Chicken survived a Heat Stroke

I have a Rhode Island Red hen who has suffered Heat Stroke, I found her at 5am this morning listless I thought she was dead. To my amazement my other hens were trying to comfort her. One gently touched her beak and she stirred. I picked her up and held here patted her and tried to comfort her.

I have got her indoors and in air-conditioning. I have given her a few drops of water by eye dropper and am about to get some electrolytes for her.

With temps well over 100 ( 35+ Centigrade) they are all feeling it, but this girl seems more susceptible to the heat.

Some might say she's only a chicken but we love our hens they all have their names and they all come running when we are in the yard.

Brian from Australia ( Total heat wave here at the moment)
 
Today my hen Joy was laying on her side with one wing up in the air, panting. I went into the run and grabbed her. I forced her to drink some water by dipping her beak. I then soaked her feet and rubbed water all over her. When I returned her to the run, she stumbled once, then instantly stood up and ran to her sisters like nothing ever happened. Do you think it was heat stroke? It was 70 degrees F today.
 
I am posting this to give hope and encouragement to others with the same problem.

On July 2, I found one of my hens down when I went to check on them. As my husband and I were approaching their run, she looked dead to both of us. The other 7 hens were panting and when we looked in their coop, we discovered that they had knocked their 3 gallon waterer over and it had drained completely. Then, I remembered something I had learned during our first winter with chickens and I was worried about them getting cold...chickens are more vulnerable to heat than cold and in southern Oklahoma in July...it's hot.

We realized that she was still breathing, so we picked her up and brought her into my husband's woodshop that is attached to our house. She felt very hot...especially under her wings. He put her in the shop sink and rinsed her with cool water while I got the cage that we use for a brooder ready for her. We thought that she would be dead in no time but wanted her to at least not be getting walked on by the other hens. She could not stand up, could barely make a sound and her comb looked faded and dry. We turned the a/c on in the shop so that she could continue to cool down.

I went to the internet for answers and couldn't find much that seemed to help. Several people said to put a little sugar or electrolytes in her water and wait. From the information that I could find, it seemed that she would either be dead or better by morning, but I had zero hope of a recovery. I found one post from someone that had talked to a veterinatian that told them to be patient while the brained healed...no length of time given and no other instructions.

My husband suggested that we flip her over every 30 minutes or so to help with circulation, so we started there. He didn't really think that it would work but he knew it was driving me crazy to do nothing for her. The next morning, when we went to check on her, she was still just laying there and unable to stand...but still alive. She has never really liked to be handled, but we continued flipping her over every little bit while trying not to stress her out too much. Occassionally, we would take her out of the cage and stand her up on the floor. If we held her up, she would go to the bathroom, but as soon as we would try to let her stand, she fell right over. We still felt we had a dying chicken on our hands.

We went to the farm/ranch store and bought an electrolyte powder, especially for chickens, to mix with her water as well as two 1 gallon waterers to put in the run for the rest of the flock so that they could have electrolytes and additional water...just in case. By the next morning, I was expecting her to either be dead or completely better (based on what I had read online) but she was neither. A little better...she could cluck better and could stand for a second or two before falling down and flapping like crazy. She always fell on her right side with her right wing extended. We would set her back up and repeat the process. It was pitiful to watch.

A day or so later, we decided to talk her outside in the grass under a shade tree for a little while. She could stand a little longer (5-10 seconds) in the grass than she could on the concrete floor in the shop. I would get her up and keep my hand on her right side. I would move her right foot and she would move her left. After four or five steps, she was tired and wanted to just sit, so that is what we did. We continued this for the next few days.

After a week had passed, she could sit for quite a while, but her head and tail feathers were always to the right side of her body...she looked out of balance. She would still always fall to the right and would sometimes even tip over when she was just sitting. Her progress seemed to stall. I started calling local vets to see if anyone had any ideas and mailnly, because I felt like we were just prolonging the inevitable. The first two vets that I called didn't work with chickens. The third vet didn't work with chickens either, but the office manager must raise chickens because she seemed familiar with the breed (Salmon Faverolles) and at least listened to me, talked to me a little bit and told me to give it one more week before making any decisions. While we were sitting outside with her that evening, my husband said, "You do realize that we are going to have to put her down." It was like she heard him, because she stood up, walked very clumsily in a small circle...to the right, of course...and then fell down. This was the first time that she had even tried to walk on her own but more importantly, it was progress.

