Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[ElleLovesDucks]

Elle, that's odd that your chickens are not seeking shelter if it is available to them. Mine are always scratching or hanging together under their stilted coop whenever it rains. I would guess it is not harmful for them to get wet, I just thought they didn't much like to get wet. Perhaps you got true PNW birds...

Or not the sharpest birds in the world. I'm thinking I'll just cover most of their run with tarp or something. haha.

 

[TerrorBird]

Quote:

We've got a 8 foot chain link fence all the way around the back, but we have had BOTH of our wonderful cats eaten by coyotes this summer . I've never been a giant cat lover, but these 2 melted my heart they were so well behaved, such god mousers, and such buddies. The coyotes were seen with 3 pups, and when they are teaching pups to kill, they form a pack mentality, so we know what happened to our cats. I've seen them TWICE in 2 weeks, running our fence line, sniffing the air. Next they will be digging under it. There's no way I can put perimeter wire under an acre of chain-link fence. I called Fish and Game-it's 100% legal to shoot coyotes, so long as it's a "legal-to-shoot" area. hummmmm.

Did your cats get to the other side of the fence, or did the coyotes make it over the fence? I'm wondering because we're putting up a big chain link fence after Pengin was taken. I'm sorry that your kitties were taken.

 

[Hinotori]

Hey there. So it's started raining quite regularly and my pullets aren't scratching under shelter like I had expected. Should I worry about them getting wet?

Unless it is actually pouring down, my birds will be out in the rain foraging. Even pouring rain doesn't stop my brahmas half the time. I have to lock the silkies up when it's raining because they also won't come in from the rain and they soak quickly.

 

[Hinotori]

tied it off with dental floss, cut off dangly leaky parts. chick is doing fine, eating, drinking, preening. sleeps on a snuggle safe disk (2 in Rubbermaid tub), under a rumpled cloth diaper. runs to any hands reaching in.

chick looks great now, the remaining sack is dried up snug against her abdomen. She is between me and the keyboard eating and drinking now and just made her first poop - rather large.

Hope she makes it. Sometimes you just have to do what you think is best. I only had one hatch early with just a bit of the sack hanging out. I kept it in a container with a handwarmer and warm wet washcloth and it pulled it in and dried up within an hour. I've never had a large amount sticking out. I'd just make sure that little chick gets plenty of food and water right away.

 

[ElleLovesDucks]

Unless it is actually pouring down, my birds will be out in the rain foraging. Even pouring rain doesn't stop my brahmas half the time. I have to lock the silkies up when it's raining because they also won't come in from the rain and they soak quickly.

Well mine have been stalked by some hawks lately, so until the enclosure gets a roof I put them in a pen with a lid that we had for our dogs. Which is fine, but they can't get back to their coop and they wont stand where they're safe from the rain. I'm thinking I'll just let them go peck for a few hours. Their coop is really big (I built it thinking of getting more pullets later one when these gals start laying), and they're just pullets, so I know they're okay in their pen. When I went out this morning they were snuggling in the corner and didn't even get up for raisins (or chicken crack as the man who sold them to me called it) So I let them sleep in.

 

[Hinotori]

Oh and my birds love pools of water for hunting. They will stand in it and wait for some insect to move. Needless to say the brahmas do not have pretty looking foot and leg feathers.

 

[TurtlePowerTrav]

Elle, that's odd that your chickens are not seeking shelter if it is available to them.  Mine are always scratching or hanging together under their stilted coop whenever it rains.  I would guess it is not harmful for them to get wet, I just thought they didn't much like to get wet.  Perhaps you got true PNW birds...

Hey there. So it's started raining quite regularly and my pullets aren't scratching under shelter like I had expected. Should I worry about them getting wet?

Unless it is actually pouring down, my birds will be out in the rain foraging. Even pouring rain doesn't stop my brahmas half the time. I have to lock the silkies up when it's raining because they also won't come in from the rain and they soak quickly.

Mine will stay out in the rain all day, unless it dumps hard. They look so miserable when they are soaked

 

[chickiemomy]

Quote: Mine will stay out in the rain all day, unless it dumps hard. They look so miserable when they are soaked
Mine too --They end up looking practically drowned, but don't seem to mind.

However the very first time it rained - drizzling actually- when they were first outside -- they did go running in a panic- truly a sky is falling moment.

 

[mikeyb]

Quote: Mine stay out in the rain unless it is wind driven or a hard downpour. Even then they don't back to their covered run, the tend to hang out in the covered dust bath area.
Since they don't worry, neither do I.
Dumb chickens. Let's see, I cooked extra rice for them, I buy melons for them, cracked corn, scratch, I scramble eggs (with shell particles) for them, they have a covered run, nearly an acre to play in, places to hide, they're out by 2pm and they roost when they feel like it. Did I mention two large poultry waterers and a 5-7 lb feeder, all raised or hanging to keep out dirt, etc. Yep, really stupid. Oh, did I say I hand feed these dummies bread, biscuits, tortillas? Dumb birds.

They also like spaghetti noodles.

 

[Totalcolour]

Dumb chickens. Let's see, I cooked extra rice for them, I buy melons for them, cracked corn, scratch, I scramble eggs (with shell particles) for them, they have a covered run, nearly an acre to play in, places to hide, they're out by 2pm and they roost when they feel like it. Did I mention two large poultry waterers and a 5-7 lb feeder, all raised or hanging to keep out dirt, etc. Yep, really stupid. Oh, did I say I hand feed these dummies bread, biscuits, tortillas? Dumb birds.

They also like spaghetti noodles.

Hmm, dumb birds, let me see? Just what do they do for you, and how much do YOU do for THEM? Dumb birds indeed