How do you prepare your poultry pals when severe weather strikes?

[ChickenScratchFeathers]

Howdy Everyone!

As you may have heard, the Midwest was struck by some pretty devastating tornados and hail this week. I live in one of the areas that was heavily hit. Thoughts and prayers go out to those affected. With Spring and warmer temperatures quickly approaching for many of us, severe weather also creeps along with it.
This got me wondering, what do other poultry keepers do when tornado season is active? And how do you react when a watch or warning for severe weather is issued for your area?
Anyone have any tips for keeping poultry safe during severe weather events? Does anyone take any special precautions? How do you prepare your coops for strong winds and hail? I have also heard stories of chickens acting strangely when storms approach, has anyone had these experiences before?

Share any tornado or storm stories you have that deal with your outside animals!
We've brought animals indoors into our cellar/basement when tornado warnings have been issued.
Hurricanes, tornadoes, hail, wind, and flooding definitely are trickier when you have outside animals!

Enjoy the spring season and stay safe everyone!

 

[Mantisquailman]

What does your coop look like? That may help us give you some tips

 

[Folly's place]

Here in southern Michigan we (thankfully!) don't have as much severe weather as many of you experience.
What do we do? Our coop is built as well as most houses, not up to serious winds, but pretty sturdy. Electricity out there is up to code, fire is very unlikely. And we have at least 30 chickens, and in summer, often twice that number. No way can we save them all in a tornado! Our property is high and dry, and the birds won't be underwater, ever. Our house, may have a flooded basement if we get 6+ inches or rain, but again, we aren't on a flood plain.
We had both horses and cattle, with run-in sheds and pastures, nobody is locked in a barn. Again, can't bring them into our basement in a storm.
Our dogs and cats will be with us, safe as we will be.
Maybe with a very few chickens, they could come into the basement with us, but as it is, they are as safe as possible outside.
Do what you can do, and prioritize humans first!
Mary

 

[ChickenScratchFeathers]

What does your coop look like? That may help us give you some tips

I will have to post some pictures! We have multiple coops. All of our coops for the ducks and chickens pretty much look like many barns. We have the strong Amish built ones, because we get a lot of tornados in our area and wanted to keep them as safe as we could. Our turkey coop we built ourselves, and it looks like a regular chicken hutch. The only major concern we have right now though is the fencing surrounding our turkey coop. We have dog kennel panels surrounding the whole thing, covered in tarps. We fear the wind is going to grip it one of these days... We are trying to come up with solutions that can allow us to secure it even more!

 

[ChickenScratchFeathers]

Here in southern Michigan we (thankfully!) don't have as much severe weather as many of you experience.
What do we do? Our coop is built as well as most houses, not up to serious winds, but pretty sturdy. Electricity out there is up to code, fire is very unlikely. And we have at least 30 chickens, and in summer, often twice that number. No way can we save them all in a tornado! Our property is high and dry, and the birds won't be underwater, ever. Our house, may have a flooded basement if we get 6+ inches or rain, but again, we aren't on a flood plain.
We had both horses and cattle, with run-in sheds and pastures, nobody is locked in a barn. Again, can't bring them into our basement in a storm.
Our dogs and cats will be with us, safe as we will be.
Maybe with a very few chickens, they could come into the basement with us, but as it is, they are as safe as possible outside.
Do what you can do, and prioritize humans first!
Mary

Hello Mary!
Oh neat, I am from southwestern Ohio, so we get a lot of tornados and severe storms each year.
Okay, same here. We have some pretty sturdy coops as well, we invested some extra money and bought sturdy amish built coops. Our only major concern is the fencing surrounding the turkey coop, it is made up of dog kennel panels with tarps on them, and the wind really loves jostling it around. We currently are trying to figure out how to secure it more.
Neat! We have 15 chickens, 6 turkeys, 4 ducks, rabbits, and goats! So same here, we cant really bring them all inside like we used to be able too when they were younger XD.
Thank you for your comment! I enjoyed reading it!

 

[Mrs. K]

Have a solid coop/run. Let the birds make the decision. Mine can enter the coop at any time. Check when the storm is over.

Don't risk your life .

 

[AlwaysDawn]

I will have to post some pictures! We have multiple coops. All of our coops for the ducks and chickens pretty much look like many barns. We have the strong Amish built ones, because we get a lot of tornados in our area and wanted to keep them as safe as we could. Our turkey coop we built ourselves, and it looks like a regular chicken hutch. The only major concern we have right now though is the fencing surrounding our turkey coop. We have dog kennel panels surrounding the whole thing, covered in tarps. We fear the wind is going to grip it one of these days... We are trying to come up with solutions that can allow us to secure it even more!

You can try using t posts and tying them on the dog panels. That what I've done to keep the pen from flying away in windy weather.

 

[NagemTX]

So this is my Amazon pen after a very severe storm on Friday. We had wind gusts up to 70miles hr at times. Some of my smaller trees where sideways with the wind. Only issue I had was a two year old tarp on my main hoopcoop tore at the seams on the front.

On the hoopcoop will be building a solid roof this year on the roost end.

It's counter weighted by cinderblocks on the left corner and front right corner. Also have some 4×6s on the right side in preparation to build another pen. There is sand over the base feet up to and sometimes over the bottom bars.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

For snow, I cover some of my smaller cages with feed bags to block out the snow and wind as much as I can. Give shavings to the other pens.

Wind/rain, I don't do anything different besides making sure my prefabs aren't tornadoed

 

[Penpal]

Years ago we had a cattle panel hoop house for the donkeys and sheep, like the one pictured in NagemTX post, but with wood frame at each end and two metal fence posts. It survived 80 mph wind. In 100 mph wind one of the panels bent a little, but survived more years. The curve, facing the wind, is aerodynamic. The air goes around the structure.

At the same time, we had chickens in a small wooden coop, looking similar to an outhouse, again with two metal fence posts to secure it. This structure also survived. The greenhouse did not.