Drought, Bushfires and Birds

[Quailobsessed]

So I thought that there needs to be a thread for people in bushfire area so they can get support and advice. I am particularly referring to the bushfires around Australia but if you are going through this anywhere in the world, feel free to share.

By the way, not sure if this is the right place to post this. It's not really for emergencies, it's more how to manage your flock in bushfire and drought areas, which is why I posted here.

I am kinda in bushfire area. I haven't had to evacuate, but I've been getting all the smoke here and I'm worried for my birds as they are all out in it.

We also have water restrictions because of the drought so we can't use hoses at all (unless there's a fire), this makes it difficult because we are in summer and here we get really hot days (up to 47 degrees celsius, that's 116 fahrenheit). I would normally spray the birds with the hose but I can't, so I've been using a spray bottle which takes forever.

Is anyone else going through this? Has anyone gone through this in the past? do you have any advice for us? Please feel free to contribute your experiences.

 

[CaliFarmsAR]

I have no experience but I’m sorry that you are going through this!!

 

[Quailobsessed]

I have no experience but I’m sorry that you are going through this!!

Thanks

 

[CaliFarmsAR]

Thanks

 

[Peppercorngal]

Oh, I almost forgot it's your summer, my winter now. I have heard about the fires there and it breaks my heart. I live in northern California and in the past two years we have been evacuated 4 times because of fires! The closest fire to us was about 1 mile away. We were evacuated, but didn't go. The other fires were further away and we didn't leave for them either. What we did learn is that we have to be prepared to be stuck at home for a long period of time. We have 40 chickens and 3 dogs. We already decided that we would not try to rescue the chickens, we would open the fences/gates and let them run. We would take the dogs and our important paperwork only to evacuate. We keep at least 4 fifty pound bags of chicken food on hand and at least a second bag of dog food at all times. We buy extra meat on sale and put it in our freezer. We have a couple of five gallon cans of gas for our generators in case the power is out. We have a well, so water is no problem since we have the generator. During fires you can leave, but they won't let you back, so we found it's best to stay home and have those extra supplies on hand. The Wall Fire came about 2 miles from us when it was stopped, 41 homes burned to the ground. The Ponderosa fire was just up the road, 32 homes gone. I'm sure you may have heard of the Camp Fire, just north in Paradise, CA? 11,000 homes destroyed, 85 people killed. That was a bad one. We had to wear masks because of the smoke for two weeks! I'm not sure if you would be allowed to stay if you were evacuated. In that case you need to get/revise a trailer to get your animals out. There are examples on the internet of trailers revised to hold chickens, livestock and other animals in various configurations, depending on the need. I hope you will be ok and well out of the way of any fires! Good Luck!

 

[Quailobsessed]

Oh, I almost forgot it's your summer, my winter now. I have heard about the fires there and it breaks my heart. I live in northern California and in the past two years we have been evacuated 4 times because of fires! The closest fire to us was about 1 mile away. We were evacuated, but didn't go. The other fires were further away and we didn't leave for them either. What we did learn is that we have to be prepared to be stuck at home for a long period of time. We have 40 chickens and 3 dogs. We already decided that we would not try to rescue the chickens, we would open the fences/gates and let them run. We would take the dogs and our important paperwork only to evacuate. We keep at least 4 fifty pound bags of chicken food on hand and at least a second bag of dog food at all times. We buy extra meat on sale and put it in our freezer. We have a couple of five gallon cans of gas for our generators in case the power is out. We have a well, so water is no problem since we have the generator. During fires you can leave, but they won't let you back, so we found it's best to stay home and have those extra supplies on hand. The Wall Fire came about 2 miles from us when it was stopped, 41 homes burned to the ground. The Ponderosa fire was just up the road, 32 homes gone. I'm sure you may have heard of the Camp Fire, just north in Paradise, CA? 11,000 homes destroyed, 85 people killed. That was a bad one. We had to wear masks because of the smoke for two weeks! I'm not sure if you would be allowed to stay if you were evacuated. In that case you need to get/revise a trailer to get your animals out. There are examples on the internet of trailers revised to hold chickens, livestock and other animals in various configurations, depending on the need. I hope you will be ok and well out of the way of any fires! Good Luck!

Wow, that sounds hard
Thanks for the advice . We have a trailer, I just need to make sure we have enough cages. The smoke is probably the biggest problem. On some days I just can't go outside because of my asthma.

 

[blackandtan]

Here in Northern Ontario we’re no strangers to forest fires, and once upon a time it was my job to prevent loss of infrastructure at the construction jobs my company ran.
There are a few steps you can take before an emergency that could really pay off: plan your evacuation and/or lay in supplies for you and your livestock. Store flammables AWAY from buildings and livestock housing, especially hay and straw. Don’t landscape around your house with plants and shrubs like pines, and clear out brush at least 50 or ideally 100 feet away from your house. And cut those dead trees! Now! Even just getting a dead tree on the ground is better than leaving it up to jump a fire onto your roof.
In the longer term, metal roofs are a solid investment too. If you have good access to water like we do, a a pump and a few lengths of hose and sprinklers are pretty cheap insurance and easy to set up, you can even leave a gas powered pump running if you had to evacuate, it can keep protecting your home and buildings if you aren’t there.

Anyway, just the 2 cents from someone who’s been there, done that.

 

[Quailobsessed]

Here in Northern Ontario we’re no strangers to forest fires, and once upon a time it was my job to prevent loss of infrastructure at the construction jobs my company ran.
There are a few steps you can take before an emergency that could really pay off: plan your evacuation and/or lay in supplies for you and your livestock. Store flammables AWAY from buildings and livestock housing, especially hay and straw. Don’t landscape around your house with plants and shrubs like pines, and clear out brush at least 50 or ideally 100 feet away from your house. And cut those dead trees! Now! Even just getting a dead tree on the ground is better than leaving it up to jump a fire onto your roof.
In the longer term, metal roofs are a solid investment too. If you have good access to water like we do, a a pump and a few lengths of hose and sprinklers are pretty cheap insurance and easy to set up, you can even leave a gas powered pump running if you had to evacuate, it can keep protecting your home and buildings if you aren’t there.

Anyway, just the 2 cents from someone who’s been there, done that.

Thanks for that. It's great to have advice from people who've been through it.

 

[aart]

There's another thread here about the AU fires:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...ster-where-do-you-move-your-chickens.1339325/

 

[Peppercorngal]

Wow, that sounds hard
Thanks for the advice . We have a trailer, I just need to make sure we have enough cages. The smoke is probably the biggest problem. On some days I just can't go outside because of my asthma.

The smoke is very dangerous to humans. You need to keep your windows shut, any A/C or venting to the outside closed and when you must go out wear a particulate mask that will protect you. Nothing really you can do for the animals, but be sure to protect yourself. We wore masks outdoors for two weeks! I saw no adverse affects on the chickens, even though they have pretty sensitive respiratory systems! You may want to have a animal rescue location mapped out ahead of time, so if worse comes to worse you know where to go with them! I wish you only the best!


This is our smoke at 2pm one day.
It was like this for weeks!