Can chickens get too wet?

[Firsttimehens1234]

Hi everyone,where I live it has been raining non stop for the past 2 days,not much and the chickens didn’t really get that wet from it,but today I noticed that one of my hens has a very wet bottom and I think that she fell in the water bowl but I’m afraid that she is too wet and can’t dry,and I can’t really take her inside to dry her bc I don’t wanna traumatize her what should I do and is she too wet?

 

[NatJ]

I think she will probably be fine, without you needing to do anything.

But if you do want to take her inside to dry her, don't worry about whether she will be traumatized by it, just do what you consider best for her.

If you use a hair dryer or heat lamp, be very careful not to burn her or overheat her. But if you just want to bring her inside so she can be in a dry place until her feathers dry off, I don't think that would cause any problems.

 

[HollowOfWisps]

Unless she is acting off or it is below freezing, as long as she has a place to get out of the rain such as a coop or roofed run she should be just fine. I open the big barn doors every morning and leave them open so my chickens still have access to the barn during the day if they need it. They also have access to 30'x60' of roofed lean too space. When it rains half of the time they are out running around. They seem to love all of the worms and crawfish especially that creep when it gets wet here.

 

[Aunt Angus]

They can get yoo wet, but your girl will probably be fine unless it's crazy cold freezing temps. It takes a serious drenching to get through all those feathers, the edceptions being silked feathers (like those on Silkies). My birds have gotten very wet before and always dry out quickly. They preen themselves and get a lot of water off in the process.

That said, I do sometimes dry them off inside sometimes if they are still very wet at night and we expect freezing temps overnight. A good towel will often do the trick or a hair dryer on a low temp - just be sure to keep the hair dryer moving constantly if you dry them so as not to overheat them.

 

[azygous]

Do you know what hypothermia is? It's when the body temperature of a warm blooded creature falls below the normal temp. This can cause organ malfunction and death. Just being wet may not produce hypothermia as long as the outdoor temperature is warm. Just as you feel fine after getting wet on a warm day at the seashore or swimming pool, a wet chicken may not feel cold, either. But if you got out of the pool or ocean and it was a cold day, you would start to get hypothermia and you would start to shiver, a sign your body is trying to warm you back up.

So, being wet is not an issue. Hypothermia is.

Here's how to tell if a chicken is in danger of getting hypothermia. Feel the tummy skin. Is it wet and cold? This is an area of the chicken's body that carries blood to the rest of the body. If this area is wet and cold, the blood starts to get cold and it spreads the cold to the rest of the body. You can warm the chicken up fast by warming the tummy skin.

If a chicken is suffering from hypothermia, she will be drowsy and weak and won't be able to stand and walk without being off balance and may not be able to walk at all. This is an emergency and needs to be treated with warm sugar water and electrolytes.

As @NatJ said, it won't cause stress to the chicken if you take her inside and use a warm hair dryer to dry and warm her. Pay special attention to the belly and she will warm up faster. Chickens generally adore being blow dried. The dryer does not scare them.

 

[Firsttimehens1234]

Thank you for all of your answers,it’s around 50 degrees outside,they have a coop and a roof they can go inside/under