The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[MrsHall28]

My poor chickens!! It's raining so much outside. Most amount of rain I've seen within this short a time period in years. Plus there is tons of wind and lighting. It's not safe enough for me to go out into my backyard. I hope my chickens are ok in their coop!! Their coop does have a little window on it so I'm hoping too much water isn't getting in. It is elevated a decent amount too, so Although the backyard is starting to flood a little bit it should be ok I hope ...

 

[Leahs Mom]

My poor chickens!! It's raining so much outside. Most amount of rain I've seen within this short a time period in years. Plus there is tons of wind and lighting. It's not safe enough for me to go out into my backyard. I hope my chickens are ok in their coop!! Their coop does have a little window on it so I'm hoping too much water isn't getting in. It is elevated a decent amount too, so Although the backyard is starting to flood a little bit it should be ok I hope ...

My chickens always go out in the rain. I was surprised to see it but they'll be outside, soaking wet looking like "drowned rats" just going about business as usual. Some of them will go in if it gets crazy windy.

 

[heartsizedfarm]

My poor chickens!! It's raining so much outside. Most amount of rain I've seen within this short a time period in years. Plus there is tons of wind and lighting. It's not safe enough for me to go out into my backyard. I hope my chickens are ok in their coop!! Their coop does have a little window on it so I'm hoping too much water isn't getting in. It is elevated a decent amount too, so Although the backyard is starting to flood a little bit it should be ok I hope ...

Imagine if they were jungle fowl and had no coop at all. They'd be much more wet and miserable. That's what I tell myself. We also have ferocious thunderstorms today.

 

[armorfirelady]

Lots of rain here also........ Girls are surrounded with water. I told them to quack & pretend they are ducks When I wet to check on them they were fine. Big girls are soaked so that tells me they just came in. When the rain stops I'm sure they will be out hunting worms and can a dip in their lake if they want lol

 

[misbhaven]

mine are always out in the rain also. it is real wet here , Ihad a bucket feeder that needed filled last night thankfully, hubby did it I think the mud was 2 inches deep..hunting worm that come up for air.......busy day i have chicks hatching, realized a candle warmer the old sit a glass jar candle on type is the perfect thing for infusing oil for salves (speeds it up so no taking jars in and out of the sun and no double boiler which i don't do anyway..) I will spend hours collecting plantain, wild violet etc...

 

[MrsHall28]

So it's ok for them to be out and about in the mud? Guess as a first time chicken owner I'm just nervous about everything! Lol
They did fine during the awful storm last night, but now there is mud everywhere!

 

[misbhaven]

as long as they are feathered...let them out if they are cold etc or just don't like mud they will go back in their coop and pout...when it is wet big Nightcrawlers etc come up for air chickens love to get those

 

[Leahs Mom]

So it's ok for them to be out and about in the mud? Guess as a first time chicken owner I'm just nervous about everything! Lol
They did fine during the awful storm last night, but now there is mud everywhere!

If they are feathered like mb said, I just open the door like normal and let them choose. If they don't want to be out they'll come back in.

Might keep a watch for any bullies blocking the doors, though. That does happen sometimes.

My husband picked up a rubermaid dog house free from someone giving it away on the side of the road and I have that out too as a place to hide from hawks or somewhere they can get out of the rain if they want.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Oh...and if your run are is covered in mud, you might consider deep littering it. You can often get free wood chips dropped to your house from tree services when they're working in your area. I don't allow any impacted dirt/mud, etc in my chicken yards. The wood chips - and any old litter from inside - keeps the run healthy instead of impacted and a place for disease to grow. The deep littering allows for worms and bugs to grow and they can dig through it.

 

[misbhaven]

neither do I..hubby tills it with a mini tiller every couple weeks , and i rake it in between..one run is attached to my garage on in gets poured into and shaded so ground stays soaked..i just let them out in a large common run when that one gets yucky...a few escape and free range the much larger common run is mainly for my bantams and youngsters only 3 ft fence,..plenty of places to hide under rabbit cages, under the duck cage etc..