The hen house is a converted field shelter and the alpacas who live in the same field as the chickens often run in there for shelter if there is a sudden downpour. It gets pretty crowded and the alpacas don't understand that the hay in the nesting boxes is not for them so things get a bit hectic and untidy at times.
It is difficult to decide what the alpacas consider is heavy enough rain to warrant a run to cover. Sometimes they just continue grazing in what seems to be quite extreme weather and other times they will take shelter at the drop of a hat.
The chickens are easier to predict - they don't like rain if it is more than a light drizzle and equally they like to go into the shade if it is a really hot day but otherwise they just meander apparently aimlessly around from feeder to shelter to nesting box and sometimes lie in the summer sun with their wings outstretched to keep themselves cool.
This week the alpacas all had their first injection of ADE which we administer every couple of months in the winter as they need more vitamin D than our native species. We also gave them a dose of medication to prevent fluke which is a parasitic worm which can occur when the weather is wet and not too cold.
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