Wet roos

For the last few days I've been moving the roos during the day into the goat paddock to eat bugs while giving my hens a chance to rest up from their persistent company. There are 8 of them.
Usually I haul them back to the coop at sundown. Today we happen to be out till 9pm and it rained. Happily I found all 8 roos. Earlier I had put one NH roo back in the coop when he had left the goat area. I found two roos asleep on the chicken yard fence, one asleep in the grass at the base of the fence. All three were soaking wet. The other 3 roos had taken shelter with the goats in their lean too. The goats were huddled at the outer edge trying to stay away from the roos!

Will the 3 wet ones suffer any ill effects from this? They're all back in their coop now.

MollyD

Molly, why were they wet?
Mine have gotten wet in the rain and if you put your hand under their wings you will find them pretty dry in there. Anyway, I think a good shaking they will be fine.

Now for question 2.. other than the fact you get impatient (I know I do) why do you take them back.. if I have the time to wait them out.. all my guys and girls go to their designated rooms at bedtime.. well they are good kids... they all go about 1/2 hour before sundown.. it is barely dusk and they all head to bed.. by dark they are snoring.. I go in and count, close up and lock..

And... (bad mommy) I have also come home very late, had left the coop doors closed.. some of the birds will sleep all around the coop, but others are nowhere to be found.. so there is no sense in even searching for them.. lucky you they staid nearby.. I always feel pretty guilty when that happens.

I think if they are in a warmish, draft-free place they should be fine.

my buckeyes are heavy feathered, and many times stay out in the rain.... must be right, that it doesn't soak through...

hmm, ok.. cartoon vision...

MOLLY>> DO NOT SHAKE YOUR CHICKENS... lol

I meant to let them shake the water off.. kind of like a dog...

silly farmers...

frans530 they go back because they won't stay at night over in the goat area. They jump the fence and run for their old coop. During the day they're willing to stay but come dusk they start jumping out. They don't really have good shelter in there either. The goats don't want to share their space and there isn't a lot of perching spots. I can't have a lot of overhanging things in there because the goats would get their heads (and horns) caught.
This morning the chickens are real quiet. Heard one roo crow around 6:30. I'm having a much needed late morning myself.
They were wet cause it was such a soaking rain. When we picked them up we could tell they were soaked clear through.

We didn't shake them, ;-) Just stirred them a little ^_^

MollyD

This morning they seemed okay. I didn't move them to the goats today cause it's overcast and looks like rain in spite of the forecast. Tomorrow they'll go back to work.

MollyD

Thats what I meant Molly, why were you chasing them out.. I figured they would go by themselves.. I do the same with mine.. I have 19 layers and I give them turns in with the goat and the dog pen.. they love it.. and actually some days I just leav it all open.. of course the pens are in a fenced in area... and I didn't jump in with 3 feet like you did... lol.. so I have very small numbers.

I just didn't know why you were working so hard catching chickens when the walk home on their own..

and.. my girl was how do you say.. de horned as a baby (kid) but I put an old small pvc laundy basket frame on its side in her pen and the hens love to perch on it when they take thier afternoon break.

frans530 you don't understand. This is a high predator area and they were out in the open after dark. Not a time to wait for them to go home when there was no way they could. The chicken coop has it's own fence and the goat paddock has another fence. In between is about 500+ feet of space with no fencing at all. Wild things travel through there all the time.

It was pouring rain and they were sound asleep one on the ground and two on the fence. Because there is netting over that section of the chicken yard they would never have been able to get in that way.

Over in the goat paddock those had been smart enough to take shelter in the goat lean to but it was bothering the goats. They were milling around in the rain at the entrance to their shelter. Normally this wouldn't be a problem but those goat are on antibiotic for a bad cold they've all got so not a time for them to be wet.

Believe me I'm not the paranoid over protective type!

MollyD

haha.. I knew that.. wasn't sure of your set up...
And even though I thought I was the tough chicken rearing woman.. when a lady came to buy Billy the Bully, the black Silkie Roo... I reached down and picked him up.. gave him a nice pet goodbye... told her what I fed him.. where he slept his habits... and so on... she gulped.. said she just wanted a rooster to protect and breed with her hens.. she wasn't after a pet.... gulp... geez... I didn't really think these were my pets... well not really, I mean I love all my animals.. and I like to think I take very good care of them.. and I WILL-NOT be bullied by a rooster so if that means handling him... does that make him a pet??

Anyway off topic... I knew you were tough..

Did you say your goat pens weren't set up so that you could add perches? My roos roost about 8ft off the ground in the rafters overhead, but we have top rails on some of our 4ft goat fencing so they can sorta hop up. They have all spent days out free ranging during hurricane rains to no ill effect, btw.

grownut if my roos did that they'd be sitting on an electric fence!

edited to add that it's also getting cold here at night (into high 40's some days) so cold + wet = bad situation.

MollyD

This message was edited Aug 29, 2008 4:39 PM