Tropical storm-soaked to the bone

[Sunnychick]

We had 14 inches of rain and I had to move my chickens into the garage. My coop has a sand/pea gravel floor with shavings on top and I will never do that again living here in FL. This past weekend we ended up taking the entire coop down to redo it because of the dampness and mold. We are going to build a smaller coop on legs and maybe with wheels to bring it into the garage when these storms hit.

 

[peeps and quacks are me]

Been there and still drying out! We had rain 2 days before the storm and the storm hung over us for 3 days and it has rained every afternoon since. I am so sick of being wet!

My coop didn't do to well. The ditch behind it overflowed and ran into the hen house. Needless to say 18 inches of water. The girls were soooo scared. I had to carry them out. I just let them go free (wild) in my husbands work shed. Its off the ground.

BIG MISTAKE I am still cleaning the mess. But what could I have done???

Birds Drown nope. Clean poop yep.

Try to stay dry LOL

 

[Chicabee19]

Waaay up here in the Pacific NW we are all sorry to hear of the storm troubles down there! But so glad you and your chickens are surviving.

Tropical storms in the South affect us up here in strange ways ...

We get extra hot weather as the storm approaches the southern coast (usually 107-110 degrees where we live)...

then cold temps right after. Last night dropped suddenly from 95 to 60.

We get strange cloud formations and, this is very rare in our town, rain that comes down from the North. 99% of our rain comes from the W-SW or SE.

Of course we need the rain!

 

[DawnSuiter]

I worked furiously hard this weekend to build a rooster coop for my 5 boys who have been staying in a roofless tractor (small tarp provided some shade along with the overhead trees.. but nothing that would handle a storm.. a sprinkle yes.. storm no.

So.. furiously I built, and built, and actually all by myself, built them a rooster coop, all but a ceiling. So I put up temporary rafters, and couple of pieces of plywood scrap big enough to cover the roost area ontop of those and a tarp over the whole thing. The rain started last night... I was actually moving them in DURING the first moments of the showers. It was a light rain, they faired well...

This morning.. the puddles on the rooftarp as well as all the damage it had received previously being moved from here to there was evident... the water was everywhere... the chickens had no where safe, because even the edges of the plywood were dripping from the damaged tarp.

I worked for over an hour in the steady downpour shoring up their roof with more supports, more scraps of ply and a second tarp covering the largest part of the whole area. I used a soda bottle to make a peak in the roof, it's wedged in between the tarp & one of the supports. I moved their food to underneath the droppings shelf in the roosting area added some logs so they could get up off the wet sand and more boards to make a crisscross sorta pattern just off the ground and put the food and the roosters there. They are much happier... best i can do for now. If it stays like this, they should be fine... if it starts blowing.. I'll have to relocate them... sectioned off in the hen house maybe for a couple of them, and the rest on the back porch somehow... geez...

hubby is bringing home ply & a new heavy duty tarp.. that should hold the rooster house over a couple days till the rain ceases.

by the way.. I'm not complaining at all because the Smoke from the 1000+acre forest fire was invading us seriously as the fire was quickly approaching our neck of the woods... so the rain is better than fire for sure!

But I am soaked to the bone... covered in sand particles.. feelin pretty chilled and drinking another cup of coffee... when I came here to share.. and found this thread.

 

[LynneP]

Yep, that's stewardship. They're warm, dry, fed and we're, well...not.

Good on you.

 

[chilling in muscadine]

Well the sun never made it out so may babies are still inside. It's pouring again so of course I'm soaked again, but hay my chicken's are flying high and dry. At one time or another we have had many different kind's of animal's and have all kind's of pen's built. I just had to go out in the pouring rain and wind to find something that would work with my flashlight that first night. I don't know why I thought they would fit in there old brooder's. Except for maybe being a little bored they are doing great. I really wanted some time to get there enclosures up to par. I call them the nursery's. It will be awhile before they will need there big coop. I had to clear a little more shade land to get ready to build more coop's. With all the mud and mush I know I want feel like doing it until it dries up. Hopefully I'll be able to get them suitable housing before the next storm hit's. Hanging in there or should I say swimming in there. lol PEACE

 

[JennsPeeps]

I live in Tacoma & commute by bus to Seattle. It's about a 35 mile trip each way.

Yesterday it DUMPED in Seattle - 1.32" in a few hours (that's a lot for us). But in Tacoma, it rained just 0.07".

I was wearing open-toed sandals.

 

[dixie chicken]

We got 8 1/4" over 72 hrs and it is still sprinkling outside. I have four chicken tractors and each have a house and a run which is covered with shade cloth. I reinforced them all with a tarp. I had a hard time keeping the feed dry. No direct water to it but the air is so saturated, everything is damp and moldy. All coops got moved to new grass today which made the chickers a little happier. My silkies looked like drowned muppets. SO FUNNY LOOKING! My largest coop which doesn't get moved too much cause it was the first built and a little too big, had ankle deep mix of mud, old feed and poop which was litterally brewing this am. It had fermenting bubbles and it stunk to high heaven. I had to take a shower after moving that one. We did need the rain.

 

[HaileyandJoliesMom]

Here in Jacksonville, Fl it rained for 5 days straight. It flooded our pastures and our yards. the coop was wet but not flooded since it is up off the ground. We are just now starting to dry out!!!

 

[speckledhen]

A sea of mucky mud washed down the slight slope that is the pen, over the log dividing the top of the pen from the area around the coop, and rested against the coop trim. None inside, but we'll have to shovel out solid mud from the front of the coop when the rain stops. Ick. Nasty. I hate when this happens!