Hurricane flipped coop, now chickens wont sleep in nesting area at night.

[Vicker]

I'm sorry for what you've been through. Why do you have a heated nestbox?

 

[Abby3465]

On the same boat as you, My run area of my coop was damaged by trees falling on it and the intense winds, One of the branches hit my hen and when we pulled it out there was a large wound and her feathers were missing, Another branch trapped my 3 chicks and we had to lift the large parts of the trees to free them, They made a full recovery. I am a bit curious if anybody else was damaged by Hurricane helene.

We got damage from Helene too. 20 minutes from the west coast of Florida, not far from Cedar Key. A tree fell directly on my coop area. Right on the roost bars where 3 of our 5 hens sleep. Fortunately, I'd brought ours in our house to their temporary hurricane shelter, before the storm hit. Had I not done that, I'd only have my 2 silkies left. That Tree would have definitely killed them. We've fixed the coop area and everything is fine now. We were lucky!

 

[WaterfowlsPoultry]

We got damage from Helene too. 20 minutes from the west coast of Florida, not far from Cedar Key. A tree fell directly on my coop area. Right on the roost bars where 3 of our 5 hens sleep. Fortunately, I'd brought ours in our house to their temporary hurricane shelter, before the storm hit. Had I not done that, I'd only have my 2 silkies left. That Tree would have definitely killed them. We've fixed the coop area and everything is fine now. We were lucky!

Oh great job keeping them safe! We would have brang our chickens in but we have 8 (not including the chicks) and nowhere for them to stay during the night, and my rooster is quite the dark crower! (He always crows at night if something wakes him up) Our hen has since made a recovery, she just lost a lot of feathers so we hope she will have her feathers back once she molts.

 

[Abby3465]

Oh great job keeping them safe! We would have brang our chickens in but we have 8 (not including the chicks) and nowhere for them to stay during the night, and my rooster is quite the dark crower! (He always crows at night if something wakes him up) Our hen has since made a recovery, she just lost a lot of feathers so we hope she will have her feathers back once she molts.

Yeah...if we had any more than 5, I don't know what I'd do. That shelter in the photos is only 2.5 - 3 foot by 6 foot. It's a snug fit compared to what they're used too, but it works in an emergency. I also have my art studio on the other side of the house to set them up in. We definitely have an advantage in terms of space & number of hens.
I can understand trying to manage more than 5.
So glad your girl has recovered! Hopefully she'll get her feathers back!

 

[WaterfowlsPoultry]

Yeah...if we had any more than 5, I don't know what I'd do. That shelter in the photos is only 2.5 - 3 foot by 6 foot. It's a snug fit compared to what they're used too, but it works in an emergency. I also have my art studio on the other side of the house to set them up in. We definitely have an advantage in terms of space & number of hens.
I can understand trying to manage more than 5.
So glad your girl has recovered! Hopefully she'll get her feathers back!

We do have a walk-in garage/basement underneath our house that we could have put them in, Only issue is that unfortunately it floods during rain so we could not quite trust keeping them in there that's for sure.

 

[Lomasi]

So the run is predator proof? That's good. I would still take @U_Stormcrow's advice and put them in manually. He has a ton of experience and is also a respected Educator, as indicated by the black "tag" next to his name.

You said their nesting area is heated. Thats not good. First they dont need heat. As long as they in a place where theres no wind blowing their feathers around, they fluff up and hold their body heat in to stay warm. Even down to single digits. By offering them a heated coop, youre setting them up for severe hardship. If theyre used to heated coop, they arent putting in the full coat they need for the winter. If your power goes out or there's another disaster like this in the winter, they will die when that heater goes off, bc theyre not acclimated to the cold. They are built for this. Heating their coop is a recipe for disaster for them and heartache for you.

 

[Bawkbok]

My heart goes out to all of you who are so drastically impacted by the hurricanes. It's impressive that you devote time to BYC and helping others when you need so much help yourselves. Your resiliency and dedication speaks of your strong character. Best wishes and blessings to you for a full and quick recovery, although I know for many, there will be no complete recovery when losing loved ones.
My husband and have talked about if we were younger and in better health we would pack the boots, gloves and shovels and head north to help. All we have to offer is $, well wishes and prayers. God's Grace to you all.

 

[Jerry_h23]

So Hurricane Helene came through our town in SC. Destroyed alot, including flipping my 1000 pound chicken coop while my chickens were in their sleeping/nesting area. Luckily it wasnt TERRIBLY damaged. But it Killed 2, trapped 1, and flung the other 2 out. Leaving them vulnerable for the next few hours. The 3 survivors were not harmed much if at all. But I'm POSITIVE it was very traumatizing. Now, they'll go in the run at night (they're free range during the day). They'll even go in the nesting area to lay eggs. But they will NOT stay in the nesting area. It's now getting down into the low 30s at night. Lower soon. Im afraid they would rather freeze to death instead of going into their heated nesting box now because it was so traumatizing. What should I do? I love my chickens and my whole family is upset enough about losing 2. What can I do?? PLEASE HELP!!!

Your chickens will be just fine with the temperature. When I lived in McGrath, Alaska I had a good size flock. They had an unheated coop. They would get up on t

 

[Abby3465]

We do have a walk-in garage/basement underneath our house that we could have put them in, Only issue is that unfortunately it floods during rain so we could not quite trust keeping them in there that's for sure.

Yikes! That's just as bad as worrying about the wind. Yeah, I wouldn't trust that either. Well, hopefully the storms are done for the season and we'll all have a nice quiet winter!

 

[Kiki]

They dont free range at night. Only during the day. When darkness falls they go into the run and I lock the door. It's just they would rather sleep on the cold ground in the run instead of go in their heated nesting area at night now that the storm has past.

Maybe it's too hot in there.
Can you stop the added heat?