Fireworks residual power

[WannaBeHillBilly]

How did the birds react to those explosions? - I set of a strip of firecrackers once to scare a raccoon away (it did not work!) and my ducks ended up under the patio.
And on Thursday evening (7/4) i had to wait until everybody was done with their shooting and fireworks before i could herd them into their house…

 

[Henriettamom919]

The explosive mostly used in fireworks is ordinary gun-powder, comprised out of charcoal, sulphur and salpeter (potassium nitrate) plus some other salts in minute quantities to change the flame colors (usually only in rockets). All of those chemicals are not toxic at all, if ingested in small amounts, in fact ground charcoal is used as an anti-toxin to flush bad stuff out or birds. Sulphur-powder was used in the past around fruit trees to prevent insects from climbing up the stems and potassium nitrate is a fertilizer…
I would be more worried about pieces of burnt paper or plastics that the chickens could swallow than this residue. That black stuff is mostly just unburnt charcoal, the powder used in fireworks has more charcoal than gunpowder, so that there is a brighter flash of light during the detonation. It is also known as "Hollywood gunpowder", so that gunfire is more visible in the movies.
Hosing it away with plenty of water is sufficient.

This is fascinating and great info! I too agree that the bits of actual packaging and rubbish are far more risky. Chickens, especially younger birds, will try and eat ANYTHING colorful or crinkly including plastics, ribbon, wood and even cigarette butts! (My dad had one of our hens jump two feet straight up and snag an unlit cigarette from his hand! !)

Just make sure to get ALL the debris, even things that seem inconsequential! My Buff Orp really loves the kid's exploded water balloon remnants

 

[Henriettamom919]

How did the birds react to those explosions? - I set of a strip of firecrackers once to scare a raccoon away (it did not work!) and my ducks ended up under the patio.
And on Thursday evening (7/4) i had to wait until everybody was done with their shooting and fireworks before i could herd them into their house…

By the actual 4th mine were virtually impervious to the noise. My neighbors started in days earlier and my hens and pullets were totally immune come the actual holiday/time. They went up to roost as usual (between 8:30/9pm) and the neighborhood went insane about 9:30-10pm and none of them reacted. Even the louder explosions during the day, M-80's, etc, only gave them brief pause before they went about their usual foraging business!

 

[RhodeIslandRed5]

@Henriettamom919 you should ask your dad not to smoke or hold his cigarettes around your chickens. (He shouldn't smoke anyway. Bad for your health!!! No one in my family smokes.)

Oh yes, chickens will eat anything. That's how one of my chicks ate that little piece of duct tape.

By the way, is there ANYTHING I can do for my poor hot girls? Came home from church and it's excruciatingly hot outside, my poor girls are panting up a storm! It's 94 out! Is it safe to put an ice cube in their water? I feel sorry for them.

 

[Henriettamom919]

Hey hun! Sorry I wasn't on to answer this question but I can now! Frozen water bottles in fresh bedding, shade made using large cardboard that you lean against walls of run (free at most home depot, Lowe's and grocery store places- I prefer old appliance boxes of pieces of them) and you can use casserole dishes or storage tote to make giant ice cubes- just dip base in hot water to loosen brick then dump onto tarp in run. Electric fans and hose misters work great, too!

Hope the heat has subsided but for future reference there's some ideas!

 

[RhodeIslandRed5]

Oh, no; heat hasn't subsided. It's 10:30 here and already 91. Very hot! I will put some ice cubes in their water before heading to work this afternoon. The coop is shaded, by the way; it's just major hot.

 

[Henriettamom919]

Oh, no; heat hasn't subsided. It's 10:30 here and already 91. Very hot! I will put some ice cubes in their water before heading to work this afternoon. The coop is shaded, by the way; it's just major hot.

Try running and outdoor extension cord and getting a box fan for them. They're currently on sale for 16.99 here but most people have an upright fan laying around.

How's work going?

 

[Fishkeeper]

You can give them a dish of cold water to stand in, with some ice in it. You don't want icewater, just water with enough ice to stay not too hot. And yes, ice cubes in their drinking water is fine, just not freezing cold.
A mister that gently damps them down a little could help. If you have a mister aimed at a patch of ground, the moist ground will cool the area around it via evaporation.

 

[RhodeIslandRed5]

A box fan was one of our thoughts. I do have a nice long extension cord I use for my greenhouse heater through the winter.

Work? Eh, not bad I guess. I've been asked to work extra days because one of my co-workers took off for a little vacation. Yesterday I did a mountain of filing that seemed to take forever. I helped assemble a cheap-made office chair. Hope it doesn't fall apart.

 

[Fishkeeper]

Oh, a box fan would be great. Just be sure they can't put their feet and/or beaks into the fan and get hurt.
The ideal would be a box fan blowing across a stretch of dampened ground, a bowl of water, or both. That's a swamp cooler right there, after all, and it works.