My 6-7 month old Ameraucana just lays there with her mouth open. Please help!

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Chickens X 21

Chickens X 21

Hatching
Jul 1, 2015
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I just got home from work and my chicken was just laying there with her mouth open. She won't drink. It was really hot today, about 90. Her breathing is pretty heavy. I put ice and water in a pan with a lid and put her on top of it and put her near a fan. After about 5 minutes, she got up and walked about 5 feet and laid back down. Her walk was a little slow but pretty steady and she looked fluffier that usual. She has since moved again underneath something in our yard. I am thinking about leaving her there and putting something around the bench she is under. She was fine yesterday. Does anyone have any idea what is wrong with her and what I should do?? Thank you!!
 
I would get a shallow pan of cool water, and place her in it to cool her legs. Leave it out for the others to use, changing the water daily, and make sure that it is in the shade. Add some poultry vitamins and electrolytes to your water and dip her beak into it. Use the electrolytes on days that it is very hot. I use a fan in my coop at one end pointing outside to draw air though the coop on hot days. Check her crop to make sure that her crop is not impacted--it should be empty first thing in the morning before she eats.
 
Thank you. I went out to check her crop and found her dead. I really don't understand how she was completely fine the day before. Thank you for educating me on impacted crops, I didn't even know that was a thing.
 
Chickens X 21 said:
Thank you. I went out to check her crop and found her dead. I really don't understand how she was completely fine the day before. Thank you for educating me on impacted crops, I didn't even know that was a thing.
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The exact same thing happened to my favorite Buff Orpington. She was begging for bread and running around like her normal self one day, and the next she was laying down in the corner of the run with her mouth open and wouldn't come out to free range. I went to grab her and she ran under a bush and laid back down. (It wasn't even that hot that day BTW). I kinda figured your situation would end the way it did, because my BO was also dead within hours.

That's when I got obsessed with learning about chicken care from BYC and gettin medicines and my diagnostic skills in order. But I'm still not sure if it was a stroke, or poison, or perhaps worms that caused her death. I do not think it was heat in my case though. So if you figure out for sure what it was, please let me know because the symptoms and time frame are practically identical.
 
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