The pattern seemed to be a little progress, followed by several days with no progress. Her circles to the right grew a little bigger and finally became arches instead of circles. I began to wonder if she would be able to figure out how to get where she meant to go by only turning to the right. After her short walks, she would always fall flat on her right side and flap like crazy until we picked her back up. She did enjoy her time outside and I learned that chickens make a purring sound when they are content.

By this time, thanks to more internet research, we had added a tarp to reflect the sun and provide a little more shade to the run as well as water misters. We didn't want a second hen in this condition because we kenew we didn't have the time or space to take care of two at once. Their run is fairly shaded by surrounding trees, except on the south side, so that is where the tarp went. I HIGHLY recommend this for anyone on a hot climate. They LOVE the misters and it keeps them cool enough that they walk around their run instead of digging into a hole and just sitting there.

We were still continuing with small amounts of progress followed by several days without progress. When she would try to walk, she would go way too fast and fall over. We discovered that if we laid her on her left side, she could stand herself up so now, when she fell over, we would flip her to her left and she could get up on her own...until the next time she fell.

Two weeks had passed and I asked my mother to come have a look at her. My thought was that if she would come look at her one or two times a week, it would be easier to tell if there had been progress or not. Seeing her everyday, and wishful thinking, made it hard to evaluate her on my own. My mother (who doesn't really like chickens) felt bad for her when she first saw her fall and flap like crazy...to me, this was normal by now. She felt like the chicken was "more dead than alive" and that we were close to torturing her to keep her around. All I could say was that she was "much better than she had been" and since she wasn't dead yet, we would keep trying a little longer.

A few days later, my husband used a dog kennel (3'x6') to make her a run and put it adjacent to the run for the rest of the flock. Every morning, I would take the chicken to her run and every evening, I would put her back in the small cage in the shop. I would check on her constantly so that when she fell over, I could stand her back up. After a couple days of this routine, she had figured out that if she stood close enough to the cage on her right side that she could walk by herself and only needed to touch the tip of her wing to the side of the cage for balance/support. This is also how she learned to make a left turn! Several times each day, I would stand her up a little ways back in the run so that she could practice walking. Each day, we would start a little farther than the day before.

Everyone that knows me knows that I have a sick chicken since that is just about all that I can talk about and when I'm not at home, I worry about her constantly. People at church even offered to pray for her. She wasn't officially on the prayer list, but one lady asked me if she had a name, so that she could pray for her by name. Truth be told, I was praying for her, too...and it worked.

Within five days of being in her own run, she was getting brave enough to walk out in the middle without leaning on the cage for support. This new confidence meant that I had to keep an even closer eye on her, since she still couldn't get up from her right side.

It has been 31 days since she had her stroke and 10 days since I last had to stand her back up. She is spending her first day back with the flock (minus one that was being aggressive towards her) and is now able to get up from her right side. She actually catches herself before she falls completely.

Hopefully, in a couple more days, I can put the other chicken (that was being aggressive) back in and things will be back to "normal" again.
It looks like time is important,and it will take time to recover. Was she eating on her own? Did you have to force feed her.?? Mine won't eat nor drink on her own, I have to do it with a syringe. I am giving her water, yogurt, any fruit that she will have a small piece of (again forcing her to open her mouth and putting it in her beak)
How much to feed?? She looks annoyed at me every time I feed her!
 
I am going through something very similar with a hen and was not sure what to expect. Progress is so slow I can’t help but wonder if it will be worth it. She is exhibiting almost identical behavior. This post gives me one hope and I’ll just keep going. Thanks.
 
It looks like time is important,and it will take time to recover. Was she eating on her own? Did you have to force feed her.?? Mine won't eat nor drink on her own, I have to do it with a syringe. I am giving her water, yogurt, any fruit that she will have a small piece of (again forcing her to open her mouth and putting it in her beak)
How much to feed?? She looks annoyed at me every time I feed her!
 
