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Emergency Prep for Birdkeepers:

September is National Preparedness Month

Disaster Preparedness for your birds or other pets;

whether for Earthquake, Floods or Fires, is something

easily overlooked by Pet owners until the one time something

as awful as a natural disaster touches their lives.

Are Your Birds Ready?
Here are some positive steps you can take to minimize

the stress of having to go through a disaster and bringing

your pets through it in one piece as well.

Prepare, Prepare, Prepare, and Practice.
How long would it take you and your family to escape

from your home if damaged in an earthquake, or

threatened by a wild fire or flood?


How long will it take you to evacuate with your birds?Now, how long would it take for you to

evacuate your family and your Bird(s) or pet(s)?

If you take the time now, to try it a few times

and time yourself and your family getting out

to safe ground, then time it another time to see

how long it takes with your birds or pets, you will have a reasonable

idea of what to expect when you should ever really need to

evacuate in a hurry.


This is not a pie-in-the-sky idea, timing it is a valuable use

of effort and time, knowing how long it takes you when you

are fully awake and not upset, to evacuate your family and

birds, could make the difference to your success or lack

of it in the real event when disaster happens.

Get a few items together and you can start your Earthquake Prep Plan today.


Eq Prep Notebook

___ Ballpoint Pen            ___ Rubbermaid type rolling garbage can& lid

___ Bulldog binder clips  ___SwissArmyKnife or Leatherman Tool

___ Checklists                 ___Waterproof Duct Tape

___ Notebook                  ___ Waterproof Tarps & Cord or Rope

___ Stopwatch or timer

Other helpful items when starting out:  Patience &  A Sense of Humor.

Do a monthly evacuation practice, and write down your

start to finish “times” in a notebook you will keep in your

Earthquake Kit. Someday you will thank yourself for all the

effort you put into this practice.

Evacuation Priorities
It is not surprising that many people with pets would not

hesitate to put their own lives at risk to save their family

pet in an emergency “disaster” situation.  More danger comes

into play if they have not prepared and practiced for a disaster. 

The responsibility is on you to have your act together

at the critical moment, Emergency Responders are not obligated

to help you evacuate your pet and often will not—their mandate

is always first and foremost to save human lives.

Sample Cage Racks and Rolling Carts

cage stand on wheels

 

 

 

 

 

 

Target, Walmart, Lowes, Home Depot, and Storables all carry chrome rack shelving with wheels available. Storables carries the widest selection of various sizes and combinations to fit your cages.

If you have a single or a pair of small birds, cage (s) small enough to carry in hand?

  

 

 

 

 

 

Do you have weatherproof shelter from the elements for the cages once they are out of direct danger from falling materials or glass breaking?


If you are selecting a new tent, popup or screen-room type tent, make sure it is tall enough to accommodate the cage(s) rolling rack(s). We have found that Coleman has the best selection of 72” or taller tents. Popup canopies can provide limited shelter, some have available zip or clipon “sidewalls”.  

Popup greenhouse http://www.greenhousecatalog.com/category/mini-greenhouses-and-season-extendersAnother option is the weatherproof popup greenhouse, you can put it up in about 3 minutes, available at local Orchard Supply Hardware stores, and Sears, or online from Greenhousecatalog and other vendors

In an emergency, no outdoor shelter is going to be ideal, but some protection from the weather is better than none.

 


If you cannot provide this type of shelter for your birds, even a large 48” wide roll of clear bubblewrap is an inexpensive option to wrap their cage in, providing slits on   one side for adequate air circulation. As a temporary shelter only.  

   

NOTE: DO NOT USE THE PINK ANTI-STATIC TYPE WHICH IS TREATED WITH CHEMICALS

 

 

 

Binder clipsUse bulldog binder clips to clip the bubblewrap to your cages for easy on and off adjustments. Pre-measuring and pre-cutting sections of bubblewrap for your cages can save time, roll up and store your cut bubblewrap sheets and clips and the roll of duct tape in the rolling Rubbermaid garbage can with lid with other bird supplies for evacuation.

 

Water, Water, Water and More Water
Storing enough water is crucial to your success.Most Emergency Preparedness planning agencies suggest that people keep enough water on hand for each person living in the household for at least 3 gal. per person per day, for 7 to 10 days—the time most federal and local disaster planners expect to be potentially unable to guarantee provision of safe drinking water from your taps at home.

How much water do you use in your daily birdcare routine? Have you measured it? Track it. Write it down.  More on water storage ideas.             

Try keeping track of how much water you use in your birdcare routines for one week. Write the info in your EQ Prep notebook. It may vary from day to day, but a whole week should give you a relative picture of your usage. Include all the water you give the birds for drinking, bathing, and cleaning their cages — any usage of water devoted to the birds. Take the average of your “bird” water usage from the week and add that amount of extra water to your “human” water storage plan.

Human Example: 2 adults living in your home. 2 adults x 3 gals per day = 6
gals per day x 10 days = 60 gals of “human” usage of water to store.Add to
this whatever your average daily usage was, from the one week you kept track .
Bird Example: My average bird water usage per day was 2 gallons. So store a Total of 8 gals per day for 10 days’ worth of water = 80 gallons to cover 2 humans
and our birds water needs.

ZupremeMany bird owners feed their birds one type of diet because that is whatHarrison's they have determined works for them and their birds over time. However, if the supply chain that allows you to purchase that certain type of food is disrupted for an extended period of time , do have an adequate supply of extra bird food put aside for your birds to get through a few weeks of no new purchase availability?   Can your birds eat other food(s) well enough to maintain their health through a severe service disruption that may last for an extended period of time? If roadways are blocked, unusable and unfixable for weeks, because of a catastrophic earthquake on the closest fault, bird food is not going to be on the Government Recovery Plan’s list of most important things to provide via FEMA or any other recovery teams dispatched.


Personalized replacement cards can be reordered from http://www.birdtek.com/petemergencycard.html

Do you and your family members carry a Pet Emergency Notification wallet card with current (updated) phone numbers listed on it? If you have an accident  - it lets emergency responders know you have birds at home that will need care. Laminated personalized replacement cards can be ordered from Birdtek.com

 

 

    CERT

    More Earthquake Prep Reources

    Planning Help

    Updating your Home Eq Preparations - Must Have Items

    Vendors

    Walkie-Talkies

    Water Storage Ideas

 

 
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