wet wet wet weather!

[roz]

My poor girls! I feel so bad for them today. We are in MA, and we had some really hot days a couple of weeks ago...now we are having torrential downpours today (with heavy winds) and yesterday. My girls are soaked! They are in a covered run but it is really wet in there, and maybe I'm putting my feelings on them, but I cant imagine they're having fun. Is there something I should be doing? It is 65 degrees out there. My husband says they'll go into the coop if they want to, but I just cant believe they are outside! Oh ya, and I'm trying to treat them with denagard today for repiratory issues...not great weather for that IMO!

 

[chicmom]

I always worry when that happens too (getting wet and chilled). Danagard works great! I've had to use it just recently. I let mine free range most of the time, and they're out running around in the rain here in Ohio too. Sometimes, I think they become tougher if you expose them to different types of weather instead of locking them in all the time....

Good luck and I know how you feel!
Sharon

 

[ChickiKat]

Is your run grassy or dirt. If dirt you could throw some straw in to soak up water... Otherwise I kind of agree with what you said about putting our feelings on the birds. Today we had a long soaker and I fretted about the kids getting too wet, the whole time I worried about the chickens the hummingbirds were flitting and darting about like there was no rain.....

 

[roz]

my run unfortunately is dirt with a few remaining wood chips. They decimated it a while ago. It's a bummer that the ground is wet though because they notoriously drink from dirty pockets in the dirt (mud at this point), instead of drinking their denagard!

 

[southerndesert]

Is there any way you could send some of that cool wet weather down here?

 

[Oregon Blues]

I suggest that you put a tarp on whatever side the wind is hitting the coop.

Then add some thick branches for the hens to roost on. That will get them up out of the mud and the tarp will cut the wind so it isn't blowing on them and chilling them.

They should be fine at 65 degrees, but you might start thinking ahead to winter.

 

[roz]

Southern desert...I would love to! Would you like the humidity as well? This is crazy! The few months of warm weather we have and we're getting jipped! My husband and I are contemplating moving to NC. I'm so done with these New England temps!

 

[roz]

Oregon Blues...you are right...I need to think ahead about the winter. I tried to tarp the run last year, but I was unsuccessful! I need to find a better way. I did at least fix something in my coop. We have a 4x6 coop, and there was a row of 6 nesting boxes along the 6 foot side of the coop. It took up a lot of space, and of course the girls always used the same one, so I just got rid of that "shelf" of boxes, and put in two plastic nesting boxes, made by miller company, above the coop floor...we have so much more space now! I'm so excited! I hope the girls share my enthusiasm!

 

[blueberrychickens]

Hi Roz! I too am in MA, my 8 girls have been out in the rain all day playing in the mud & puddles, they all looked like half drowned rats! They would definately be happier out in the rain than being locked in the coop all day. This summer has been a bummer of a summer, too much rain & not hot enough, only that one stretch of hot weather in July. Oh & the hummingbirds here were buzzing around chasing each other like there wasn't a care in the world. We put the lawn clippings in the run, it helps a bit w/ the mud but it's not a perfect solution. Come fall, I'll bag oak leaves to put in the run for the winter time, helps to keep them off the snow & gives them something to scratch around in.
Hopefully we'll see the sun again on Wednesday!!

 

[roz]

Hey blueberrrychickens! Nice to hear from someone else close by...we are in Westborough. I would love to put grass clippings in their coop, but I am so afraid to now! We have had worm issues ever since we started letting our girls out in a "daycare" pen on grass. Not that we have the chickens for eggs, but we have pretty much missed the entire summer of eating eggs...my husband has been giving me a hard time about why we have them around.
I didnt think about putting leaves in the coop. I put bark chips in last year but ran out before the snow. I'll have to remember that one!