Chickens out in the rain

[Marcymom3]

My chickens don't mind the rain. Their run is covered but when I open the gate, rain or no rain, they're ready to range the yard. They do spend some extra time preening in the coop at bedtime, I've noticed.

 

[aubreynoramarie]

I recently had to give one of my chickens a bath for a show and learned something from it. As i poured cupfulls and cupfulls of water on her, it was all just sliding right off. I eventually had to pick her up and hold her under the faucet and actually work the water into her down to get her wet.

now i do not worry about them in the rain, hahaha

 

[bobbieschicks]

Quote:
Maybe I better do that - I'll head out around 3pm and lock them all in for the evening. It gets dark about 5:30 now days.

 

[7L Farm]

I let mine out in the rain. One day they stood at the entrance of the coop it was pouring & they never went in just stood there. They looked like wet rats.

 

[Dutchess]

I had a small flock, before my present flock that stayed out in the rain all the time. I used to think those chickens were not very smart to get soaking wet with a warm dry coop nearby.
My present flock stays out of the rain, if at all possible. I don't know if they are smarter than the other flock or just don't like the rain like the others did. ??

 

[emerald eyes]

Quote:
I had the same experience. I had a chicken with broken toes that healed crooked and I used to clip the nails on those toes so she won't injure herself more. Strangely, she was fine with me doing the deed and laid calmly in my arms. One day, I clipped it too short and she started bleeding (still didn't seem to phase her). I brought her into the house (laundry room/mud room) to clean the foot and hold a paper towel to it. She was a trooper and was calm the whole time! I ended up giving her a short bath, the water trickled off her feathers and she didn't get that wet. Once I had to treat the hens for mites by spraying them down with a poultry spray. I tried to spray their feathers without success! I had to spray under neath their feathers and point the nozzle of the bottle towards the skin. It took 5 minutes to spray each chicken..very time consuming and not something I ever want to do again!

 

[surfchicken72]

mine could care less about the rain it seems as well.....

 

[bobbieschicks]

So I went out at 5:00 and put them in the coop. I tried to get them I at 3 pm but couldn't. Then I forced the auto door to close. I should have unplugged it because it reopened at. 6pm and I had to go out again and close the door manually.

 

[Lollipop]

Quote:
Chickens have an oil gland just ahead of their tail on top. When they preen, they also oil their feathers, so they aren`t as soaked as they look from rain. When ya wash them, it removes most of the oil, so it`s better to not wash them, unless you can`t stand it any longer, or they`re going to a show. Not as much oil as waterfowl, but not bad, either..........Pop

 

[centurion90]

The rain doesnt bother my standard girls one bit, but the my little cochin bantam always looks so upset about getting her little feathered feet wet.