What is your plan when tornado is happening???

[poodlepill]

I feel pretty good, my coop withstood 90mph wind gusts 2 years ago. Now a direct hit from a Tornado I dont know but I lock my horses up in the barn and my chickens in the coop when the threat is near.

 

[86121]

I live in West Brookfield, and we had the clouds rotating and starting to funnel right over our house. We, at the time, did not know about the tornado warning because we always turn everything off during really bad thunder storms. We wont be doing this again.
Well, one of my Silkies, was actually stuck outside with the hail started to come down. So i ran like a dumb ass outside to save the chickens. Scooped up my poor Snow-ball (Who has just had the worst luck all the time) and stuck her in my sweater as I shooed all the chickens inside the coop, then bunkered down the rabbits. I then ran like a mad women back to the house with Snowball, only to get a phone call from a friend of mine that informed me that I had just in fact run outside in the middle of the beginnings of a tornado...
Yup...I know...Im a dumb ass...
Everyone is alive though

Anyway, it really depends on how much you love your birds, My neighbor just let them be, while if I had known about the tornado coming i would have crated all of them and brought them into the basement! I think the free-range idea is a good one, because that way there is the possibility that a few will survive, were as if they are all in the same place that gets ripped up, well...
Im glad to hear everyone, including yourself, survived though!

 

[mons02035]

The vast majority of deaths from a tornado is not the "wind" itself, it is the debris that the storm picks up that gets you. That being said, I don't care if your coop is cemented 50 feet into the ground, if it cannot withstand a hit from a large tree or car or whatever than it will not survive a tornado.

You and your family come before livestock I hope. I lived in KY for a few years, and have been in campgounds in my camper in Indiana when the sirens start going off and the skies are amazing. The last thing you should worry about is chickens.

 

[ralleia]

Quote:
+1

Tornadoes pick up debris like a 2x4 and propel it like a rocket. A 2x4 thus propelled can easily penetrate the siding, sheathing, and drywall of the standard American house--if it hits the stud it can stop; but the rest of your house is not much more than a sheet of plywood. I doubt most of our chicken coops are any better.

About the only type of house that has a chance of surviving a tornado is an ICF house (insulated concrete form) with hurricane straps to keep the roof on.

If the skies turn black or green or the hail starts raining, me and my family take shelter beneath the stairs in the concrete basement basement. The chickens have the sense to go into or under the coop, but they and the horse will just have to fend for themselves.

 

[scooter147]

Never been through a tornado before the one on Good Friday and hope I never do again.
The power they hold is amazing.
I had shingles from who knows where stuck a half inch into the caulking of a couple windows, straw stuck into my screens, branches about 6 inches in diameter that were stuck so far into the ground that three us couldn't pull it out we had to cut them level to the ground.

My suggestions is run as fast as you can to cover then duck and cover and if of the religious persuasion, pray.

I love all my animals but I can't replace my family or myself.

 

[redhen]

Quote:
I'm in Ware! So we're neighbors...
Glad you are were okay!
Ware was sooo lucky..it skipped right over us!
Have you been to Monson... its so bad.

 

[redhen]

I doubt chickens will survive a direct tornado hit..
We had one here on a town nearby..and the guy lost his COWS.... just gone... cant find them.
So... chickens would def be picked up and killed... i think the coops is the safest place for them to be.

 

[takos]

Sorry to hear about the loss of your coops. Obviously if you know it is coming keep them in, but I think you also have to plan ahead for afterward--have some sort of generator during chick season. I was hit April 27--wind storm not Tornado--but 4 trees were ripped out by the roots (two were over 100 foot and missed my house by less than a foot) I had to get bulldozers and backhoes in and they ended up taking down 8 trees that were either broken or ripped out. My coop (and the older hens) were OK but I had a turkey hen with poults, seven day old turkeys, and another 20 day olds with no power. First I brought them into the house in rubbermade boxes and wrapped them with heavy blankets, then we used a portable generator. Unfortunately we lost a few due to the temperature swings. They ended up in my bedroom for two weeks (could have used diapers LOL) but are now back in the coop. We thought the Turkey hen would be OK, but she was so stressed by the lack of heat she killed two poults on the second day so we had to remove them. Ironically she took them back two weeks later without any problems.

 

[PatS]

When Hurricane Iniki hit Kauai, Hawai'i in 1992, there were sustained winds of 145 and gusts of 175 mph. It has been a decade since I have traveled there, but I remember seeing wild chickens all over the place, descendants of chickens who survived their coops being blown apart. I am glad I live in California -- we just have your usual floods, droughts, fires, and earthquakes. Tornados and hurricanes, that's some scary stuff.

 

[GA_Gypsy]

I only have 6 chickens right now that reside in a chicken tractor so it would easily be picked up and blown away in the wrong storm. So when I watch a weather report stating that bad thunderstorms or tornado might be on the way, I just go gather them up and put them in a large dog kennel that I have in my garage. Then I gather my 3 dogs and put them in the other dog kennel I have in my basement. They all can survive overnite like that just fine and gives me peace of mind to know no one is out running around. Not sure what I would do if I had any more than 6 chickens, but this is what I do for now. Just my 2 cents.