When would you evacuate your chickens due to wildfire smoke?

[PirateGirl]

Those of you that live in wildfire prone areas, when would you evacuate your chickens due to wildfire smoke? I live about 6 miles from a fire that is burning at roughly 10,000 acres and growing. The air quality is quickly diminishing we are in the path of the smoke which has now gotten bad enough that we likely won't stay home tonight even though we are technically not under mandatory evacuation yet. 5 miles of visibility is an often quoted number as being safe to stay in the area and this morning we were down to about 1 mile visibility. All of the wild/native birds have already left the area. Will my chickens and ducks be ok? How do I know when they are not ok? What would help you determine whether they should stay or go? They are outdoors in it 24/7. I can't be outdoors in it more than 5 minutes. Today is the first day I am genuinely concerned about the smoke. I can probably take them to a friend's home with land (like 70 acres give or take), but there is not a secure fenced area, they'd be free range at a brand new place for the first time in their lives and subject to predators, so this is really a last resort solution.

 

[dawg53]

I think it would be best to prepare to evacuate yourself as well as your chickens...depending on how many chickens you own.
I had a similar situation occur about 10 years ago when I lived in Georgia. I owned 25 chickens and had plenty of cages for them ready to leave in case we got the order to evacuate. The problem is matching up birds that get along with each other when caged.
It's best to match them up according to their rank in the pecking order.
As far as the smoke goes, it didnt harm my chickens. However there was record heat along with the drought and it was imperative to have fans blowing and cool water for the chickens to drink throughout the day. I had plenty ice and frozen 1 gallon water containers available to keep their water cool.

 

[mountain chicken]

if you need a temp re-home let me know . don't wait till the fires knocking at your door before you move they may not let you in to get them

 

[PirateGirl]

if you need a temp re-home let me know . don't wait till the fires knocking at your door before you move they may not let you in to get them

Thanks you soooo much. I feel like our whole state is burning down. We'll see how things go the next day or two. A shift in weather is coming and hopefully we get some rain on the Weston Pass Fire. It seems worse first thing in the morning because the smoke settles overnight, generally it lifts during the day, but since the fire is still growing the smoke may be here to stay this time. There is a town meeting this evening, we'll see what they have to say.

 

[PirateGirl]

Check out this update! Now we will have more scientific data.

"Air Quality Specialist Willie Begay (USFS) installs an “E-BAM Sampler” outside the Incident Command Post at South Park High School in the town of Fairplay, Colorado. Due to an anticipated afternoon thunderstorm, smoke from the nearby Weston Pass Fire is descending upon the area. The E-BAM measures the air quality in particulates per million. The anticipated winds that are forecasted to accompany the thunderstorm should improve the current smoky conditions later this afternoon."

 

[Miyu]

I would say that if it is tough for you to be out in the smoke , it will likely be tough for them as well.
Definitely prepare to move them .
If you have a local fairgrounds, contact them, to see if they are boarding animals .
Contact your local animal shelters etc and ask them if they know anything about boarding animals ,particularly chickens and ducks. If you have any livestock vets in the area , contact them as well - they may know where to take such animals .

That's what I did , when the fires roared through here in October . Unfortunately we had no way to transport our chickens, with our other animals ,so they stayed on the property. Make sure you have a way to transport them too. When it came time to move them, it was difficult findng enough cages/carriers/boxes, to get our 23 chickens moved. At that point, we had to sneak up our fire road, just to get the large animals .
The chickens stayed and made it through the week+ of smokey haze .

 

[micstrachan]

There was a thread on BYC during last year’s wildfires in Santa Rosa, California. The flock suffered pretty extreme smoke inhalation. A few passed, but several survived. I’ll try to find it, as I seem to recall onset of symptoms was delayed and there were specific helpful measures the owner took.

 

[micstrachan]

I think this may be the thread I was thinking about... it was a coop fire, not a wild fire. There still may be some helpful information for you in case your birds are exposed.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...k-is-making-wheezing-gurgling-sounds.1211893/

 

[IdyllwildAcres]

I just evacuated my house, fire headed our way I got the family and the dog. Chickens got two weeks worth of food and even more water. Hopefully I don’t come home to roasted chicken. Choices had to be made.

 

[micstrachan]

Awww... sorry you had to make that choice. I am sending positive vibes into the universe for your flock!