Chickens standing in the rain

[ownerof7chicks]

Is this normal? When it starts raining, the chicks don't go anywhere. They just get wet. I'm not sure if chickens can catch colds, but I don't want anything to be wrong with my chicks.

 

[Granny Hatchet]

its a myth, you cant catch a cold from getting wet or cold. our little ones are not too smart. i had a rir when i was a child who stood out in the freezing rain until its feet were stuck in the ice. had to pry her up. lol i have heard that chickens dont get colds.

if they get sick with runny nose and such, they have big names for it and they are usually bad things

 

[ownerof7chicks]

My chicks "sneeze" sometimes but it might not be because of the rain.

 

[Granny Hatchet]

i have a cousin that will sneeze when rain is coming. must be the pressure change

 

[Crysta]

My chickens all do this. When they were young they were so frightened of rain but as they got older they stopped caring. It rains on and off in Florida so much that they adjusted. Just make sure they don't get cold from it, it might be chilly where you are!

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

If your chickens have a place to get out of the wind and rain, and they choose not to go to that place, you can assume they're perfectly happy where they are.

You're equating a chicken to a human, but if you do this you do your birds a disservice. They have insulated waterproof feathers. Their skin probably isn't even getting wet. Same thing when people add heat lamps just because they, the humans, are cold. The chickens aren't cold, they have super-duper down coats on 24/7. Cold and wet doesn't bother chickens, but they do suffer in high heat and humidity.

 

[shmeggs]

my chickens also stand in rain and do their normal activities but they are scared of snow. when the snow starts falling they go under tractor shed and stay until I go out at dusk to get them in the coop.

 

[Granny Hatchet]

well, i dont know if my chickens like the rain or not but i sure do !! cant keep me out of a nice little drizzle. my family says im just like my grandmother , half duck. lol havent got sick from being wet yet.

 

[Steve777]

Just a story from the flood in Boulder CO in Sept of last year. Our chickens were out in the rain, "wading" through a 2" deep stream of water that formed going through their run for several days. They did not stay out in the rain all the time as they could take breaks under or in the coop. And they still spent nights locked inside. But it was non-stop rain for several days, and they were out and about in it quite a bit. Much more than I thought they would choose.

The rain did not seem to bother them that much, but I would not say they enjoyed it. I personally think they missed the insects due to the stream running thru on the ground more than were bothered by the rain on their backs. The incident did stress them some, bit not as much as I would have thought, in hindsight.

 

[donrae]

I'm in the Pacific Northwest. If my birds didn't go out in the rain, they'd be coop-bound from November to May

I let them chose to go out on their own, and they spend a surprising amount of time out in the rain.

But then again, so do I. Otherwise I'd be house bound from November to May, and I think my family would shoot me