Silly Broody Gave Herself Heat Stroke!

[cyanne]

Why is it always the rule that if one of your chickens is going to get hurt of sick it's always your favorites?

This time it was our favorite light brahma hen, the one that we call 'the friendly fatty.'

I have had 3 or 4 of my hens trying to play the broody game with limited success. One managed to hatch a single healthy chick, but I think it only survived because I found it after it had pipped and zipped and got it out of the egg before it suffocated or baked in the heat. She had 3 others that got that far and then died because it is so darned hot in the coop. She finally gave up on the rest of her eggs, but there are 3 more that are still spending the whole day in the sweltering coop trying to hatch eggs.

Only one of them has the sense to pick ONE nest and stay there. The other two (including the brahma)keep migrating around all over the place, so I put their eggs under the other one and have been trying to break them from the broody cycle by taking away any eggs I catch them with and tossing them out of the nest boxes every time I catch them there.

Well, it hasn't worked, and yesterday the fatty managed to give herself heat stroke because she sat in the heat of the coop when it was 104 outside. I had a fan pointed at the nest boxes to try to cool them off, but the other chickens knocked it over and it shut off. Of course the broody didn't have the sense to leave or go get water all day so when I went to collect eggs in the evening I found the poor thing all wonked out and unable to even stand up.

I grabbed her up right away and ran her to the ducks' pool and dunked her in to start cooling her off (the water was cool, but not too cold). Then I got some ice and wrapped it in a towel for her to lay on while I used a syringe to give her water mixed with electrolytes. She was really addled and wobbly and kept acting like she was hallucinating or maybe she was just really dizzy. I put her in my bathroom overnight and she seems to be coming out of it, thank goodness!

I swear this heat is making all of us miserable this year! Everybody free-ranges all day so they have plenty of shade to hide in, plus I help out by having tons of fresh water available and I give them lots of frozen treats to keep them cool, BUT the coop is an oven!

It is even miserable in there AT NIGHT, and the poor chickens and ducks all sit there and pant with their wings out. The big project for this weekend is to install a big turbine fan on the roof of the coop (it's a 12 by 20 storage barn) to hopefully draw out the hot air that builds up in there all day. Eventually I plan to insulate the whole thing and I may just end up putting in a, AC unit if the fan and insulation aren't enough.

 

[The Chicken Lady]

How about freezing some water in water bottles and putting them with her in the nest box?

 

[notapandabear13]

try hanging the fan so the others cant get to it. and lucky its warm there. our highs are like 78 to 82. normally they are in the high 90s. its not hot enuf to swim in the lake

 

[cyanne]

I do freeze bottles of water to put in the drinking water, but with this heat they melt within minutes. Putting them in the nest boxes would just result in a soggy mess and would last no time at all.

For now I solved the problem by setting up a wire-bottom cage in my laundry room for the light brahma so I can break her from her broody cycle plus it gives her more time to recover from her heat stroke.

Of course, then one of my other favorites, my dutch bantam, Booger, decided to go broody AGAIN (she just raised 3 chicks). I found her today behind the nest boxes. I set up a new nest for her in my bathroom so she can hatch her eggs in comfort.

The remaining broodies are a little sebright and a standard-sized american game hen. Neither of them seem to be bothered by the heat and they both get up to get water when they need it so I think they are going to be okay.

I used to have a box fan in the window to draw hot air out, but it burnt out from the dust and could have burned the coop down. I found it turned off and when I checked the cord there were flame marks on it by the plug in.

The fan I have in there right now is just an oscillating stand fan with the round base...not ideal AT ALL, just something I grabbed as an emergency patch to get them through until this weekend.

This weekend the hubby is installing a big turbine fan on the roof that is supposed to suck the heat up and out of the building, pulling cooler air inside. We are also looking into these nice fans at TSC that have specially sealed motors so that they can safely be used in farm and ranch scenarios where dust is an issue.

The other nice thing about that fan is that is has a metal bracket that you bolt to the wall so it can't be knocked over even if they do try to roost on it.

Another trick I have been using to help the flock is that I have been giving them LOTS of frozen treats. One that they love is frozen scrambled eggs with pureed veggies. Whenever I have really dirty eggs, or if the unsold eggs build up and aren't fresh I scramble them up in big batches and mix in pureed veggies (whatever old stuff is in the freezer or veggie drawer). Then I freeze it into a big brick and put it out for them on hot days. They peck at it for hours as it thaws and stand nearby soaking up the cold.

I do the same thing with water melon rinds and they go NUTS over it.

They have also discovered that my house air conditioning unit (heat pump) has a drain that puts out cool water from a hose on the side. As soon as that area is in the shade they all crowd around and stand in the mud and take sips of the cold water. Not something I planned, but, hey, it works I guess!

 

[Mesquite]

Having a problem with the heat here as well. I just got about 5 doz chicks. They came in 18 days ago and I hadnt lost any till this afternoon. The coop gets to be almost 110 in the afternoon even with a vent fan going and insulation on the roof and west facing wall. They are too little to go outside yet. I did notice a couple big red ants in the coop. Will eating one kill a chick? I dont know what to do in the morning. I have to leave the door closed when I go to work or something will eat them while nobodies here. Luckily I get home from work about 2:30 so I can open it up a bit for awhile. This is my first run with chickens. I was delighted at how well they were doing. Could I put a shallow dish of water so they can wet themselves? I read that you dont want baby chicks to get wet but they are nearly 3 weeks old now.??? Hope the heat breaks soon, we're melting.

 

[stuckinthecity]

OMG, 1st I'd like to say im very sorry about your loss!

and 2nd, this draws my attention, because even though I cannot breed my own replacements at this time, I will in the future hopefully be hatching eggs under hens and I didnt even think about the temp. inside the coop. Here in AL the summers are VERY hot and Winters (to me) Very cold. I'll have to reconsider coop plans once again!

 

[cyanne]

Yep, I thought I had the heat issue licked because I made sure all of my chickens had plenty of water and shade and cool treats OUTSIDE of the coop. I didn't plan on any of them being silly enough to go broody and try to stay INSIDE the hot coop all day!

Thankfully the one that overheated is now doing much, much better. She is going to stay in my nice, airconditioned laundry room for a few days until we convince her that now is not the time to try to hatch babies.