Hi all! Silly issue but my chickens won't go in the coop during a thunderstorm! This concerns me only because we live in Colorado and hail that is shooter marble size or larger coming down is totally normal. They will shelter under the coop but NONE will go in. IDK what to do. I don't want to look out after a storm and find a dead chicken because a hail stone hit her because she wasn't smart enough to go inside. Thoughts? Oh, and if breeds make any difference, I have 3 Buff Orps and 3 Barred Rocks (about 4 months old.)
We get rain a lot here. My chickens don't mind it and actually prefer it, good worm hunting in a hard rain or just after. Mine can get to shelter if it bothers them and on some days they just sit on a pallet under the cover of the barn and let it rain while they nap and then in a while they are back out side exploring and getting wet. For me, I figure they know more about being outside as a chicken then I do. They are just so hard wired by mother nature and have managed to survive despite living with humans
If they were mine I'd make them go in! Hail is no joke. They probably don't like the sound of the rain hitting the roof..?
You did state that they take shelter under the coop, so they should be safe there. I'd just leave them. Please don't put yourself in danger by going out in the storm to put them in. Your life is much more important than that of a chicken. Mine free range and don't put themselves in the coop during a storm, either, but do find other shelter.
When our six pullets were seven weeks old they were staying outdoors in the chicken tractor until I could get the run/coop finished. One afternoon we had a TREMENDOUS thunderstorm so I ran home and checked on them. They were huddled under their plywood shelter doing just fine as the torrents of rain came down. Like a dummy I decided to put another bigger sheet of plywood over the tractor. The girls freaked out and ran to the farthest (exposed) corner of the tractor just as a lightning bolt struck about 100 feet away. I just about died of a heart attack, but the girls just kept piling on top of each other in the corner oblivious to the rain or lightning. I tried to shoo them back to cover. No Dice. When I got home later that evening they were fine. Now that we have the coop, they usually just get under it when there's a thunderstorm. Or wander around as if it's a lot of fun being wet. They are birds after all.
It's Hurricane Sandy and my three girls don't really care about the rain. I put some plastic sheeting up around two ends of the house but they seem fine and uninterested in the rain.
Lock them up during the thunderstorm(or any storm in Colorodo!) I just finished putting my roosters in the coop since we are having Hurrican Sandy right now. Chickens, though adorable, are not the smartest of animals(they do have small heads). Hope that helps, Half A Chance Farm
