hurricane beryl

[Txchickhitch]

After a week without power we are somewhat back online. I have currently 12 chickens ranging from ages 6 years to 1 year. They are stickly layers and helping raise new chicks. We just went through a hurricane. I have been raised on the coast all my life; in fact, my family has lived on the gulf coast since the early 1800's. Hurricanes are a part of life. However, this is my first with chickens. First, I want everyone to know that they all survived there by the grace of God. My chicken house is a vevor tarp thing. I never really liked it because it is a giant tent. The eye of the hurricane came through late enough in the morning to be able to see what was going on. Didn't like that. We watched in horror as my coop was torn to shreds. Even the screw anchors were ripped completely out of the ground. I didn't handle it well emotionally. An hour after the worst part of it I was able to go outside and bring my birds inside the house. Wet, tired, but safe!! We were able to make quick repair so that they could find their normal and have a place to sleep that night.
Yup, there seems to be a bit of PTSD on all of us. Birds won't go in their coop when it rains, and I am freaking out about another simple storm. (Keep in mind I have also been through hurricane Ike and Harvey; it is different when you have animals outside.)
I know I should have had the birds inside before the storm hit (we have been through cat 1 before, just didn't think this would be so bad, it was 3 mph shy of being a cat 2). Any suggestion on how to handle another hurricane? How can I have them inside and everyone be okay with it? I had put them in a tent when I brought them in. I have no barn, or they would have been in there.
I have posted a picture of their coop.

 

[Penpal]

I have had a hoop house like the one pictured. Cattle panels. It survived 100 mph winds. However, inside were 2 donkeys and some sheep. This changes the (something) because of the mass. Just like if you are buckled the car and it rolls over, you live. The car crushes around you not on you. Chickens being so much smaller, maybe they didn't have the physical mass.

Maybe your next coop could be a round house. I'm thinking of that myself. We don't get hurricanes, but we get tornadoes. Tornadoes that take down barns.

 

[Txchickhitch]

It has cattle fencing around the sides to keep dogs out. I think the fact that the tarps ripped off is what kept the coop on the ground. The floor is decking built out of 2x4s and timber rails. I have found myself going to the extreme and looking at Carolina Coops. So tempting.

 

[SourRoses]

I'm glad you made it through, with all your birdies too!


For one hurricane we had the chickens in a spare bedroom, but we had too many roos to bring them all inside (the room being used for storage also halved the space, and we ran out of cages).
We had a big 8ft wide tent on one side of the room with the main flock in it, and used the room wall corner area and the tent wall to put some big broken down cardboard boxes up against, making a spot for another flock. The rest of the roos had to stay outside in the coops, they came through fine but I thought it would at least help them if there was more space for them to flap around or find a choice spot or whatever. Plus, our yard was prone to flooding, so needing to feed less outside was helpful for us in the two days of stormy weather.

It was dark in the room. So we let them sleep for most of the time. We did light it up when we thought they needed to eat and drink, most were taking care of themselves by the dim light from a covered window but some needed a full "wake-up" before they were going to snack. That also stirred up the flock though so we kept the sessions brief.

I think the part that makes us anxious and dreading a repeat is the feeling of helplessness when you realize you can't do anything in the moment and it's out of our hands.
The solution I've found for that feeling is to do more ahead of time.
We prep for humans by having certain hurricane supplies and an idea (hopefully) how we'd get out. That makes us feel better.
We need the same for our animals. So if you need a different tent, more cages, whatever, try to prioritize getting them.
After we finally felt prepared for another storm season, we didn't get any last year! Then we had to move, downsize the flock, and trim down the gear we were keeping...