My experience is the same. She can barely hold her head up but her neck is really strong when she fights me. LOL.
 
I am posting this to give hope and encouragement to others with the same problem.

On July 2, I found one of my hens down when I went to check on them. As my husband and I were approaching their run, she looked dead to both of us. The other 7 hens were panting and when we looked in their coop, we discovered that they had knocked their 3 gallon waterer over and it had drained completely. Then, I remembered something I had learned during our first winter with chickens and I was worried about them getting cold...chickens are more vulnerable to heat than cold and in southern Oklahoma in July...it's hot.

We realized that she was still breathing, so we picked her up and brought her into my husband's woodshop that is attached to our house. She felt very hot...especially under her wings. He put her in the shop sink and rinsed her with cool water while I got the cage that we use for a brooder ready for her. We thought that she would be dead in no time but wanted her to at least not be getting walked on by the other hens. She could not stand up, could barely make a sound and her comb looked faded and dry. We turned the a/c on in the shop so that she could continue to cool down.

I went to the internet for answers and couldn't find much that seemed to help. Several people said to put a little sugar or electrolytes in her water and wait. From the information that I could find, it seemed that she would either be dead or better by morning, but I had zero hope of a recovery. I found one post from someone that had talked to a veterinatian that told them to be patient while the brained healed...no length of time given and no other instructions.

My husband suggested that we flip her over every 30 minutes or so to help with circulation, so we started there. He didn't really think that it would work but he knew it was driving me crazy to do nothing for her. The next morning, when we went to check on her, she was still just laying there and unable to stand...but still alive. She has never really liked to be handled, but we continued flipping her over every little bit while trying not to stress her out too much. Occassionally, we would take her out of the cage and stand her up on the floor. If we held her up, she would go to the bathroom, but as soon as we would try to let her stand, she fell right over. We still felt we had a dying chicken on our hands.

We went to the farm/ranch store and bought an electrolyte powder, especially for chickens, to mix with her water as well as two 1 gallon waterers to put in the run for the rest of the flock so that they could have electrolytes and additional water...just in case. By the next morning, I was expecting her to either be dead or completely better (based on what I had read online) but she was neither. A little better...she could cluck better and could stand for a second or two before falling down and flapping like crazy. She always fell on her right side with her right wing extended. We would set her back up and repeat the process. It was pitiful to watch.

A day or so later, we decided to talk her outside in the grass under a shade tree for a little while. She could stand a little longer (5-10 seconds) in the grass than she could on the concrete floor in the shop. I would get her up and keep my hand on her right side. I would move her right foot and she would move her left. After four or five steps, she was tired and wanted to just sit, so that is what we did. We continued this for the next few days.

After a week had passed, she could sit for quite a while, but her head and tail feathers were always to the right side of her body...she looked out of balance. She would still always fall to the right and would sometimes even tip over when she was just sitting. Her progress seemed to stall. I started calling local vets to see if anyone had any ideas and mailnly, because I felt like we were just prolonging the inevitable. The first two vets that I called didn't work with chickens. The third vet didn't work with chickens either, but the office manager must raise chickens because she seemed familiar with the breed (Salmon Faverolles) and at least listened to me, talked to me a little bit and told me to give it one more week before making any decisions. While we were sitting outside with her that evening, my husband said, "You do realize that we are going to have to put her down." It was like she heard him, because she stood up, walked very clumsily in a small circle...to the right, of course...and then fell down. This was the first time that she had even tried to walk on her own but more importantly, it was progress.

The pattern seemed to be a little progress, followed by several days with no progress. Her circles to the right grew a little bigger and finally became arches instead of circles. I began to wonder if she would be able to figure out how to get where she meant to go by only turning to the right. After her short walks, she would always fall flat on her right side and flap like crazy until we picked her back up. She did enjoy her time outside and I learned that chickens make a purring sound when they are content.

By this time, thanks to more internet research, we had added a tarp to reflect the sun and provide a little more shade to the run as well as water misters. We didn't want a second hen in this condition because we kenew we didn't have the time or space to take care of two at once. Their run is fairly shaded by surrounding trees, except on the south side, so that is where the tarp went. I HIGHLY recommend this for anyone on a hot climate. They LOVE the misters and it keeps them cool enough that they walk around their run instead of digging into a hole and just sitting there.

