MagicTheFamiliar
In the Brooder
We live in Charleston, SC and are expecting Florence to come through in the next few days. We have been ordered to evacuate and are taking the dog and cat with us, But not the 7 chickens that I hand raised 6 months ago.
We built this predator proof run surrounded by hardware cloth over the summer and I feel like its pretty sturdy, but obviously we've never hurricane tested it. Im just worried about their safety being exposed in potentially 60-70 mph storms. My mom is very against keeping the birds inside and is sure that if we secure a tarp over the run, remove projectiles, and tie down the coops then they'll be okay. The thing is, the run is surrounded on all sides by hardware cloth except for a small area so during thunderstorms the chickens tend to be soaked afterward. I'm especially worried about the silkies being wet for so many days in a row (they won't willingly go into their coop so i'm worried they will sit out the whole time). Won't they get cold and sick?
I just think that if we have to evacuate the house, then why would we leave them outside? And if keeping them inside in a room is a better idea, if power goes out will temperatures be okay? Are there other inside dangers to watch out for? Has anybody whose done this before know what would be the best decision?
We built this predator proof run surrounded by hardware cloth over the summer and I feel like its pretty sturdy, but obviously we've never hurricane tested it. Im just worried about their safety being exposed in potentially 60-70 mph storms. My mom is very against keeping the birds inside and is sure that if we secure a tarp over the run, remove projectiles, and tie down the coops then they'll be okay. The thing is, the run is surrounded on all sides by hardware cloth except for a small area so during thunderstorms the chickens tend to be soaked afterward. I'm especially worried about the silkies being wet for so many days in a row (they won't willingly go into their coop so i'm worried they will sit out the whole time). Won't they get cold and sick?
I just think that if we have to evacuate the house, then why would we leave them outside? And if keeping them inside in a room is a better idea, if power goes out will temperatures be okay? Are there other inside dangers to watch out for? Has anybody whose done this before know what would be the best decision?