7 week old pullet open mouth breathing

[Seed223]

This is my first post (very new to chickens - these are our first!). We have 9 chickens right now - 2 of which are about 7 weeks old. One of our chicks (our Brahma - I believe she is a pullet) seems to open mouth breathe a lot. It’s 9:30 at night right now, the temp is about 81 (feels like 84) and the girls are tucked up in their coop for the night. She is on the roosting bar with the other ladies and is open mouth breathing (pretty heavily). None of the other chickens are breathing this way and they have water. We have 5 windows in the coop that are open and covered with hardware cloth for ventilation.... this is also not the first time I have seen her open mouth breathe. I’m not sure if I should be concerned or if maybe Brahmas are more sensitive to heat than the other breeds are? We have Isa Browns, an Australorp, an Easter Egger, a Golden Comet, and a Cuckoo Maran. Is she going to be ok or should I bring her in the house for the night where it’s cooler? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much!!

 

[hysop]

How old are all your chickens? They don’t need additional heat at 7 weeks.

Welcome to BYC!! Glad you found us!

 

[Seed223]

Thank you!! The other girls are about 12-13 weeks.... she may actually be closer to 8-9 weeks, I can’t keep up with how fast they grow! There is no heat lamp out there or any other heat source. It doesn’t feel very hot to me (I don’t have feathers though haha). If she is panting because she is hot wouldn’t the others do the same or not necessarily?

 

[hysop]

Thank you!! The other girls are about 12-13 weeks.... she may actually be closer to 8-9 weeks, I can’t keep up with how fast they grow! There is no heat lamp out there or any other heat source. It doesn’t feel very hot to me (I don’t have feathers though haha). If she is panting because she is hot wouldn’t the others do the same or not necessarily?

I misread or assumed you had a heat source due to mentioning the temperature. Silly me!

It is possible she’s hot while the others aren’t so much. But how is the during the day and with eating and drinking?

ETA: can you try adding a fan in their coop at least for now?

 

[Seed223]

I misread or assumed you had a heat source due to mentioning the temperature. Silly me!

It is possible she’s hot while the others aren’t so much. But how is the during the day and with eating and drinking?

ETA: can you try adding a fan in their coop at least for now?

We just went back out to check on them and a few others are panting now too, it is warmer in there than it is outside . We don’t have a fan for tonight, I gave them fresh cold water.... do we need to hook up some sort of fan that stays on permanently? I feel so bad!!!! I thought with 5 windows there would for sure be enough airflow but that’s clearly not the case :-(

 

[Seed223]

I misread or assumed you had a heat source due to mentioning the temperature. Silly me!

It is possible she’s hot while the others aren’t so much. But how is the during the day and with eating and drinking?

ETA: can you try adding a fan in their coop at least for now?

I forgot to add they eat and drink fine during the day. We are still getting used to the best way to keep fresh water out there since they are always knocking it over. Maybe we need to find a better solution for that. I feel like the learning curve for chickens is so much higher than I had expected!

 

[RojoMarz]

Where are you located...Brahma's are big, heavy cold hardy birds. We choose the breed for our Colorado winters. Ours mouth breath/pant and it's below 80 here.

 

[hysop]

A lot of people use the cheaper box fans to circulate the air better.

Try to get one tomorrow if you can.

As @RojoMarz mentioned, getting breeds that will do well according to your region can help your chickens adjust better.

I try to stay away from cold hardy birds because it’s hot here most of the year than it is cold.

If you ever think to add to your flock Leghorns are good for hot climates.

 

[Seed223]

Where are you located...Brahma's are big, heavy cold hardy birds. We choose the breed for our Colorado winters. Ours mouth breath/pant and it's below 80 here.

I wasn’t aware of that! She’s the sweetest little thing.... we are in Lexington, KY. The summers definitely get hot here with the humidity. I wish I would have known about that, do you think she will be ok? My husband and I are trying to figure out what to do to help with the airflow. We are getting a fan tomorrow!

 

[Seed223]

A lot of people use the cheaper box fans to circulate the air better.

Try to get one tomorrow if you can.

As @RojoMarz mentioned, getting breeds that will do well according to your region can help your chickens adjust better.

I try to stay away from cold hardy birds because it’s hot here most of the year than it is cold.

If you ever think to add to your flock Leghorns are good for hot climates.

Thank you! We got her from a local cooperative here.... I feel like they shouldn’t sell breeds that won’t do well in our climate . I hope we can get her comfortable soon, it’s supposed to be a hot weekend :-(