Hurricane Suggestions?

[sandysylvester]

I have a small run (4x12) and coop design (3.5x4) all with a "roof" so to speak. My coop is above the run. Normally my girls free range the yard during the day.
Everything is secured to the ground, but I was thinking of at least putting plastic on the run area to alleviate some of the driving rain.
Anyone else doing the same? My run is wood built with 2' intervals between the hardware cloth to the wood. I am not so much worried of the wind, it's the standing water in the run. I may only block off the wind/rain side? Wanted to check and be sure I wasn't the only one with this crazy idea.

 

[NanaLantana]

No plastic will hold up if you're having a hurricane! We've had many here where I am - What I would do is get a large dog crate, lots of newspapers, and an old sheet - bring the chickens into the house, put them in the crate, cover the floor under and around with newspaper, and cover them up with the sheet. Darken the room they're in, and they should sleep nicely thru the hurricane. When it's over, they can go back outside and clean up! (Gee, I hope you don't have hundreds of chickens -

) Hope everything else holds up well for you, too - - - - -

 

[galanie]

Quote:
X2

You'll need a pretty sturdy place to withstand a storm, and if it's bad enough .. well I won't go there. Bring them into the house or garage.

 

[nwfl]

I've lived through 40 years of nor'easters and hurricanes. If you're out of a flood zone thank God to start. If not my sympathies. Make sure your roofing is screwed in tight on your poultry house. Tarps and plastic get whipped around even when secured before wind, so avoid them if possible. Secure everything outside. Go overboard with tiedowns. If you can bring your birds in the house, do. This looks like a big one! Aiyee!

 

[sandysylvester]

No I only have 4 girls so I guess bringing them in the garage is no big deal. I do not however have a crate.

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

Wire cube storage systems work as do large rubber totes for short term

 

[Matrix Escapee]

Try having 6 pasture pens out in the field, each with 100 birds in them. Oh yeah, I have 400 chicks in my shed brooding right now too. I live 10 miles from the coast in Delaware.
We are freaking out right now. We are going to put all the pens next to eachother in a rectangle and put large straw bales (3' high x 5' long)around the perimeter of them to keep the wind from hitting any of the sides.

We will also be putting straw down on the ground inside the pens to get them off the ground which will no doubt be WET for 2-3 days.

My biggest fear is that the roof panels will rip off or collapse from the water weight. PLus the stress from the storm noise that the birds will encounter.
And, WHEN we lose power, my heat lamps will be off in the shed. 1/2 of the 400 are 2.5 week old brids which will be fine, but the other 200 are only 3 days old today.
Please pray for us and the birds.

we just processed 90 birds on Thursday, and the market for Saturday is cancelled, so we are gonna have to freeze them on Monday once the storm is gone. BUT, there will mostly likely be no power, so we are gonna have the added expense of running a generator. Either way, we are gonna miss the cashflow from the missed sales this week on top of all the other problems. If we can make it through this, we will make it in the future, as this is our 1st year.

Gets better all the time.