Can they get too cold in the rain?

Kmarkello

In the Brooder
May 20, 2021
16
6
31
For some crazy reason, my girls are not going inside when it rains. It’s 60 degrees out and I just realized they were out and didn’t go into their sheltered area or in the coop. They have just been standing around getting rained on for hours I think. I’m afraid they will get chilled…should I dry them? I have a variety including 2 bantam Cochins and a smallish polish that I’m particularly worried about.
 

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I think it might depend on how cold it will get at night. If it's not going to get a lot colder, and you're giving then a nice dry place to roost, with dry bedding/litter, I would think they'd be fine. Mine tend to stay under cover when it's raining, though (including bantam cochins). If their feet are wet from rain or snow, I shut them in their covered pen about an hour before bedtime so they can scratch around in the litter and dry off before going into their coop.
 
This thread may reassure you -- my girls last winter: https://www.backyardchickens.com/posts/23932868

As long as they have the option to choose to be in or out, wet or dry, I figure that chickens know how to be chickens better than I know how to be a chicken.

They're probably dry and toasty warm under the outermost layer of feathers.
 

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