hurricane Sandy

[folgerrd]

Hurricane Sandy is going to hit us tomorrow night and stay for 72 hours. How do I prepare my birds? Their coop wont with stand 100kmph wind and hurrican rain! We are planning on caging them an keeping them in the unused part of the house but I can imagine that is stressful for them, any tips on indoor care and relievig stress? Also, this is our first hurricane, if the part of the house theyre stayin in is not insiluated will it be too cold?

If you have tips for us too that'd ve great! But my main concern is the birds, since they dont know whats going on and are so weak.

 

[scratch'n'peck]

Depending on how much your chickens like being handled, it might be easier on them if you wait until after dusk when they are perching and nearly sleeping to transfer them to a cage. Then you can avoid chasing them around and just pluck them off the roost. They should be fine in an uninsulated part of the house. Chickens are quite cold tolerant. If you put them in a cage you could line the bottom with card board and fold it up the sides for a few inches to keep in the bedding so they don't kick it all over the place. give them treats to keep them occupied.

Good luck.

 

[folgerrd]

Thank you so much for responding!
One hen loves being handled, the other despises it. Unfortunately I dont know if the hurrican will hit afyer theyre in bed or just before, I might even stay up to see if it hits early no one is certain of how long before it hits or how long it will be here.

My ducks hate being caught, hopefully they will be okay being caight just tgis once!

 

[ChickenFootRnch]

I hope you and you flock weather the storm safely.

 

[Brookliner]

You might give them electrolytes in their water. It helps with stress.

 

[folgerrd]

@brookliner we have rescue remedy instead

 

[rmack2]

Not sure where in Canada you are. The closer to the coast, the greater liklyhood of high winds, power outage and flooding. I expect all three of these myself. Good ideas on easiest way to get your hens inside from scratch-n-peck. I have a set up ready to go if needed, its a large dog crate that I can put shavings in the bottom and a broom handle across for a perch. I also have a feeder and water jug for them inside. Its useful to have such a set up in case you need to isolate a hen for any reason. If I need to bring them in, mine are accostomed to being handled to a degree, I also have my daughters help if I need to capture any. She has trained two to walk on a dog leash, and I can assure its turned a few heads when she has 'walked the chicken' around the center of town. Our hens occasionally enjoy a game of catch the lettuce. We'll tie a chunck of lettuce or other leafy green veg a couple of feet up in their pen, it occupies them though we have to put these prizes in a few places to avoid fights over the catch. Good luck

 

[rikithemonk]

Being from Florida, I have lots of experience with hurricanes.

General tips.

Tie down anything in your back yard that you don't normally think of. For example, BBQ Grills, Lawn Table, Bikes, Propane Tanks. People think of chairs and other light objects. But chairs aren't going to do damage like your grill or Bikes will. Its the semi heavy things that will go through your window and not the plastic lawn chair.

Tents, shade awnings, Tarp type car ports are all going to start moving. The tarp or cloth "shade roof" will act as a wind sail or hand glider wing and the entire thing will be rolling down the street or into someones house/car. Take the cover off till after the storm.

after the storm, the grocery stores will be out of food for several days. Stock up on gas, and basic food items. Don't worry about potato chips, focus on water, and staple foods. If its cold where you are, plan to heat your house for several days in the event of a power failure.

What I have experienced.

Gas stations unable to pump gas because of downed power lines. Those that could pump gas had contaminated gas due to water flooding the storage tanks. Gas shortage for several weeks.

Grocery stores with Isles completely empty. I mean entire isles with zero items on them. Expect to find no bottled water for several days after the storm.

No Power in areas that last several days. Here in Florida we can get nailed very hard. The last really devastating storm that hit us left many coastal areas without power for several weeks. Here in central Florida, we are inland. We were only out of power for several days. But you have to think about several important things. How will you cook? Heat or cool your home? And what no one here thought of.......Your toilet doesn't take power, but your neighborhood pumping station does. With no pumps working to drain the station holding tanks, many toilets flowed backward flooding homes with raw sewage. If your without power for several days, remove everything from your bathrooms and plan for a possible nightmare of raw sewage.

Invest in rain gear so you can go out side in the storm to perform emergency damage control. Keep shovels, crow bars, power tools, and flashlights at hand should you need to fun into the storm to handle a downed tree limb, broken window, or car damage.

Just a few thoughts from someone who has been through several Hurricanes.

Riki

 

[earlybird10842]

Keep us updated...this sounds scary!

 

[folgerrd]

Thank you all, sorry I didn't reply untill now!
We fared just fine, we got some wind but the storm(well, the majority of it) went around us! If anything our duckies loved it, the wind help them to get a little higher off the ground when attempting to fly and dried them off after their swims(they love water but hate being wet, weird I know). The media was really hyping up the hurricane "it destroyed NYC, what will it do to us? Find out next. *flashing scary images of stranded people, children and animals* There are so many things that could gor wrong, with opur disastrous Canadian cold fron, yammer yammer etc etc" I feel for the people who got hit(I am in no way saying what hit them was nothing), we are just lucky the wheather and news were wrong about it hitting us badly.