2 hens with heat stroke - please help

[sangel4you]

there is another post entitiled "hot hot hot" I think and it is about heatstroke in chickens as well and has some great ideas to keep them cool such as creating a type of "air conditioned room" for them and everything! It was only a few days ago I posted on it....give it a search!

 

[007Dawn]

I saw where another poster put those ice packs from the refrigerator in the coupe. Maybe some frozen veg's if you do'nt have those.

Put ice in the water....melons out of the refrigerator. Shade retreat is good with good ventalition.

If worse come to worse we have been known to put them in the bathtub with a bowl of water and the shower door shut, for a night.

Good luck!

 

[sangel4you]

see this thread:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=201992

 

[Country4ever]

Are they able to get out in a run?
Do you have water for them in the coop and outside? I've found that my hens are more likely to keep hydrated when the water is in the run (during the day).
Sorry for your loss. Poor little guys. They may have been stressed for awhile even before auction, and the heat just tipped the scale too far.

 

[NancyDz]

My hens deal with 100 degree heat every summer and I havent lost one yet. I use a stand up mister that I got at Home Depot, it hooks to the hose. the hens do stand under it and it substantially cools down the air. Make sure they have plenty of shade, I freeze water bottles and put them in the waterer too and sometimes even lay them around the coop or run, usually the big gallon bottles. But really the mister is the main thing I do for them. At first they are scared of it but then once they get used to it, they love it.

On days I know are going to bereally hot, I spray down the whole run with water as then the hens burrow down in the wet soil later in the day to stay cooler.

Sorry about your hens! Hope your others survive the heat spell!


Nancy

 

[bishopschickens]

When I was a Pre-Teen, I accidentally gave a mean rooster heat stroke!! I used to hide him under a feeder lid when I was in the coop. I forgot him one day in the hot summer. About four hours latter I remembered him. He was almost gone and his head lulled when I picked him up. I got a medacine dropper and worked water down his throat. It is a slow process but it worked for me. I home I am not too late on this post. Good Luck.

 

[gottaluvchickens]

I too am in NE oklahoma and usually we keep our girls in the coop till bout 3, but my son has basketball camp this week, so he isnt home to check on them throughout the day, so we have been letting them out in the mornings so they can find cooler places. Our egg count hasnt gone down too much. Next week, he will be home to watch them better. Can't wait for cooler temps and its only mid june!

 

[sammi]

For future reference..
it's always good to have a package of electrolytes on hand..Durvet is a brand that makes them.
it helps with shock and is needed to get the systems back in sync.

doesn't hurt to put some in their drinking water to help prevent a heat stroke crisis.

if heat stroke happens..
take the bird to a cool place, and give electrolyte water by drops on beak..

I have an extra refrigerator in my shop/garage, that I keep 2 liter soda bottles filled with water, frozen..and set them around where they tend to sit..

is the coop ventilated so hot air and ammonia fumes can escape?
any windows?
my coops have house type windows with screens..I even set the frozen bottles on the windows sills to help cool the air.

 

[CrochetnCricket]

Well, yesterday was the second day of the heat advisory, and all our other hens are doing well. We have run a drop cord out to the run and have a fan on them, and we're changing their water about every hour 'cause they're standing in it. But so far so good.

We haven't noticed a drop in our egg production, either, which sort of lends credence to the theory that the two we lost were old.

Thanks again for all the advice!