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Disaster Preparedness

rocky'smom

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It's also 3 years old.
 

rocky'smom

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That takes practice with treats. Everyday work with Simon, if you get him in the pak-o-bird, by he gets a treat. His favorite treat. But there are times we have tough it out, scoop them up , no choice and get them to safety.
 

simon777

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I treat Simon so totally different to everything I read here at AA. He never gets reward treats, he just gets treats because he is my wonderful boy. I don't do any training with him at all, I just request for him to do something and leave it up to him if he wants to. If I really need him to do something like eat or get off me I say "please please please ..." and he will usually do it. I suppose I should think of something for an emergency.
 

cassiesdad

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I treat Simon so totally different to everything I read here at AA. He never gets reward treats, he just gets treats because he is my wonderful boy. I don't do any training with him at all, I just request for him to do something and leave it up to him if he wants to. If I really need him to do something like eat or get off me I say "please please please ..." and he will usually do it. I suppose I should think of something for an emergency.
...I can understand. Our birds are treated much in the same way. We do very sparse training with them...and treats aren't really used as training tools...they are treats. There are some who might not think that's the best way to go with birds, but that's the way we roll around here.

As for emergencies...when a bird has to be moved...THEY HAVE TO BE MOVED...PERIOD! My previous post on this thread about the gas leak is an example of what I mean.
In November of 2017, a tornado touched down around and moved into the city...at its closest, it was six blocks away. As the warnings were being issued, we moved seven birds, two guinea pigs, and two humans downstairs and under heavy work tables. The birds had already been covered for the evening. (making it even more difficult to move) The budgies went quickly, Milton was OK...but Buddy and Mocha bit the living snot out of my hands...BUT THEY GOT INTO TRAVEL CAGES.

Remember...time is critical...safety needs to be preserved...
 

simon777

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I've just checked and the last storm that really affected parakai was in march 1954 when houses where surrounded by one foot of water. Sometimes there are strong winds but the shelter from literally hundreds of trees here seems to prevent any of the kinds of disasters that affects the areas lots of AA members live in. Only power outages cause problems here and no evacuation is needed then. I'm too careful for there to be a fire. So really I only need to worry about a war happening or a plane falling out of the sky, very very unlikely. Or maybe a meteor.
 

Hawk12237

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...I can understand. Our birds are treated much in the same way. We do very sparse training with them...and treats aren't really used as training tools...they are treats. There are some who might not think that's the best way to go with birds, but that's the way we roll around here.

As for emergencies...when a bird has to be moved...THEY HAVE TO BE MOVED...PERIOD! My previous post on this thread about the gas leak is an example of what I mean.
In November of 2017, a tornado touched down around and moved into the city...at its closest, it was six blocks away. As the warnings were being issued, we moved seven birds, two guinea pigs, and two humans downstairs and under heavy work tables. The birds had already been covered for the evening. (making it even more difficult to move) The budgies went quickly, Milton was OK...but Buddy and Mocha bit the living snot out of my hands...BUT THEY GOT INTO TRAVEL CAGES.

Remember...time is critical...safety needs to be preserved...

Oh I agree on time is crucial. Several years back we had a tornado come down. Across road and came in yard took our 2 story barn down, rolled the combinder out into field, but spared our house!
At that time, I had lou( my macaw) and Billy jean, my too. When sirens went off, and you could barely hear them, I stepped out on porch to see a funnel cloud coming down less than a half mile away!
Yelled at my wife.....basement now!!! We had less than 30 seconds from time I spotted it to time I hit first step to basement. I didn't have time to put them in travel cage, it's grab them and run for basement! The wind was like a train. About 2-3 minutes then it was dead silent.
It was a wake up call, though I have emergency stash in basement, time was not on my side, and made me rethink my plan of action.
Then a couple years ago had another that started outside Frankenmuth and went 11 miles.
We were prepared for that one.
Never assume you have enough time to coach bird into travel cage, grab them best you can and go. 30 seconds was all I had!
 

rocky'smom

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The other thing that is needed, near the cage, with littles, is a pillowcase. With Bebe, he is the untouchable, he will bite the cr@p out of your hand, arm.
After the Halloween fire and he was out of the cage that night. I had to net him and basically as gently as possible shove in cage. It was a scary night. There is now a fold pillowcase right by the cage.
 

taxidermynerd

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My own preparedness has come in handy, and in one case I truly believe it saved Chirp's life.

