Queensland father rescues chickens from flood waters as "moat" surrounds house in Tewantin

Laura Clarke filmed her husband Calvin rescue their chickens from their flooded coop in their backyard in Tewantin, Noosa on Saturday, February 26.

In the clip, Mr Clarke loaded the chickens onto a kayak, which he used to ferry them across the flood water and onto higher land in their back yard.

Mrs Clarke said the chickens were forced onto a perch in their chicken coop after the bottom half of the enclosure flooded, meaning they couldn't access food or water.

"They like to be together. So we could have carried each one individually over the water and back onto the grass but we thought 'why don't we just put them on the kayak?'" Mrs Clarke told Australian Community Media (ACM).

"And that worked really well. They just sort of sat their patiently and I think instinctively knew we were trying to help them. And then they hopped off the other side."

Mrs Clarke said the chickens are now happy roaming the non-flooded parts of the backyard and have begun to lay eggs again in a makeshift chicken coop with a perch and hay on their verandah.

The Clarke family home is on higher ground but is completely surrounded by flood waters, creating a "moat" around the residence.

Mrs Clarke said her family hasn't been able to drive through the flood water for the past few days and even used their kayaks to bring their Woolworths shopping home.

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"I grabbed a couple of bits and got dropped back to the water and then my husband came with the two kayaks attached to each other, picked me up, put the shopping on the kayak with him and then we kayaked back in," she said.

"That was quite funny to have to do that. Who would do that sort of thing normally, you know?"

Fortunately, flood waters have lowered enough to allow Mr and Mrs Clarke to drive out using their four-wheel drive and get supplies - but their smaller car is still not able to do so.