FYI for those in recent fire burn areas!!

[flutemomc]

Hi everyone,

We live in Santa Barbara County just below the Thomas Fire burn scar. We got tons of smoke and ash during the fire (we did evacuate including the chickens to another area) but our chickens seemed to be fine afterward with no respiratory problems. Unfortunately, over the past couple of weeks we have been working with a vet to try and treat our easter egger, Clucky who started showing signs of respiratory distress (sneezing a lot, less activity, occasional open mouth breathing after jumping) She was diagnosed with a fungal infection in her air sacs and subsequent pneumonia

Unfortunately, she had to be put down even after two weeks of antibiotic and antifungal treatment the xray showed that there had been no improvement in her lungs. Our vet has seen a huge uptick in these cases and told us it is due to the fire spreading around fungal spores in the ground. PLEASE if you live in a burn area make sure your chickens have no respiratory problems and if you do, try and treat it early. Hoping that our experience can help save some other chickens lives.

 

[N F C]

Sorry for your loss.

That was a good 'heads up' to put out for other members.

 

[CaramelKittey]

So sorry for the loss of your Easter egger. It’s always sad when you lose a chicken to an event as horrible as a fire. ;(
Thank you for sharing! It was really nice of you to give a ‘heads up’ to other chicken owners!