Help!!!! What to do with my chickens and ducks in hurricane weather?

[Chicken202]

Hi! I don't know if this is the right thread for this, but I didn't know where else to put it. There's currently a really big tropical storm/hurricane where I'm at. It's meant to officially hit tonight. We're not dead center, and we're inland, so I think it will just be tropical storm type winds for us, but there's still a flood warning and high wind speeds. What do I do with my ducks and chickens? Should I just leave them out?!? I don't really have anywhere to put them inside, and I'm really worried about them. The chickens have a shed that was converted into a coop, so it's about as stable as any wood shed is. The ducks are in a big chicken wire run with a smaller coop inside of it. I have some very small chickens as well, but they're in the run. Can they get blown away??? I read that chickens can get heart attacks during big storms and last storm a lot of our chickens did go missing. Like I said I don't have anywhere to really put them inside, but I would keep them inside with me if it meant keeping them safe. Should I just check before the really bad part hits and make sure that they're all inside and shut their doors? We haven't had this problem before and I didn't think to really prepare for it. Now I'm really worried about them. Does anyone know what I should do?

 

[HollowOfWisps]

If you can’t bring them in let the loose so they can choose whether to shelter in their coop or find a better place to weather the storm. Locking them in unsecured and low lying structures during flooding they will have the same survival rate as if you locked yourself in a tool shed during a flood and crossed your fingers hoping that you won’t drown.

 

[SilverBirds]

I'm leaving my chickens locked up in their coop over the weekend because that's what I feel will be safest for my flock. We aren't in the direct path of the hurricane, but we are having a lot of flash flood and tornado warnings. The weather is unpredictable and it can be difficult to decide what the safest option is. Letting them out to find a safe place to stay can be risky. Strong winds could potentially blow your chickens away or take down trees and limbs that your birds might be roosting in or near. Small birds also have a hard time regulating body heat while cold. Accounting for all your chickens and locking them up means they'll be dry and numbered, but if the structure isn't sturdy they won't have a great chance of escape if it were to flood or blow away. I hope you and your family are able to safely weather the storm.

 

[Eggcessive]

Is there any way to evacuate the area with your birds? You may want to bring the small ones inside your house in a dog crate or into the coop. The storm surge and flooding sounds very scary with all of the news reports. I hope you all stay safe during the bad weather.

 

[Chicken202]

I'm leaving my chickens locked up in their coop over the weekend because that's what I feel will be safest for my flock. We aren't in the direct path of the hurricane, but we are having a lot of flash flood and tornado warnings. The weather is unpredictable and it can be difficult to decide what the safest option is. Letting them out to find a safe place to stay can be risky. Strong winds could potentially blow your chickens away or take down trees and limbs that your birds might be roosting in or near. Small birds also have a hard time regulating body heat while cold. Accounting for all your chickens and locking them up means they'll be dry and numbered, but if the structure isn't sturdy they won't have a great chance of escape if it were to flood or blow away. I hope you and your family are able to safely weather the storm.

We aren't in the center of the storm so I hope I'm just overstressing and they'll be okay. I think I'm going to try to keep them in over the weekend too. It's not raining as hard as I thought it was (I don't think it will flood more than an inch or two, and all the coops are off the ground by at least that) so I think the main danger is wind and I want them to stay out of it. I might bring the little ones in and put the ducks with the chickens where they can be (hopefully) a little safer. I wish I could have a space to keep them all inside. I'll hopefully have something like that for the next storm. I'm going to put them away now so fingers crossed they're all okay and don't get too scared in the storm. Hopefully nothing bad happens to you either.

 

[SilverBirds]

@Chicken202 how did you and your flock weather the storm?

 

[chickachicka12345]

bring them in your house