This is a sad story that I just want to be a reminder or a warning to everyone that will be brooding chicks this spring.
I consider myself to be ultra careful with my heat lamps and the way I use them. This weekend I learned otherwise, but my husband, who is a fire inspector BTW, tells me that it might not have been my fault. But either way the results were the same. I looked out my window Friday night and my chicken shed was FULLY engulfed in fire. Needless to say I lost my shed and my chicks.
I had about 40 birds in there. They ranged in ages from 2 years to 3 weeks, with the most being about 3.5 months. I am absolutley devasted. I have never lost an animal to something that I could have should have been able to prevent. I had the heat lamp tied to the frame of the metal shed, and it was resting on the top of a wire cage about 3 feet off the ground. I always made sure that the lamp could not touch the floor. Even now I can see no way that it started the fire. There is the remote chance that there was an electrical fire, there were a few mice that I kept seeing in the shed, so I would like to blame it on them. But either way, again, that won't bring back my chicks or my shed. There is also the chance that the bailing twine that I used to tie the lamp to the shed came in contact with the reflector around the bulb, but I always check for that too. I honestly thought I had it under control.
I need some more fuzzy butts right now, but until we rebuild I have no place to raise them. I am investing in another way to brood them, probably an Ecoglow. I am scared to death to use a heat lamp ever again. I always always always make sure the lamp can't hit the floor, but something went terribly wrong and my babies paid the price.
12 of the chicks that were about 3 months old were headed to the school where I work to populate a new coop. I am just so very very sad. I can't stand to think about the fear that those little creatures had to have felt, never never never again under my watch.
Please learn from my mistake and my pain. Don't put yourself or your family or animals in harms way. I am thankful that my husband was home and that we had some large fire extinguishers at hand and he was able to keep the fire from spreading to my main coop or our truck or his workshop. It could have been MUCH MUCH worse for us overall, but I am broken hearted.
Please please be safe and be careful, very very careful. The results can be tragic. Never in a millon years would I have thought this would happen to me. Being married for 30 years to a fireman there are just some things I thought I had under control.
I learned my lesson. It was a painful one.
I consider myself to be ultra careful with my heat lamps and the way I use them. This weekend I learned otherwise, but my husband, who is a fire inspector BTW, tells me that it might not have been my fault. But either way the results were the same. I looked out my window Friday night and my chicken shed was FULLY engulfed in fire. Needless to say I lost my shed and my chicks.
I had about 40 birds in there. They ranged in ages from 2 years to 3 weeks, with the most being about 3.5 months. I am absolutley devasted. I have never lost an animal to something that I could have should have been able to prevent. I had the heat lamp tied to the frame of the metal shed, and it was resting on the top of a wire cage about 3 feet off the ground. I always made sure that the lamp could not touch the floor. Even now I can see no way that it started the fire. There is the remote chance that there was an electrical fire, there were a few mice that I kept seeing in the shed, so I would like to blame it on them. But either way, again, that won't bring back my chicks or my shed. There is also the chance that the bailing twine that I used to tie the lamp to the shed came in contact with the reflector around the bulb, but I always check for that too. I honestly thought I had it under control.
I need some more fuzzy butts right now, but until we rebuild I have no place to raise them. I am investing in another way to brood them, probably an Ecoglow. I am scared to death to use a heat lamp ever again. I always always always make sure the lamp can't hit the floor, but something went terribly wrong and my babies paid the price.
12 of the chicks that were about 3 months old were headed to the school where I work to populate a new coop. I am just so very very sad. I can't stand to think about the fear that those little creatures had to have felt, never never never again under my watch.
Please learn from my mistake and my pain. Don't put yourself or your family or animals in harms way. I am thankful that my husband was home and that we had some large fire extinguishers at hand and he was able to keep the fire from spreading to my main coop or our truck or his workshop. It could have been MUCH MUCH worse for us overall, but I am broken hearted.
Please please be safe and be careful, very very careful. The results can be tragic. Never in a millon years would I have thought this would happen to me. Being married for 30 years to a fireman there are just some things I thought I had under control.
I learned my lesson. It was a painful one.
