Air quality alert! Will my chickens be ok??

[Cornflower]

Remember this is smoke from wildfires and not an industrial toxic disaster. There are wild birds, too that are enduring this and we seem to be getting worse every year. I'm optimistic that chickens under this cloud won't have the same trouble that the chickens in the Ohio town near the train derailment and toxic fire had where they were dropping dead from the chemical fumes. But like all of us, these particulates are not healthy for us or them to breathe and the anyone who is vulnerable should avoid going outdoors.
You could prepare an emergency sick room in case any of your birds start acting affected. Maybe plastic off a cool corner and run an air purifier inside that in the hen house, just for the ones that might get into trouble with this.

 

[Chipmunk Chicks]

If it's really bad, if your eyes are watering and your chest is tight signalling a high air particulate, then you would do well to put your chickens into their coop with the air purifier going. You should remain indoors as well and keep activity to a bare minimum.

Yeppers! When I was busy moving the birds inside, my eyes were burning and my chest was absolutely getting tight. Then our numbers went even higher!? I'm glad I brought them in when I did, and I ordered a couple air purifiers for the house.

 

[Sussex19]

I didn't have chickens when we last had smoke here, but did have goats, horses, G pigs and cats. None of them seemed to suffer any problems, either at the time, or later on.
If you can't, or don't want to bring them in to the house, then I don't think there is much one can do.

 

[HorseGirlAbby]

In 2020, we had about the worst smoke anyone's ever seen here in Eastern WA. For a week, we couldn't even see a quarter mile in front of our noses. This photo is a good representation of what it looked like...

Anyway, for that entire week, the chickens were all right. They stayed in their coop and run like normal, and didn't have any issues. Chickens can endure a lot of things, but electrolytes wouldn't hurt, especially if it's getting hot there as well.

 

[BastyPutt]

In 2020, we had about the worst smoke anyone's ever seen here in Eastern WA. For a week, we couldn't even see a quarter mile in front of our noses. This photo is a good representation of what it looked like...
View attachment 3533106
Anyway, for that entire week, the chickens were all right. They stayed in their coop and run like normal, and didn't have any issues. Chickens can endure a lot of things, but electrolytes wouldn't hurt, especially if it's getting hot there as well.

Yep - PNW here myself - central Oregon high desert where every year we are blasted by wildfire smoke. This particular instance, pictured here was the worst year yet.

However, although I am certain it most likely had negative long term effects on any living organism, our chickens were fine and didn't skip a beat.

The smoke will typically sit higher off the ground, higher than a chicken naturally stands. Just my two cents but locking them into a confined space may be worse, unless you have an industrial purifier.

 

[littlecoopnextdoor]

I'm in southern Ontario and the last two days have been horrible smokey air, and just a lot of fire smoke dust. I put shade cloth on the mesh of the run and it has a roof. I made sure the chickens had regularly refilled fresh water and they didn't leave the covered area (to prevent the particlulates as much as possible). They were a little stressed yesterday but I made sure to keep an eye on them and overall they seemed okay, just a bit of mouth breathing during the worst part of the day. I have put the exhaust fan on in their coop to keep air flowing out. I have kept the babies indoors the last few days as I imagine they're more sensitive. It's been very scary and I hope this is not going to happen more this summer, it hasn't even passed spring yet.

 

[HorseGirlAbby]

I'm in southern Ontario and the last two days have been horrible smokey air, and just a lot of fire smoke dust. I put shade cloth on the mesh of the run and it has a roof. I made sure the chickens had regularly refilled fresh water and they didn't leave the covered area (to prevent the particlulates as much as possible). They were a little stressed yesterday but I made sure to keep an eye on them and overall they seemed okay, just a bit of mouth breathing during the worst part of the day. I have put the exhaust fan on in their coop to keep air flowing out. I have kept the babies indoors the last few days as I imagine they're more sensitive. It's been very scary and I hope this is not going to happen more this summer, it hasn't even passed spring yet.

Unfortunately, they're saying that this year's fire season is supposed to be worse than normal, at least for the northwest. The drought combined with the low snowpack is what's driving it.

 

[littlecoopnextdoor]

Unfortunately, they're saying that this year's fire season is supposed to be worse than normal, at least for the northwest. The drought combined with the low snowpack is what's driving it.

yes it's scary. it's definitely not normal at this time of year, certainly. I hope we can mitigate the risks as much as possible for folks and their animals. we luckily have great air purifiers that we bought during the pandemic and they've come in handy to stay inside and breathe better. as for the animals, I hope keeping them under shelter helps at least keeps some smoke particulates away.. but it's the high ozone and other gases that are a lot trickier to avoid.

 

[Chipmunk Chicks]

I'm not sure what I will do overnight. Normally I would be letting the chickens range a bit and go to bed in the coop. And maybe I could do that just fine, but the numbers are getting worse and worse here where I am. I'm not sure how long it will be before the plume blows through and it starts to clear up even a little bit?

But I figure if you had to transport them for whatever reason, they would be fine in a crate for a bit, too. I personally feel better about letting them out once the numbers are trending back down at least. I did notice they were mostly on the ground in the run today, but then then the chicks were wanting to perch, and of course they would be higher up if they are perching overnight.

I'm located right in that lovely maroon splotch right there. :/

ETA Luckily at least it is finally trending downwards. Something like 363, 353, 341 or so over the past few hours. WHICH IS STILL TERRIBLE! But I went ahead anyway and let the ducks out into the run for some feed and drink, before tucking them safe and cozy into their hut. I think they will be much happier sleeping out there, for sure.

 

[Birdsong 82]

I have two flocks, and I am still in the process almost finished with the process of working on one of the coops. So one of my flock has a coop that they would currently probably not be real happy and all day and I probably won’t be finished with it for at least a week. I put tarps on the sides of the run and put my air purifier in there. Do you think that would help at all? I’m getting really really worried