Yet another Hurricane on its way to Florida….

[PoppasGrill]

I know, it’s Florida, and being a Lineman means I won’t be home for the storm that will be making landfall near home.
My Wife is used to it, though aggravated by it at the same time, and I feel bad every time that I can’t be there to help prep.
Here are the things she does to try and protect the Ladies when a storm approaches.
1) Pick up any and all material that could possibly go airborn. This is the most important part as it won’t take much for our animals to get hurt by a small piece of debris.
2) double check all coop doors and openings for security. Ladies LOVE to be out in the weather, but with possible 110mph winds they might end up 2 counties away by the time the gusts stop.
3) there won’t be a break in the weather for at least a full day, so feeders need to be filled and raised up in case of flooding. The Ladies have proven that they will get into the mud to get bugs that the heavy rains bring out, but don’t like mud in their troughs.
4) She has ordered more sand for the coops , though it won’t be delivered in time, as last time I posted about the coop flooding. Hope it will be there shortly after the storm , and we do have decent drainage on our property.
5) She has a generator for power if needed, and cordless tools if she has to secure boards or tarps.
6) Donkeys- though they have a covered stall and several other covered areas, they stand out in the heavy rains looking like Eyore after losing his tail. She will try to get them closed into their stall with feed, but flooding/ mud might be worse than them walking in the rainstorm.
Anything else you folks can think of, please let us know. This isn’t our first storm, and we try to keep up on preparation, but we do forget or overlook things while trying to get the house and human occupants ready.
I didn’t know where Helene was going or how strong it’s potential was until after I had to leave for work or would have helped her do more. She’s tough, and knows how to do a lot by herself.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

I’m in the direct path. This will likely be the third direct hit the farm has taken in about a year. I do nothing to manage my flock for the storm. Most are free range and they’ll take care of themselves just fine. Roosters in coops are the main issue, as when roofs get blown off they can get out and go to fighting each other. All I can do is just keep and eye out and go catch roosters during the storm as they lose their coops.

I’ll be getting the generators, power cords, and extra gas all together tonight. That’s all I need to do. I’ll probably send the family south.

 

[WingItRanch]

These are all great tips! I'm new to owning a farm but NOT new to hurricanes. This year (East Texas) was a good test of my planning and I definitely still screwed up.

The good learning experience: the pullets did fine! They actually didn't even seek shelter in the coop until the wind got really bad. Then they were right back out once the wind calmed down.

The bad learning experience: we have a water well. When you lose power, you lose water. I knew this but what I didn't think about was how long it would take to get power back. I had to travel 2 towns away to get bottled water for the chickens and dog. Now I have a full water tank over by the barn and am planning on rain water collection.

 

[PoppasGrill]

I’m in the direct path. This will likely be the third direct hit the farm has taken in about a year. I do nothing to manage my flock for the storm. Most are free range and they’ll take care of themselves just fine. Roosters in coops are the main issue, as when roofs get blown off they can get out and go to fighting each other. All I can do is just keep and eye out and go catch roosters during the storm as they lose their coops.

I’ll be getting the generators, power cords, and extra gas all together tonight. That’s all I need to do. I’ll probably send the family south.

We are in Gainesville, so it’s the second major storm this year. It looks to be way stronger than the last one.
Ours free range, but she will try to secure them during the storm.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

We are in Gainesville, so it’s the second major storm this year. It looks to be way stronger than the last one.
Ours free range, but she will try to secure them during the storm.

We’re in White Springs. Idalia was about a year ago, and Debby was this year. We took direct hits from both. This storm is generally projected to be the same path.

What I don’t like about cooping them in a storm is that if the coop collapses, the whole flock can be crushed. I’d turn all mine out but for having game roosters in breeding coops that will maim or kill each other if out.

 

[PoppasGrill]

These are all great tips! I'm new to owning a farm but NOT new to hurricanes. This year (East Texas) was a good test of my planning and I definitely still screwed up.

The good learning experience: the pullets did fine! They actually didn't even seek shelter in the coop until the wind got really bad. Then they were right back out once the wind calmed down.

The bad learning experience: we have a water well. When you lose power, you lose water. I knew this but what I didn't think about was how long it would take to get power back. I had to travel 2 towns away to get bottled water for the chickens and dog. Now I have a full water tank over by the barn and am planning on rain water collection.

You can also hook up your generator to your well, that’s what we do for the humans to have running water for drinking and toilets. We do collect water in buckets just in case, before the storm.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

These are all great tips! I'm new to owning a farm but NOT new to hurricanes. This year (East Texas) was a good test of my planning and I definitely still screwed up.

The good learning experience: the pullets did fine! They actually didn't even seek shelter in the coop until the wind got really bad. Then they were right back out once the wind calmed down.

The bad learning experience: we have a water well. When you lose power, you lose water. I knew this but what I didn't think about was how long it would take to get power back. I had to travel 2 towns away to get bottled water for the chickens and dog. Now I have a full water tank over by the barn and am planning on rain water collection.

We have several large pressure tanks. If power goes out and we ration the water, we can flush and have short showers for several days. I have generators that can run the 5hp well pump, but I lack the right cord at the movement. The generator has to be hooked directly to the pump.

 

[WingItRanch]

You can also hook up your generator to your well, that’s what we do for the humans to have running water for drinking and toilets. We do collect water in buckets just in case, before the storm.

We looked into that but unfortunately our well has some sort of safety mechanism that won't allow a generator to hook up!

 

[PoppasGrill]

We looked into that but unfortunately our well has some sort of safety mechanism that won't allow a generator to hook up!

It’s always the little things that get you at the last minute. We had to wire a plug into the box to the well pump. Of course it’s a specialty box to be installed by a paid professional
Those pressure tanks sound like a good idea.

 

[WingItRanch]

It’s always the little things that get you at the last minute. We had to wire a plug into the box to the well pump. Of course it’s a specialty box to be installed by a paid professional
Those pressure tanks sound like a good idea.

Eventually I'm going to invest in getting a whole house generator to include the water pump. It's just so expensive!!