RAIN

[AnnaB]

The poor new girls had their first swimming lesson today....The run was flooded as the field drains into the garden, we have a gravel path the full length of it and the concrete edgings were shedding water straight into the run. I quickly moved the gravel to one side (well as quick as I could there is 30ft of it) and made a channel for the water. It is now flowing very fast down the channel and not into the run. I got really soaked but at least the girls will be able to dry off.

[melons]

I'm just about to go home from work, I'm flapping about mine & my poor neighbours girls too. I had to water proof my neighbours girls last night, they were soaked, they have already had one cold this year, I'm not prepared to risk that while they're in my charge, I hope my neighbours are ok about my minor changes when they get back, the whole chicken area is a shadow of it's former self they're lucky that I didn't also burn the hen house when I discovered it bouncing round the garden as it was "so" full of mites!
I've made them a perch, changed all their water & feed bowls, covered their run in plastic corrugated stuff, then tarpulin on top of that, burnt all their bedding & put them on shredded paper, having scrubbed it out, covered in poultry shield & redmite dust! Interferring ole busy body or what?
I rescued those girls, so I feel very attached to them.
My lasses will be all stood in a row in the bottom of their hen house, they hate it, they are always so motionless when it rains.
Keep up the good work with your flood defences.
Think of me also getting soaked in a bout an hour from .........now!

[wendy]

Hasn't it been appalling ?
My stupid lot were just standing out in it. Try as I may I couldn't get them to go in their little house. Where they had made huge dust bath's it had turned into their very own swimming pool!!
Wendy

[Clive]

I'm lucky in that, before becoming a chicken palace, our coop was a half-brick mock-tudor summerhouse, complete with soft lino covered concrete floor, tiled roof, lights, heater and eaves ventilation.....

Even so, they only go in once the light starts to fade severely and prefer to huddle together around the base of a large clump of bamboo, or under a wisteria covered ornamental arch.....

If they keep chosing the rain rather than some real shelter I'm going to take their music-centre, pot-plants and TV out.....

[AnnaB]

melons
Hope it wasn't too bad when you got home. I suppose that if you hadn't done next doors coop they would have blamed it on you...

Wendy
Yes its awful and what a wicked 'mother' I am. At 6pm I couldn't stand it any longer - I took big towels down to the run, towelled them all off one at a time (including muddy feet) and popped them in the coop for the night.
Lets hope they get a bit of sunshine tomorrow.

Clive
You're terrible!!

[melons]

Everything was as dry as you can expect in these conditions, even our baby balckbirds fledged in it
My girls are yet again sporting muddy platform shoes, their beaks are equally muddy, but if it rains, they run like mad to get in.

I am equipped with a "sexy" paper suit, face mask, goggles & a blow torch for my next offensive on next doors hen house, the girls can go in the rabbit run for the day & I'm going in for the kill!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Then poultry shield, then red mite dust, I'm just about to order some of that Diotom stuff, they'll not survive my onslaught!
We'll have 3 beautiful girls & house for their return from their hol's.
I rescued the chickens from work for my neighbour, they were going to have their necks rung for a student vet dissection class, so I stole 3 :wink:
Hope everyone else survived this rain, my boss is at the Newmarket races tonight.....mmm!

[Richard]

This morning I looked at the water and thought 'won't fill it up' as the worlds going to end today with torrential flooding here.
So I left it for the overflow pipe to do it for me.

It drizzle rained til about 11am. Stopped and we played cricket from 2pm until 6.30 in basking sun!

Chickens don't like the rain much though.