Question Regarding Severe Weather and Chickens

[poodlepill]

We had a big storm coming yesterday late in the day, I had about 40 minutes notice. I put the mini horses inside the barn and somehow was able to round up the chickes to the coop and locked them in.

I knew there wasnt a tornado warning but there was high winds and hail.

If I had a tornado coming all I am willing to do is #1 make sure my husband and myself have time to get into the basement, if I have a 30 minute warning I would do the same as above and just hope for the best

 

[nicokl502]

it hard to say what to do i was thinking the same thing too.... i guess just put them in the coop and pray that nothing happens i think that what they would do on a farm

 

[ttownchooknook]

Thanks for posting this question. It gives one pause to consider such drastic weather emergencies.

 

[bobbi-j]

People need to come first. Get to shelter, and pray for the best for yourselves and the animals. First-hand experience. Not with tornadoes, but a house fire. Lost a dog, hamster and fish, but our 3 sons, DH and I made it out. Felt bad about the dog, but wouldn't have risked my life for him, although we loved him very much. Kind of puts things in perspective when it's your family or animals.

 

[BoltonChicken]

Build a strong hen house to begin with. 4 x 4 post sunk in concrete with 1/2" plywood siding screwed together.

Probably the worst that will happen is that the roof will be blown off with this type of construction. Hopefully the
birds will be OK.

 

[1muttsfan]

Your first priority should be your human family members, your kids will understand that. You should not put yourselves in danger for the chickens, no matter how much you care about them.

A tornado hit a friend's farm without warning, they did not even have time to make the basement. The house was spared, but their barn (old full-sized hip roof structure) was crushed. The only casualty was a shire stallion, just imported from england, squashed by the 5000 bales of hay just put up in the barn. All the other horses (in the field next to the barn) and the dogs and chickens (all in the chicken house) were fine, even though the chicken house was blown across the road into the neighbor's yard and left there intact.

 

[mrkpero]

We had 2 F4 tornadoes hit within 2 miles of us last June. I had always worried about my chickens in previous storms but I will tell you, those chickens were the last thing on my mind that night. Don't risk your life for them. My husband is a volunteer firefighter and had to go out and rescue people and all anyone kept saying was they could not believe how fast it all happened. People were literally sucked out of their homes. We were fortunate in a number of ways that night, but amazingly our coop was still standing. More importantly, so was our home. Everything is replaceable but family.

 

[greenSearcher]

Been having similar thoughts the last couple days. Friday we had high winds in a tinder dry environment, and around our area there were 3 wild fires, several homes were lost. We were just outside the evacuation zone, so we sat dumb and happy only somewhat aware of the fires. Had to think about what we would do if we get evacuated. Still no sure what to do about the chickens, whether I want to leave the coops open or not. There are no trees for them to roost in other than mesquite which are short but I hate the idea of locking them in the coops and then have them burn. Grass fires move so quickly and randomly we would be struggling to evacuate. I did realize I couldn't take them with us, even with a trailer, I would have no where to house them once we got to a safe place, and 40+ chickens can't live too well in a 5xx8 trailer. I wish we would get some rain so the fire risk would go back to normal. So far we have had less than an inch since the new year.

 

[TNkidsnextdoor]

I live in an area with recent tornados, but grew up with tons of them. We have drills, for tornados, fires, etc, and the rule is: GET TO SAFETY. If you grab anything aong the way, it's your little sister, otherwise anything: pets, cash, Nintendo DS's--gets left behind. I stress that anything can be replaced with insurance, but the kids.

Of course, if it came down to it, I know you would pick the same. But if you know you have time, I say coop them up. We are expecting bad conditions tomorrow and I just wrapped some tarps around the coop to help it out. I just got these birds out of my basement, and it is not worth the stress, time, effort of moving already-stressed-out-by-the-weather chickens. In that time, you could be making milkshakes to take with your family to the basement.

So I guess I say, if you are like me and like to stockpile flashlight batteries and galloned water, stock up on tarps and bungie cords? Unlpug any heat lights while you are at risk of getting really wet or lots of lightening, and plug them back in when the storm in done?

 

[Tool]

I would agree with 1muttsfan. Family comes first. Outside of that build a coop that may be able to withstand severe weather, or strengthen/secure exsisting coop. With a bad enough storm there are always casualties, its just about limiting them.

Animals have survived for many years without our help, but I'll still keep my fingers crossed....