We were still continuing with small amounts of progress followed by several days without progress. When she would try to walk, she would go way too fast and fall over. We discovered that if we laid her on her left side, she could stand herself up so now, when she fell over, we would flip her to her left and she could get up on her own...until the next time she fell.

Two weeks had passed and I asked my mother to come have a look at her. My thought was that if she would come look at her one or two times a week, it would be easier to tell if there had been progress or not. Seeing her everyday, and wishful thinking, made it hard to evaluate her on my own. My mother (who doesn't really like chickens) felt bad for her when she first saw her fall and flap like crazy...to me, this was normal by now. She felt like the chicken was "more dead than alive" and that we were close to torturing her to keep her around. All I could say was that she was "much better than she had been" and since she wasn't dead yet, we would keep trying a little longer.

A few days later, my husband used a dog kennel (3'x6') to make her a run and put it adjacent to the run for the rest of the flock. Every morning, I would take the chicken to her run and every evening, I would put her back in the small cage in the shop. I would check on her constantly so that when she fell over, I could stand her back up. After a couple days of this routine, she had figured out that if she stood close enough to the cage on her right side that she could walk by herself and only needed to touch the tip of her wing to the side of the cage for balance/support. This is also how she learned to make a left turn! Several times each day, I would stand her up a little ways back in the run so that she could practice walking. Each day, we would start a little farther than the day before.

Everyone that knows me knows that I have a sick chicken since that is just about all that I can talk about and when I'm not at home, I worry about her constantly. People at church even offered to pray for her. She wasn't officially on the prayer list, but one lady asked me if she had a name, so that she could pray for her by name. Truth be told, I was praying for her, too...and it worked.

Within five days of being in her own run, she was getting brave enough to walk out in the middle without leaning on the cage for support. This new confidence meant that I had to keep an even closer eye on her, since she still couldn't get up from her right side.

It has been 31 days since she had her stroke and 10 days since I last had to stand her back up. She is spending her first day back with the flock (minus one that was being aggressive towards her) and is now able to get up from her right side. She actually catches herself before she falls completely.

Hopefully, in a couple more days, I can put the other chicken (that was being aggressive) back in and things will be back to "normal" again.

Thank you for sharing. This just happened to our hens& are heartbroken. we lost one & the other is in recovery. Experiencing what you went through. My husband & I are worried what we should feed her? Should we hand feed her Kaytee exact baby bird formula? Any suggestions to help her is great. TYIA
 
Hi! I realize this post is from a while back but yesterday I happen to find it and I was on day 3 with a pullet whom was presenting with heat stroke. I was at a loss because google has nothing on how to try and fix it but how to prevent it. And that’s frustrating! But since I’ve dealt with wry neck and this at first looked like it but it wasn’t I started doing wry neck remedies I had to hold her with holding her head up and feed her vitamin / electrolyte water with eye dropper! She was taking it like a champ. Figuring it was going to take her quite some time to heal I was already mentally preparing to keep her in for the winter. This morning when I got up I found her sitting up all on her own! She’s moving around slowly but she is eating and drinking in her own today!! I will be keeping her inside a few more days or so, so I can keep an eye on her! But I wanted to share, like you, that there IS hope for heat exhaustion that they CAN recover! So thank you for your insight!

I am posting this to give hope and encouragement to others with the same problem.

On July 2, I found one of my hens down when I went to check on them. As my husband and I were approaching their run, she looked dead to both of us. The other 7 hens were panting and when we looked in their coop, we discovered that they had knocked their 3 gallon waterer over and it had drained completely. Then, I remembered something I had learned during our first winter with chickens and I was worried about them getting cold...chickens are more vulnerable to heat than cold and in southern Oklahoma in July...it's hot.

We realized that she was still breathing, so we picked her up and brought her into my husband's woodshop that is attached to our house. She felt very hot...especially under her wings. He put her in the shop sink and rinsed her with cool water while I got the cage that we use for a brooder ready for her. We thought that she would be dead in no time but wanted her to at least not be getting walked on by the other hens. She could not stand up, could barely make a sound and her comb looked faded and dry. We turned the a/c on in the shop so that she could continue to cool down.

