Wildfire evacuation

[CCUK]

And microchip all you can. You can have horses, cattle and goats done just like dogs and cats. Chickens and other poultry can get leg tags.

My pigeons all have clip-on leg rings with my phone no. printed on. You can get larger ones for chickens.

 

[orrpeople]

How is your place?

From what we can gather, it's still standing.

 

[microchick]

@orrpeople When all is said and done, we all do the best we can do when the situation calls for immediate action. No more, no less. You did all you can do, the rest is in other's hands.

Your BYC family is helpless to do more than offer words of encouragement and prayers. But never underestimate the power of prayer.

 

[ronott1]

From what we can gather, it's still standing.

I hope it makes it!

 

[Killer Tomato]

It seem's that most of these big fires that happen are caused by human's!

Lightening strikes started the majority of the ones here in Oregon recently. Though we do have the random a-holes who think it's a hoot to start fires that burn down the Gorge, or just careless yahoos with campfires or sparking equipment and blazing hot days.

Regardless, it's still terrifying and sad to experience, I imagine.

 

[orrpeople]

From what we can gather, it's still standing.

Of course our other concern for our birds is predators who are being flushed from the forested areas around us. Although I could never begrudge a hungry mountain lion a chicken dinner, I can only hope that any predatory activity would be limited to hunger not sport.

 

[Morrigan]

@room onthebroom encouraged me to pop in. We are dealing w the Carr Fire here in Redding, CA.
We had to leave behind the lion's share of our flock. .. I have lots of thoughts about this. Some thoughts tend towards despair and self-loathing because of all the "couldas, shouldas, and wouldas" that seem to plague my mind in the wee hours of the morning when I should be sleeping.
Other thoughts, though, are these:
1. I could not have predicted the path of the fire, or the moment at which I would be called upon to evacuate.
2. I could not have known law enforcement would turn away my helper with cages and truck.
3. We left lots and lots of food and water - as well as drizzling hoses. We left their coops open. (They were free-ranging that day anyway, so catching them would be - well, you all know)
4. We called Animal Control and they assured me they would do their best to, at the very least feed/water, once it was safe.
5. We were able to catch 8 birds consisting of one very nice SFH breeding group and a couple layers.
6. That was all I could do. End of story. The situation was beyond my control and second guessing any of the things that happened - when we were also desperately trying to get photos, important papers, etc together will never be helpful.

Now, I have to convince my 3 AM brain of what my 10 AM brain knows to be true.

I really think you did all you can. Unless you are prepared to have all your livestock living in cages during all of fire season, the very nature of these fast moving fires is such that there is no realistic plan to save everyone. By the time you know there is a need to evacuate, there is usually precious little time to go about chasing down chickens. I think you did great to get the birds you could, and make sure you left in the rest in a position to have a fighting chance.

I was thinking about this thread today as a fire ignited close enough to where I could watch air support making their water drops. I was torn between watching and waiting, and starting to gather the chickens. I waited and, luckily, the fire were contained (hopefully it stays that way). I realized just how very hard it is to predict when it is time to start packing up and leave.

 

[Kiki]

@Sunshine Flock
This morning's update. I have no idea what a red flag means but it expired this morning. Hopefully that is a good thing.

 

[h2oratt]

I may have someone nearby who can take in my flock while I figure things out. But I wanted to

Can you describe your property and chicken coop arrangements? It's so nice of you to offer. The situation we're in is the extreme smoke and smoke damage on our cedar siding and inside our home from poor sealing and a broken window. We can't live there.

I just need to get back to Redding, remove my animals and take them somewhere safe. Unfortunately, at this point biosecurity isn't something I can worry about.

ETA: Sorry, the kitten ran across the keyboard and my head is exploding from Trump news being on all day at my dad's house.

I have a run along the back of my property under redwood trees. I keep my young Roos back there until I process them.

 

[SurferchickinSB]

We're just a few miles from the Carr Fire here in Redding, California.

Have you ever had to evacuate with chickens before? I started a preparation discussion months ago, but dumb me. I'm good at talking things up, not so good at actual preparation.

I have things I need to go and do. Please post any ideas or your own experiences here. Spot fires from embers are starting to ignite. If we have to evacuate, we're unsure of how that works, where we'll need to go, how to manage this with almost no spare funds.

I'll call the local Red Cross and sheriff's office, the animal shelter and see if my calls will be answered. Now is not the time to be figuring this out.

I just did it about two weeks ago. I left my house with my 2 dogs and 8 chickens. I loaded everything up in my RV, luckily I had dog crates and I had ordered one large dog crate to use as a chicken isolation cage in case any of my chickens were to get sick.