Homestead hurricane prep for chickens and bees
Although we’ve been fortunate this hurricane season, we’re always ready for a big storm. Here’s how we manage the flock and hives for hurricane prep.
Last month in my permaculture design series I shared about managing your site with an eye for climate resiliency. It included a federally-produced climate toolkit, weather modeling, and thematic mapping. This approach takes into account weather patterns, fire and flood management, common risks in your region, and future climate models. Where we live in North Carolina, the hurricane season kicks off in June and ends in November, although a climatologist proposed pushing those book-end months out for a longer storm season.
We’ve had a few storms pass by over nearly a decade of having our home and livestock. None have been greater than a Category 1 storm, and that was in downgrade mode when it reached us. After experiencing even that lower level of storm pressure, I realized that I don’t want to stay home if a storm greater than a Category 1 has us in the storm path. What does that mean for our chickens and my bees?
Since we had chickens before bees, I’ll start with our flock. We currently have 11 hens in a stationary chicken coop along the wood line, which puts it at risk of falling trees. It’s also about 20 feet from a vernal creek, which expands to 10’-to-15’-wide during heavy rainfall and storms. Ideally, we would create a new coop, or move the coop, to a part of the property with fewer risks. We could also move the girls into a mobile coop, which would allow easy movement whenever needed. Those are both efforts I’m considering doing in the next few years. Instead, our interim hurricane plan for the chickens ranges based on the level of storm expected. Generally, the girls shelter in place. We also have two dog crates—one large enough for a Newfoundland dog—that we would use as temporary housing close to the house (covered back patio). For storms greater than a Category 1, we’ve been (very) slowly building an emergency coop at my second apiary in Western North Carolina. We would use those spare dog crates to transport the girls, and keep them in their temporary coop until the storm passes.
Aside from these plans, we stay prepared with chicken supplies:
Feed. I try to keep one extra bag of feed in the freezer. There’s a saying of “2 is 1 and 1 is none” and that is meant to change your perspective so that if you have one left of something, you should instead think that you’re totally out. Having the extra feed doesn’t just come in handy if a storm is approaching and there’s a rush at the feed store, or roads get washed out for weeks after a storm and distribution stalls, but it’s also helped in my regular day-to-day. Sometimes life’s inertia kicks in and I find I’m “out” of feed and don’t have time to make it to the feed store—or it’s a Saturday night and the store doesn’t open again until Monday. I’ve saved the hassle for myself a few times by having that extra bag in the freezer.
Water. We keep several reusable water jugs—the same kind you’d see inverted on a water cooler. Some manufacturers make stackable versions of these containers. I’ve also seen “water bricks”, which are stackable water containers. I personally don’t store water because I haven’t made the investment of time in boiling it first before storing, and then replacing it every 6-to-8 months. Instead, we fill the containers before a storm and use them as needed. I also lean on these containers year-round for hauling water to spots that don’t have hose access, and for petsitters to have extra in case something happens with the well while we’re away.
Hurricane prep for my hives is a little different, and would also look different in July as compared to October. In July, the hives are at their largest and it’s also the start of the dearth in the Piedmont region. By the fall, the queen will slow and end laying, and she has her bees that will keep her alive all winter. The weight of the hives and their needs are dramatically different at these times of the year. For a lower-strength storm, we keep staked anchors in the ground year-round on the front and back of each hive. If a hurricane is coming, I’ll go out with ratchet straps and tie down each colony. This keeps them completely secure and anchored to the ground, and prevents their top covers from blowing off in high winds. This doesn’t prevent trees falling on them. My Piedmont hives are at minimal risk of a tree fall, and essentially no risk of flooding. For lower-level storms I plan to let the girls shelter in place, strapped down to their anchors.
For higher category storms, our plan would depend on the time of the year and the size of the colony, as I described earlier. For huge colonies, if time allowed, I would search for and cage the queen and split her colony into one that I could manage moving. If the hives were mobile enough, we could potentially move the hives onto a trailer. Our plan is to temporarily take them to my second apiary. Depending on the time of year and their food levels, it might make sense to add a top feeder before strapping and moving the hives, that way if they’re being completely contained for a week or more I’d have an opportunity to feed them sugar syrup.
Hurricane hive supplies:
Ratchet straps and anchors. My husband uses ratchet straps for just about everything and he keeps spares in all of the vehicles, so we always have a few around to use for hives, if needed. The anchors remain in the ground year-round, so the only time that requires effort is if I move hive stands and need to re-position the anchors, or if I add new hives and the anchors need to get added.
Top feeders, sugar, and a means to boil water. If the hives will be closed up and moved for an extended period of time without access to foraging, sealing them up with top feeders can help give them the food they need. Just as I keep an extra bag of feed for the chickens, we always have extra bags of sugar because you never know when a hive needs supplemental feeding. I remember the first time I went to the grocery store just to get sugar for my hives. It was the summer dearth and they all desperately needed to be fed, so I had ten 8-lb. bags of sugar in the cart. People in the checkout line kept commenting that I had a lot of baking ahead. I explained that I was a beekeeper. Now whenever I stop by to buy sugar, the cashier will ask, “Are you a beekeeper?” It’s a nice educational opportunity. All of the sugar will require water and you’ll need a way to boil the water to make syrup. The other option is to prepare sugar syrup in advance and refrigerate it. I generally add a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar to the syrup, which prevents it from spoiling fast.
Plastic nuc box. I referenced these great boxes in my recent gift guide for beekeepers. I love these little nuc boxes. If my best queen was in a large colony that I couldn’t move, and a storm was on its way, I could try and find her and move her with a few frames of bees into a plastic nuc box. This can easily fit in any car. (Personally, I’m too scared to travel with bees inside my car. If there was a car accident, I’m not sure if the crash or the escaped bees would be worse.)
Trailer or truck bed. We fortunately have a small utility trailer and a truck bed. I’ve used the truck to move hives several times and it’s always my first choice. We ratchet strap the hives onto the truck bed, and it has an anti-slip liner that helps keep the hives even more secure. One tip for moving hives: If time allows, add folded cardboard on the edges of the frames in each box to prevent the frames from swinging during transport. That can help prevent squishing bees—particularly, the queen.
Although this post is dedicated to the chickens and bees, I’ll add a quick note about our quail and pigs. Quail don’t take up much space. Their coop is next to my hives, so tree fall is the only risk. If we needed to move them for a big storm I would re-use their brooder boxes, which are storage totes that we converted into brooders. I described them in an earlier post about raising quail. They would be perfectly fine in these totes for a while. These would require bedding, so having that available would help, but you could easily use newspaper, junk mail, leaves, or pine straw in a bind. The totes are also very mobile, so they could move to a corner of your basement, a bathroom, or in your car if you need to travel away from the storm.
If we were to experience a hurricane while we have pigs, my plan is to move them very close to the house (likely under our front or back deck) and secure the area with cattle panels in addition to their existing hot wire. Their electric fence is solar-powered, so we wouldn’t be in a bind if the power went out. We’re purchasing their feed in one-month increments, plus we now have an extra bag on hand in the freezer. Fortunately, only six weeks remain in our hurricane season this year, and this will be our pigs only hurricane season, so we don’t need extensive plans for them.
I’m hoping to add another flock of chickens next year and I’m already thinking about how that would impact our storm prep plans. We don’t have a barn for animals to shelter in, but we do have an outbuilding with electric and a water line that I would love to convert. Since we don’t have a robust infrastructure for hurricanes, I’d love to hear suggestions before we upfit the space. Let me know how you help prepare your homestead critters for storms.