I went to the internet for answers and couldn't find much that seemed to help. Several people said to put a little sugar or electrolytes in her water and wait. From the information that I could find, it seemed that she would either be dead or better by morning, but I had zero hope of a recovery. I found one post from someone that had talked to a veterinatian that told them to be patient while the brained healed...no length of time given and no other instructions.

My husband suggested that we flip her over every 30 minutes or so to help with circulation, so we started there. He didn't really think that it would work but he knew it was driving me crazy to do nothing for her. The next morning, when we went to check on her, she was still just laying there and unable to stand...but still alive. She has never really liked to be handled, but we continued flipping her over every little bit while trying not to stress her out too much. Occassionally, we would take her out of the cage and stand her up on the floor. If we held her up, she would go to the bathroom, but as soon as we would try to let her stand, she fell right over. We still felt we had a dying chicken on our hands.

We went to the farm/ranch store and bought an electrolyte powder, especially for chickens, to mix with her water as well as two 1 gallon waterers to put in the run for the rest of the flock so that they could have electrolytes and additional water...just in case. By the next morning, I was expecting her to either be dead or completely better (based on what I had read online) but she was neither. A little better...she could cluck better and could stand for a second or two before falling down and flapping like crazy. She always fell on her right side with her right wing extended. We would set her back up and repeat the process. It was pitiful to watch.

A day or so later, we decided to talk her outside in the grass under a shade tree for a little while. She could stand a little longer (5-10 seconds) in the grass than she could on the concrete floor in the shop. I would get her up and keep my hand on her right side. I would move her right foot and she would move her left. After four or five steps, she was tired and wanted to just sit, so that is what we did. We continued this for the next few days.

After a week had passed, she could sit for quite a while, but her head and tail feathers were always to the right side of her body...she looked out of balance. She would still always fall to the right and would sometimes even tip over when she was just sitting. Her progress seemed to stall. I started calling local vets to see if anyone had any ideas and mailnly, because I felt like we were just prolonging the inevitable. The first two vets that I called didn't work with chickens. The third vet didn't work with chickens either, but the office manager must raise chickens because she seemed familiar with the breed (Salmon Faverolles) and at least listened to me, talked to me a little bit and told me to give it one more week before making any decisions. While we were sitting outside with her that evening, my husband said, "You do realize that we are going to have to put her down." It was like she heard him, because she stood up, walked very clumsily in a small circle...to the right, of course...and then fell down. This was the first time that she had even tried to walk on her own but more importantly, it was progress.

The pattern seemed to be a little progress, followed by several days with no progress. Her circles to the right grew a little bigger and finally became arches instead of circles. I began to wonder if she would be able to figure out how to get where she meant to go by only turning to the right. After her short walks, she would always fall flat on her right side and flap like crazy until we picked her back up. She did enjoy her time outside and I learned that chickens make a purring sound when they are content.

By this time, thanks to more internet research, we had added a tarp to reflect the sun and provide a little more shade to the run as well as water misters. We didn't want a second hen in this condition because we kenew we didn't have the time or space to take care of two at once. Their run is fairly shaded by surrounding trees, except on the south side, so that is where the tarp went. I HIGHLY recommend this for anyone on a hot climate. They LOVE the misters and it keeps them cool enough that they walk around their run instead of digging into a hole and just sitting there.

We were still continuing with small amounts of progress followed by several days without progress. When she would try to walk, she would go way too fast and fall over. We discovered that if we laid her on her left side, she could stand herself up so now, when she fell over, we would flip her to her left and she could get up on her own...until the next time she fell.

Two weeks had passed and I asked my mother to come have a look at her. My thought was that if she would come look at her one or two times a week, it would be easier to tell if there had been progress or not. Seeing her everyday, and wishful thinking, made it hard to evaluate her on my own. My mother (who doesn't really like chickens) felt bad for her when she first saw her fall and flap like crazy...to me, this was normal by now. She felt like the chicken was "more dead than alive" and that we were close to torturing her to keep her around. All I could say was that she was "much better than she had been" and since she wasn't dead yet, we would keep trying a little longer.

