Hurricane Irma

[Morganharper]

I've been thru plenty of hurricanes but this will be (if it comes my way) the first one that my girls will go thru. Just looking for any advice if any to keep them comfortable during it. They have a roof and their roost is also covered with another roof and walls. I'm just nervous!

 

[theuglychick]

I'm in Louisiana so we have our share of hurricanes and storms. I'm nervous about this one too. The trick for us is keeping them out of the wind and water. If they've got a safe, dry place then they should be fine.

 

[theuglychick]

Also, if you're in the path of it, it is good to stock up on feed and water (and I purchase some bird antibiotics just in case something pops up during or after).

Everything floods pretty easily here so getting feed after a major event can become impossible sometimes for a week or more. I went to tractor supply today and stocked up just in case.

 

[sbhkma]

Although we are not in the path of hurricanes here, when Harvey came through we had 20 inches of rain and 60pmp winds. My coop has a 2nd floor and I thought about putting a sheet of plywood over the hardware cloth window, but decided against is as it's better that the wind goes through vs blowing the thing over. I put food and water on the top floor for my birds and they didn't come down for almost 4 days. They had a creek flowing through the run and bottom level of the coop, but they stayed calm and dry. Like theuglychick, I stocked up on water, food for people, chickens, horses, dogs and cats "just in case" and had our generator ready to go. I hope Irma gets bored and goes away!

 

[tyler9593]

We are in the path of Irma, and I am nervous too because we live on a river, and we fear that it could rise and flood the area. It may not go that high, but I'm going to buy some sand bags or mound the dirt around the coop up as a precaution. Hope this isn't as bad as Charley!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

@KikisGirls may have some tips.

@theuglychick and @sbhkma both have great suggestions - definitely extra water and feed, first aid (we hope this is never touched).
You may find some ideas that you can use in this article too http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2011/08/hurricane-preparedness-for-backyard.html

 

[theuglychick]

We are in the path of Irma, and I am nervous too because we live on a river, and we fear that it could rise and flood the area. It may not go that high, but I'm going to buy some sand bags or mound the dirt around the coop up as a precaution. Hope this isn't as bad as Charley!

Yall and yalls birds (and families and communities) are in our thoughts.

 

[Fields Mountain Farm]

Hi all....Well I'm in Tennessee, but my 23 yr old daughter and her husband and 9 month old daughter are in Pensacola FL! She said they are ready to evacuate and come home if needed. Worried They'll wait too long and be stuck.
My heart and prayers go out to all in Irma's path. Please be safe and leave if at all possible. For those who don't have that option, prepare the best you can and stay in touch as much as possible.
May peace and blessings go with you all!!!

 

[TonyaS]

We just started building our little homestead a couple months ago and we have 18 chickens, 12 guineas and 5 ducks. The chickens and guineas have not started free ranging our property yet since they are not big enough to not be picked up by big prey flying around. The chickens spend their days in their large run and the guineas unfortunately have been too afraid to even come out of their coop to enjoy their large run (but I'm working on it). My ducks however are free range since they were already wild when I adopted them. We have already stocked up on feed, water and bedding for the coops but I'm concerned about how to protect them from flooding and high winds. The sand bag idea sounds like something we can definitely do and each coop has high roosts they can get up on in case the coops do flood in any way. I asked my husband if we could just let them all fly around freely in his large garage but he didn't think that would be a good idea, it would stress them out even more since that's not their "home". There are too many of them to try to take with us if we have to evacuate, not to mention we wouldn't have anywhere we could even take them since we also have 3 dogs and 2 cats. Someone mentioned having antibiotics on hand, I've been really lucky and have not had to buy that yet. Is there a specific kind or dosage I should look for? Thank you for any and all advice. Having all my sweet birds is new to me and I get choked up looking out back at them and thinking about what this storm could do...

 

[theuglychick]

Youre doing everything you can for them and thats really all you can do. I don't want to tell you all of this to make you worry, just share my experience to help you better prepare.

We went through the flooding back in August 2016 here. No wind, just 30 inches of water in 3 days. (My heart is so broken for Texas.)

The worst thing for our animals was the days on end of water standing in pastures and coops. Like 2-3 feet of water. The chickens couldn't get out of it so they basically stayed on roosts for days to even weeks in some areas. They were surprisingly ok hanging out like that. After the water receded, then we started seeing the diseases. Mostly respiratory or fungal infections.

A lot of my friends lost entire flocks and aviaries due to the diseases. I had mycoplasma gallisepticum (MG) run through mine and had to reduce a third of my flock.

Just try to Keep them high and dry. You can add boards up high to give them more room to "walk" above any water if you anticipate flooding. When it goes down, dry the coop out asap. Treat for mold and provide dry bedding as soon as you can.

I keep tylan, corid, and bird sulfa on hand. Keep the feed high and dry, too.

Just watch them after. Act swiftly at the first sign of sneezing or runny eyes. Quarantine and treat any birds at the first sign of anything! I had no idea what I was dealing with and before I could accurately identify the MG, it had spread to several birds.

Also, be aware that the water pushes predators in. I had foxes, raccoons, and coyotes pushed out by rising water from the swamp that surrounds my house. So be aware that you could be dealing with more predators.

We just started building our little homestead a couple months ago and we have 18 chickens, 12 guineas and 5 ducks. The chickens and guineas have not started free ranging our property yet since they are not big enough to not be picked up by big prey flying around. The chickens spend their days in their large run and the guineas unfortunately have been too afraid to even come out of their coop to enjoy their large run (but I'm working on it). My ducks however are free range since they were already wild when I adopted them. We have already stocked up on feed, water and bedding for the coops but I'm concerned about how to protect them from flooding and high winds. The sand bag idea sounds like something we can definitely do and each coop has high roosts they can get up on in case the coops do flood in any way. I asked my husband if we could just let them all fly around freely in his large garage but he didn't think that would be a good idea, it would stress them out even more since that's not their "home". There are too many of them to try to take with us if we have to evacuate, not to mention we wouldn't have anywhere we could even take them since we also have 3 dogs and 2 cats. Someone mentioned having antibiotics on hand, I've been really lucky and have not had to buy that yet. Is there a specific kind or dosage I should look for? Thank you for any and all advice. Having all my sweet birds is new to me and I get choked up looking out back at them and thinking about what this storm could do...