chickens and hurricane Sandy

[biddyconnolly]

Hi to all you fellow chicken keepers,
Keep well during the hurricaine, hope and pray you alll all be ok and that the farmyard animals survive. I have been tracking the storm from Ireland and it looks pretty bad.

 

[Attila the Hen]

I'm with you. I wish everyone in this storm's path safety and blessings. It is one of my nightmares, having to evacuate or try to protect all my animals from a storm.
I heard them announce that if you have a pet bring it with you. I have 7 cats, 4 dogs and 8 chickens. Now what shelter would take us?
How are you all faring?

 

[rufflemyfeather]

I am in PA and it looks like we are going to get the brunt of Sandy's wrath.. I have 3 week old babies under the lamp... any ideas on keeping them warm if (or it sounds like WHEN) I lose power.. I don't want my babies to die!!!

 

[canesisters]

Thank you so much for the well wishes.
So far here in south central Virginia we've only had light rain and some steady winds. Not even as bad as our typical Summer thunderstorms. However, the real storm (for us) isn't supposed to hit till tonight/tomorrow morning. We often get one good hurricane each year and it's the ones that hit during the night that are the worst. All you can do is lay there in the dark and listen to things crashing around you. I'm hoping that we continue to be 'just on the outskirts' of it.

Good Luck to yall in western and northern VA - any snow yet??? It's so weird to think about snow and hurricane at the same time!!!

 

[Attila the Hen]

I am in PA and it looks like we are going to get the brunt of Sandy's wrath.. I have 3 week old babies under the lamp... any ideas on keeping them warm if (or it sounds like WHEN) I lose power.. I don't want my babies to die!!!

Hopefully, someone with more experience will respond. I would get cardboard, blankets and hot water bottles. If you have a fireplace you can boil water and fill the bottles. Of course it you have a fire place put the babies near it. Personally, I'd use my own body heat if I had to.
Good luck.

 

[rufflemyfeather]

right now they are out in a shed under a heat lamp.. i think im going to bring them in and do my best. we have a propane fireplace to heat our basement.. i think i can keep them around 60-70 degrees. will they die at that temp?

 

[SallyinIndiana]

how much of a temp change will it be for them? If they are 3 weeks, a temperature of 70 should not be a very large shock but 60 is cold even for people.

 

[rufflemyfeather]

they are actually feathered in pretty well.. it least the standard sized ones are.. its better than staying in a cold shed with no heat at all..i will give them warm water.. hopefully power wont be out too long

 

[kdwag]

Is your heat lamp portable? At 3 weeks, mine were in our garage with a lamp at around 80 degrees, if it got below that, they would huddle on top of one another which I understand may cause suffocation of those on the bottom. What about a cardboard box or dog crate with some warm towels inside? We are in Ohio near Toledo and are supposed to get some pretty strong winds--it's been rainy and windy all day so far. My babies are just a day shy of 8 weeks old and I have them locked inside their coop with the heat lamp on, temp in their coop looks around 70 but I'm not sure what to do tonight. They've been in their coop for a couple of weeks now without a heat source at night but this is the coldest/windiest its been so far. I did wrap their coop in a big tarp with vents exposed.....decisions decisions and this weather is HORRIBLE. Please stay safe whatever you end up doing.

 

[rufflemyfeather]

i do have both a dog crate and tuperware containers.. i will put towels inside with food and water. near the fireplace.. i know i can get them through this..