Hurricane prep, need advice

[topochico225]

Hey y'all!

We've got a Cat 2 or 3 hurricane making landfall Sunday and aiming straight for Baton Rouge. Welcome, Ida I've got an Omlet Eglu with 13ft run and Autodoor for my 3 standard hens and a separate coop/run combo for my 2 POL d'Uccle pullets. Link to their coop page. I'm going to bring all of the chickens inside. I bought big dog crates for just this purpose What should I do to make sure the coops are shored up as well as they can be during the storm? Hurricane conditions are possible here.

TIA!

 

[3KillerBs]

Best I can say is to stake them down firmly with storm ties and take in any tarps, shade cloths, canvas covers, etc.

 

[Geckolady]

I have zero experience with hurricanes, but want to tell you to take care, please be safe!

 

[U_Stormcrow]

@3KillerBs has the right of it. Take down anything you can that can act as a sail - tarps, loose pieces of plastic or metal roofing, etc. Stake down everything you can. Earth augurs work great - wire stakes do not.

If you can't get these, you can wrap rope or steel cable around a cinder block, throw the block in a hole, and fill it back up with dirt - basically you are using the weight of the ground as a tie down.

If you are fortunate enough to have a pool (and given your water table, I know that's unlikely), give it a shock treatment, then throw all your loose outdoor furniture in it. Being submerged protects it from wind, and the shock treatment ensures (assuming you don't have major flooding and surface sewage) you at least have clean water for bathing or to use to flush toilets if you lose city water. Your birds can drink it too.

Bottled water for yourself, canned goods that don't require hydration (that is Chunky soup, NOT Campbell's Condensed), try to avoid rice, pasta, other things that require preparation in a pot of boiling water, and fill your freezer with water frozen in ziplocs - not only will the additional thermal mass keep things from defrosting a bit longer, but as they do, you have more drinkable water.

make sure you have a 2 week supply of any medication you take routinely, all your important papers should be gathered up and packed in the back of the car, and a "go bag". If you live on the computer, you should have your master packed in the car as well, work from a laptop or secondary for the next couple days. That way you won't lose important log ins, links, passwords, etc. Chances are, you won't need any of those things - but better to have them and not need them than to try and assemble it in the dark, while its raining, and a storm is bearing down.

I'm in the Panhandle of FL, have been thru a LOT of hurricanes when I lived in Daytona, later Tampa, and Fred missed us by a few dozen miles. We are watching Ida closely. I'm not so generous as to hope the storm track steers our way - we are living in an RV right now, and out eventual house is a bunch styrofoam forms at the bottom of the hill, awaiting concrete. We can't take a Cat 2 or 3 directly, and I've no way to move the RV.

 

[TropicalBabies]

Oh yes- good luck folks . I have only been through a few here. I think @U_Stormcrow is spot on and mentioned some good things (though I would not toss the outdoor furniture in the pool, I'd lash it together and then to a tree or fence... of course my outdoor is Tropitone and teak.
With your coop, I think if the roof is secure with h-clips and the frame is secure to the ground (really like the bury a block technique) open the buggar up and let the wind rip through so it has less resistance and it does not become a sail. Of couse that depends on the coop too. It is just hard to say.
Glad you are bringing the chooks in. Good call on the cages. Best chicken investment ever.
Serious folks- will be keeping you in my good thoughts. Good luck!!

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Teak gets special treatment. Love teak. Sadly not in budget.

 

[TropicalBabies]

Teak gets special treatment. Love teak. Sadly not in budget.

Craigslist $40 before people caught on. Now, not $40 and it still goes quick so won't be adding to my small collection lol.

 

[Boise-girls]

Good luck!

 

[suburbanfarmermi]

Hey y'all!

We've got a Cat 2 or 3 hurricane making landfall Sunday and aiming straight for Baton Rouge. Welcome, Ida I've got an Omlet Eglu with 13ft run and Autodoor for my 3 standard hens and a separate coop/run combo for my 2 POL d'Uccle pullets. Link to their coop page. I'm going to bring all of the chickens inside. I bought big dog crates for just this purpose What should I do to make sure the coops are shored up as well as they can be during the storm? Hurricane conditions are possible here.

is it possible to weigh down the coop with cement blocks?

wonder if adding tarps would just make it catch more wind.

live in Michigan so hurricanes are not a thing here. But we do get so crazy winds and occasional tornados.

Regardless will be praying for you and your neighbors.

 

[3KillerBs]

is it possible to weigh down the coop with cement blocks?

wonder if adding tarps would just make it catch more wind.

live in Michigan so hurricanes are not a thing here. But we do get so crazy winds and occasional tornados.

Regardless will be praying for you and your neighbors.

Tarps would just blow off or flap around so much that they tear.