staying outside in a storm and sloooooowww chicken?

[chickencity]

yesterday it rained while i was not home. i figured that the chickens would go inside with the goats (they get along). they alway put their selfs up into the coop when i open the gate. their coop is not in the pasture b/c we built by the garage b/c of the electricity thinking we would but wheels on it and then move it down there. well it sunk into the ground and is stuck. but anyway they didn't go inside. not even under a tree! they stood in the corner of the fence. why would they not go inside in really bad storm?

I also have a question about one of my BR. she seems to slower then the others. it takes a awhile for her to figure out that you walk around a gate and not through it all the hens will walk around the gate but she will just run into it. and that you jump into the coop and not under it. all the hens will walk to the coop and jump up but she just keeps walking and then stops and looks around for the other hens. she also will not come to me or come to the feeder by herself. if i put her in the coop and then but down feed she will not see it but if the other hens go for the feed then she will to. she seems to get along fine with others and also free ranges well but will sometimes get separated and just stand there looking around until another hen walks by and then she'll follow them.

 

[arlee453]

They will stand out in a deluge.

We had a flash flood through our property last week - about 6" of rain in less than an hour, and hail to boot, and 1/2 of the chickens just stood out in it, on the little part of high ground that wasn't under water. You think they'd have gone in the coop to stay dry....nope!

And yes, I think chickens come in all intellectual levels too...

 

[chickencity]

Im really hopping this chicken grows out of it. the other day i was tempted to leave her out there with the goats. she followed the flock to the gate put once again she didn't go through it but ran the fence line trying to figure out how they got out. she wouldn't let me catch her or follow the feed. so i left her and tried again later. i finally cornered her and got her in.

And i honestly thought that they would go inside. or at least under a tree. will they start to go in as they get older?

 

[arlee453]

I think as far as the rain thing, age doesn't matter. My guys are all sorts of ages and I think it's more personal preference which go under shelter and which just act like it's not raining.

They do know how to put themselves to bed though. If I have them out free ranging they will always return through the gate into their pen when it starts to get dark.

 

[crooked stripe]

My 7 hens run to the coop as soon as the rain starts falling. I do have one who will from time to time run at the fenced in run and then back in forth till she finds the door to get in. 1/2 the run has a roof over it and they watch it rain from there. John

 

[DDRanch]

My girls will duck into the 2 dog houses I have near the coop and pen area (put them out so they could have places to hide from hawks) when it rains and just watch from inside. During a particularily heavy storm last fall, I had to physically carry each one of them from the dog house to their coop....they either didn't know how to get there or figured I would do it for them....and I did.

I have one older BR who seems to get stuck near a fence and can't figure out how to follow the fence back to the coop/pen area. Even though she has travelled this path for several years, I have noticed lately I have to go and guide her home, once the other girls come back to the coop. She just stands there by the fence and seems lost. As long as there are others with her, I haven't worried, but I don't like her in the field all by herself.I thought it might be due to older age? But now I am wondering if it might be the breed?

Is it possible that your BR is visually impaired in some way?

Anne

 

[chickencity]

my mom also thought the same thing...that she might not see that good. she is also smaller than my other BR

 

[chilling in muscadine]

There's alway's one in the bunch that does that. Don't know why