Will My chickens get struck by lightning?

[chichi56788]

There is a very bad storm here and im worried about my chickens. what are the chances will they get struck by lightning. Im really scared.

 

[Katy]

Well, unless they're roosting at the top of the tallest tree around the chances are pretty slim.

 

[pkw]

I am not sure. I know we had a storm a few weeks ago and we had lost power so I went and hung out with the chickens along with a candle so there was light in there. It calmed the chickens because I was talking to them.

 

[Oven Ready]

Chances are pretty slim but there was a post just a few days ago suggesting that pretty much a whole coop load got toasted. I'm not sure where it is but search for lightning and it'll be the most recent one probably.

Up a tall tree is a good place to be, the discharge travels down the tree between the bark and the trunk, boiling the juice inside and then blowing the bark off.
Being at the bottom of a tree is a bad place to be, the discharge carries on through the root system charging the earth around it and anything standing thereon.

If they are roosting, off the ground, they should be OK unless you get a direct hit to the coop, if they are sitting on the ground especially near anything conductive, then as the charge dissipates to ground your little chooks may get fried before their time.

If you were really worried, you could build a Faraday Cage round your coop.

 

[3chimama]

Wow- this is something I have never thought of before....

 

[nzpouter]

tie some garlic around their necks.... just in case.. instant dinner.

 

[Warfrost]

If you have a coop that is very tall, and is taller than everything else in the area, then it isn't impossible for it to be struck- however, it is highly unlikely. Look up some info about lightning on the internet- that will be your best bet. I would most certainly not, EVER, sit in a coop with the chickens during a lightning storm...I'd rather have my chickens fry than die with them. Besides- from what I understand, lightning strikes like that would be so rare that it could really be considered an act of God to have it happen.

 

[patandchickens]

I can't see that a person would be meaningfully more at risk from lightning in a normally-built coop than in their own house.

Exception being, if the coop is attached to a long run of metal fencing (not just yer typical 10x20 run, I mean LONG fencing, like many acres' worth of metal pasture fencing), which it sounds like is probably what got the meat chickens on the other thread that was mentioned.

It is certainly possible for chickens to get hit by lightning. It is also possible for you to walk along the street and find a million-dollar winning lottery ticket to cash in. Neither thing happens with enough regularity to be a very realistic thing to worry about though

(If you want to obsess over something bad happening to your chickens, put that energy into PREDATORPROOFING the run and coop even better than they are now, and/or ventilating the coop better, both of which address bad things that actually DO happen to chickens on a fairly regular basis)

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[Oven Ready]

The odds of being struck by lightning are only 500,000/1.
The odds of being killed by lightning are nearer 2,000,000/1.
The odds of winning a normal 6/49 lottery are about 13,983,816/1.

The odds of holding a winning ticket for a 6/49 lottery and then being struck by lightning are......


.... exactly the same as getting 20 hens when you buy 20 chicks that are supposed to be hens.

 

[m2wandc]

I think the chances are pretty slim, but there is NO WAY I'd be sitting outside in their run/coop with them during a storm...all that metal that is used to build their coop/run...no way jose, I'd rather have a chicken feast from my pets unfortunately death, then join my great grandparents just yet! People die every year making poor judgement calls... I don't want to be one of them!