Last summer, we were trying to make mac'n'cheese in the oven. It outgrew the casserole dish it was in (we used the size in the recipe), and melty cheese and grease hit the bottom of the oven, and the heating element, causing copious amounts of smoke to fill the house. My eyes and lungs were burning, it was hard to breathe, you could hardly see in front of you.

I got the dog in my room, closed the door and flung open the window, put a towel in front of the door and cranked the AC (window unit). I threw Chirp into his at-the-time carrier and threw a pillowcase over it, and put Fuzzgig into his carrier and parked them both in the window. If I wanted to get out with them I would have to either run through the smoke to either door, or jump out the window and break my legs. None of those were viable for me so we waited it out.

Ultimately we were fine, all the smoke cleared out and everything was ok. But I think if I didn't have that pillowcase, things could have gone very differently. Chirp is normally a nightmare to catch but in this scenario, he was totally compliant. I think he understood how important it was that he get into his carrier- He probably saw that I was in hustle mode and knew something was up.

I also recently moved my emergency kit into a smaller container, so I can grab it and go much easier. I also keep a pillowcase in Chirp's carrier, which stays on top of his cage. I also put index cards with my contact info and both the regular vet and the ER's info into a ziploc bag, which is taped onto the bottom of the carrier just in case.
 

cassiesdad

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Never assume you have enough time to coach bird into travel cage, grab them best you can and go. 30 seconds was all I had!
...that CAN'T BE STRESSED ENOUGH...sorry about the caps...
 

Hawk12237

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My own preparedness has come in handy, and in one case I truly believe it saved Chirp's life.

Last summer, we were trying to make mac'n'cheese in the oven. It outgrew the casserole dish it was in (we used the size in the recipe), and melty cheese and grease hit the bottom of the oven, and the heating element, causing copious amounts of smoke to fill the house. My eyes and lungs were burning, it was hard to breathe, you could hardly see in front of you.

I got the dog in my room, closed the door and flung open the window, put a towel in front of the door and cranked the AC (window unit). I threw Chirp into his at-the-time carrier and threw a pillowcase over it, and put Fuzzgig into his carrier and parked them both in the window. If I wanted to get out with them I would have to either run through the smoke to either door, or jump out the window and break my legs. None of those were viable for me so we waited it out.

Ultimately we were fine, all the smoke cleared out and everything was ok. But I think if I didn't have that pillowcase, things could have gone very differently. Chirp is normally a nightmare to catch but in this scenario, he was totally compliant. I think he understood how important it was that he get into his carrier- He probably saw that I was in hustle mode and knew something was up.

I also recently moved my emergency kit into a smaller container, so I can grab it and go much easier. I also keep a pillowcase in Chirp's carrier, which stays on top of his cage. I also put index cards with my contact info and both the regular vet and the ER's info into a ziploc bag, which is taped onto the bottom of the carrier just in case.

pillow case is good idea...I have a beach towel there. But my birds are very compliant. I say step up firmly, and they do. But in stressful situations you don't have time to second guess or wait if they hesitate. So yes pillow case could come in handy.
 

taxidermynerd

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pillow case is good idea...I have a beach towel there. But my birds are very compliant. I say step up firmly, and they do. But in stressful situations you don't have time to second guess or wait if they hesitate. So yes pillow case could come in handy.
Well the main reason I used the pillowcase is because it can filter out smoke, making it easier for him to breathe. I saw it suggested here on AA. But Chirp doesn't step up (unless he's scared or stuck somewhere) so it is useful for that too, yes.
 

Hawk12237

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Well the main reason I used the pillowcase is because it can filter out smoke, making it easier for him to breathe. I saw it suggested here on AA. But Chirp doesn't step up (unless he's scared or stuck somewhere) so it is useful for that too, yes.
yes it does and kudos to that great idea!
 
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