wildfire smoke & chickens

[pipit]

I live in West Central Florida and the past week we have had a heck of a time with all the smoke and ash from the Georgia and North Florida Wildfires. sometimes I can't even leave the house because it's so bad. I'm worried about what it's doing to my chickens' health. I can't really bring them into the air conditioning. Should I be worried? The smoke is so thick sometimes it looks like a dense fog. the cars are covered in ash as well. Any advice?

 

[CarriBrown]

Yes, I would bring them in the house.
I lived right in the heart of the Southern California fires in 2004. It was literally snowing ashes for days. DH and I lived in a tiny house and we had no choice but to bring our three big dogs inside.
It was a headache, trust me, but I'm sure you'll feel a lot better knowing you're doing what's best for them.
Maybe you can put them in the garage?? It probably isn't as air tight as the house but it's much better than being outside in the firey air.

 

[MTchick]

You could wet down some sheets and place them over all the openings to the henhouse. That would keep the ash and smoke that enters to a minimum, and it would have the added bonus of cooling off the henhouse.

Make sure to change their water several times a day, too. Their little lungs are working hard with that nasty smoke and they'll need extra water to cope.

-MTchick

 

[cookinmom]

Pipit, do the best you can with 'em. I will tell you though, my chickens came through it OK. They hung out in their house more than usual, but they're all fine. We've been having smoke since 4/16 when the Big Turnaround fire started up near Waycross. The fires got to with in 15-20 miles of us, with plenty of smoke and ash, but the chickens came through it fine. I did make sure they had fresh water several times a day, and kept the people door shut on their house to minimize the smoke in there. Not sure how much good the wet sheets would do, as you have the same kind of heat we do, and a wet sheet here would stay wet for about half an hour or so. It might be good to try though, if the fires actually get real close to you.
Hope all goes well for you and your chickens. Stay safe.

 

[Cheeks]

Quote:
werent the fires around halloween of 03?
i remember those. the fires were just over the hill from my house
my whole neighborhood got evacuated.

 

[Chelly]

Yes it was 2003 - I remember well, I was 8 mths pregnant. We chose to evacuate when we could see that fire coming over the hill (Santee area) we wore masks when we went outside!
Chelly

 

[Cheeks]

santee.. haha. i went to santana for a few months sophmore year.

born and raised in el cajon.

nice to meet ya.

 

[Chelly]

How funny!
I drive past Santana every day after dropping my daughter at daycare... we live in El Cajon now - moved a couple of years ago. (just round the corner from santee now)
We're moving in July to Nebraska!
Small world! Great to meet you!
What on earth are you doing in Ohio?

 

[Cheeks]

my boyfriend and i moved to ohio because we wanted to buy a house. we kind of just did iny-miny-miney-mo and picked a state. hahaha

hows the weather in sd right now?

 

[Chelly]

Its been SO hot this week, crazy really on Monday we hit a few record highs - I work in Poway and it was 96 up there! Its cooled slightly, but still very hot, we were in Ramona yesterday (my horse is up there) and we were just trying to hop around between the shady spots!

Do you like Ohio? I bet you can actually AFFORD a house there. We were trying to buy up near Julian, but gave up - its just TOO expensive and even if we were to buy, it would mean both of us working like crazy and never seeing the kids. So we decided on Nebraska! (hubby has some family there)
Chelly