickens don't tolerate heat well at all; 100 degrees can be lethal. If the coop is as cool as the outdoors, you may want to bribe them in there with treats. Perhaps they are accustomed to sleeping on the roof?

You probably aren't going to be able to keep mosquitoes away entirely; I certainly can't. If they develop some flat black spots on combs and wattles, it is likely fowl pox, a virus carried to chickens by mosquitoes. It's not usually serious, and they will be immune after a round of it. If the chickens were around last summer, they've probably already had it. You can find lots of info about fowl pox here if the need arises.

Lots of folks on here are no doubt wishing they could find as responsible a chicken sitter as you!