A few days later, my husband used a dog kennel (3'x6') to make her a run and put it adjacent to the run for the rest of the flock. Every morning, I would take the chicken to her run and every evening, I would put her back in the small cage in the shop. I would check on her constantly so that when she fell over, I could stand her back up. After a couple days of this routine, she had figured out that if she stood close enough to the cage on her right side that she could walk by herself and only needed to touch the tip of her wing to the side of the cage for balance/support. This is also how she learned to make a left turn! Several times each day, I would stand her up a little ways back in the run so that she could practice walking. Each day, we would start a little farther than the day before.

Everyone that knows me knows that I have a sick chicken since that is just about all that I can talk about and when I'm not at home, I worry about her constantly. People at church even offered to pray for her. She wasn't officially on the prayer list, but one lady asked me if she had a name, so that she could pray for her by name. Truth be told, I was praying for her, too...and it worked.

Within five days of being in her own run, she was getting brave enough to walk out in the middle without leaning on the cage for support. This new confidence meant that I had to keep an even closer eye on her, since she still couldn't get up from her right side.

It has been 31 days since she had her stroke and 10 days since I last had to stand her back up. She is spending her first day back with the flock (minus one that was being aggressive towards her) and is now able to get up from her right side. She actually catches herself before she falls completely.

Hopefully, in a couple more days, I can put the other chicken (that was being aggressive) back in and things will be back to "normal" again.
 
To the original poster.. THANK YOU!!! And can i say your determination and eloquence describing your chickens heat stroke journey may save my little “surfer boys” (polish crested) life. Same thing,. And oh so sad to see so many people with the same issue.
So Hot lately!!
Just thank you and all the others for thier stories and tips!! I will be employing many of these ideas in my hen house!
In pray my silly little surfer boy makes it,.. i am just so relieved to find this thread!!
And once agian to the original poster.. you are an absolute sweetheart for sure!! What a lucky bunch of chickens to have a mom like you!!
 
I am posting this to give hope and encouragement to others with the same problem.

On July 2, I found one of my hens down when I went to check on them. As my husband and I were approaching their run, she looked dead to both of us. The other 7 hens were panting and when we looked in their coop, we discovered that they had knocked their 3 gallon waterer over and it had drained completely. Then, I remembered something I had learned during our first winter with chickens and I was worried about them getting cold...chickens are more vulnerable to heat than cold and in southern Oklahoma in July...it's hot.

We realized that she was still breathing, so we picked her up and brought her into my husband's woodshop that is attached to our house. She felt very hot...especially under her wings. He put her in the shop sink and rinsed her with cool water while I got the cage that we use for a brooder ready for her. We thought that she would be dead in no time but wanted her to at least not be getting walked on by the other hens. She could not stand up, could barely make a sound and her comb looked faded and dry. We turned the a/c on in the shop so that she could continue to cool down.

I went to the internet for answers and couldn't find much that seemed to help. Several people said to put a little sugar or electrolytes in her water and wait. From the information that I could find, it seemed that she would either be dead or better by morning, but I had zero hope of a recovery. I found one post from someone that had talked to a veterinatian that told them to be patient while the brained healed...no length of time given and no other instructions.

My husband suggested that we flip her over every 30 minutes or so to help with circulation, so we started there. He didn't really think that it would work but he knew it was driving me crazy to do nothing for her. The next morning, when we went to check on her, she was still just laying there and unable to stand...but still alive. She has never really liked to be handled, but we continued flipping her over every little bit while trying not to stress her out too much. Occassionally, we would take her out of the cage and stand her up on the floor. If we held her up, she would go to the bathroom, but as soon as we would try to let her stand, she fell right over. We still felt we had a dying chicken on our hands.

We went to the farm/ranch store and bought an electrolyte powder, especially for chickens, to mix with her water as well as two 1 gallon waterers to put in the run for the rest of the flock so that they could have electrolytes and additional water...just in case. By the next morning, I was expecting her to either be dead or completely better (based on what I had read online) but she was neither. A little better...she could cluck better and could stand for a second or two before falling down and flapping like crazy. She always fell on her right side with her right wing extended. We would set her back up and repeat the process. It was pitiful to watch.

