In the emergency of a natural disaster where do you move your chickens?

[Butterscotchbitesfinger]

@Oz chic how are you?

 

[Aussie-Chookmum]

Hello. How is everyone??

Good thanks Butterscotch.

A move? Very exciting! And tiring. Hope it goes well.

 

[Butterscotchbitesfinger]

Good thanks Butterscotch.

A move? Very exciting! And tiring. Hope it goes well.

Exciting? I’m happy but I’m going to miss this place.

 

[Sapphire Sebright]

I hope that you settle in well, Butterscotch. Good luck with the move.

 

[MickWithChicks]

We had fires within a few KM's of our property, and the Gospers Mountain one was burning directly west of us. I didn't relocate my flock, I just let them out in the hopes they'd get themselves to safer ground.

We got through the fires safely only to be hit by floods! We back onto hilly bushland and have a dormant creek through our property--it only runs through the ravines down the hill and pools in the yard during major rain events. Unfortunately this season it put the coop and run under a good 30cm of water--enough to easily drown a hen.

All my birds made it through it. However, one was recovering from an injury and managed to reinjure herself. She's still eating, but is now going downhill and moving less. I've got her on vitamins and pain management, and will give her until the weekend to see any improvements, but I'm likely going to have to euthanise her. All the moisture brought up a lot of fungi, and another hen appeared to have eaten some that I found in the underbrush she frequents that unfortunately killed her very quickly (she was happily scratching away enthusiastically an hour before I found her dead).

So the fire and the heat weren't the issue; the flooding and moisture were.

 

[Muscovy Wunda]

I was worried about the dogs eating the fungi but maybe I need to watch the chooks too

 

[Butterscotchbitesfinger]

We had fires within a few KM's of our property, and the Gospers Mountain one was burning directly west of us. I didn't relocate my flock, I just let them out in the hopes they'd get themselves to safer ground.

We got through the fires safely only to be hit by floods! We back onto hilly bushland and have a dormant creek through our property--it only runs through the ravines down the hill and pools in the yard during major rain events. Unfortunately this season it put the coop and run under a good 30cm of water--enough to easily drown a hen.

All my birds made it through it. However, one was recovering from an injury and managed to reinjure herself. She's still eating, but is now going downhill and moving less. I've got her on vitamins and pain management, and will give her until the weekend to see any improvements, but I'm likely going to have to euthanise her. All the moisture brought up a lot of fungi, and another hen appeared to have eaten some that I found in the underbrush she frequents that unfortunately killed her very quickly (she was happily scratching away enthusiastically an hour before I found her dead).

So the fire and the heat weren't the issue; the flooding and moisture were.

That’s so sad I’m sorry to hear.

 

[Sapphire Sebright]

@MickWithChicks -- I'm glad to know that you made it through the fires safely.
Sorry to hear about your hens, and I hope that the injured one pulls through.
Good luck with your flock!

 

[MickWithChicks]

@MickWithChicks -- I'm glad to know that you made it through the fires safely.
Sorry to hear about your hens, and I hope that the injured one pulls through.
Good luck with your flock!

Thanks. It's all part of chicken keeping. If you want to free range your hens, these things happen. Reading through similar cases and injuries here, I don't think she'll pull through, but I'll give her a little more time to have a good hot crack at it. I don't take ending a life lightly, but I also don't want her to suffer unnecessarily.

The hen that died was an old girl and had stopped laying some time ago. I adopted her as an older hen and named her Scroogie as she wasn't forthcoming with her eggs like the other hens.

 

[Butterscotchbitesfinger]

We think we have found a place less in a fire zone than here (yessss) but after this summer I’m not sure anywhere is really safe.