A day or so later, we decided to talk her outside in the grass under a shade tree for a little while. She could stand a little longer (5-10 seconds) in the grass than she could on the concrete floor in the shop. I would get her up and keep my hand on her right side. I would move her right foot and she would move her left. After four or five steps, she was tired and wanted to just sit, so that is what we did. We continued this for the next few days.

After a week had passed, she could sit for quite a while, but her head and tail feathers were always to the right side of her body...she looked out of balance. She would still always fall to the right and would sometimes even tip over when she was just sitting. Her progress seemed to stall. I started calling local vets to see if anyone had any ideas and mailnly, because I felt like we were just prolonging the inevitable. The first two vets that I called didn't work with chickens. The third vet didn't work with chickens either, but the office manager must raise chickens because she seemed familiar with the breed (Salmon Faverolles) and at least listened to me, talked to me a little bit and told me to give it one more week before making any decisions. While we were sitting outside with her that evening, my husband said, "You do realize that we are going to have to put her down." It was like she heard him, because she stood up, walked very clumsily in a small circle...to the right, of course...and then fell down. This was the first time that she had even tried to walk on her own but more importantly, it was progress.

The pattern seemed to be a little progress, followed by several days with no progress. Her circles to the right grew a little bigger and finally became arches instead of circles. I began to wonder if she would be able to figure out how to get where she meant to go by only turning to the right. After her short walks, she would always fall flat on her right side and flap like crazy until we picked her back up. She did enjoy her time outside and I learned that chickens make a purring sound when they are content.

By this time, thanks to more internet research, we had added a tarp to reflect the sun and provide a little more shade to the run as well as water misters. We didn't want a second hen in this condition because we kenew we didn't have the time or space to take care of two at once. Their run is fairly shaded by surrounding trees, except on the south side, so that is where the tarp went. I HIGHLY recommend this for anyone on a hot climate. They LOVE the misters and it keeps them cool enough that they walk around their run instead of digging into a hole and just sitting there.

We were still continuing with small amounts of progress followed by several days without progress. When she would try to walk, she would go way too fast and fall over. We discovered that if we laid her on her left side, she could stand herself up so now, when she fell over, we would flip her to her left and she could get up on her own...until the next time she fell.

Two weeks had passed and I asked my mother to come have a look at her. My thought was that if she would come look at her one or two times a week, it would be easier to tell if there had been progress or not. Seeing her everyday, and wishful thinking, made it hard to evaluate her on my own. My mother (who doesn't really like chickens) felt bad for her when she first saw her fall and flap like crazy...to me, this was normal by now. She felt like the chicken was "more dead than alive" and that we were close to torturing her to keep her around. All I could say was that she was "much better than she had been" and since she wasn't dead yet, we would keep trying a little longer.

A few days later, my husband used a dog kennel (3'x6') to make her a run and put it adjacent to the run for the rest of the flock. Every morning, I would take the chicken to her run and every evening, I would put her back in the small cage in the shop. I would check on her constantly so that when she fell over, I could stand her back up. After a couple days of this routine, she had figured out that if she stood close enough to the cage on her right side that she could walk by herself and only needed to touch the tip of her wing to the side of the cage for balance/support. This is also how she learned to make a left turn! Several times each day, I would stand her up a little ways back in the run so that she could practice walking. Each day, we would start a little farther than the day before.

Everyone that knows me knows that I have a sick chicken since that is just about all that I can talk about and when I'm not at home, I worry about her constantly. People at church even offered to pray for her. She wasn't officially on the prayer list, but one lady asked me if she had a name, so that she could pray for her by name. Truth be told, I was praying for her, too...and it worked.

Within five days of being in her own run, she was getting brave enough to walk out in the middle without leaning on the cage for support. This new confidence meant that I had to keep an even closer eye on her, since she still couldn't get up from her right side.

It has been 31 days since she had her stroke and 10 days since I last had to stand her back up. She is spending her first day back with the flock (minus one that was being aggressive towards her) and is now able to get up from her right side. She actually catches herself before she falls completely.

Hopefully, in a couple more days, I can put the other chicken (that was being aggressive) back in and things will be back to "normal" again.
 

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