Acting 'hot' on the roost?

[kurui]

Thanks all! I really appreciate all the advice and I'll do a check on all my birds in the morning.
Question- how urgent is it for me to do something for them? I don't like to see them uncomfortable, but at the moment my options are a bit limited! I don't have a fan, and I'm not sure I can get into town to buy one tomorrow... I can sneak down there right now and put in a bucket of ice water or two, but I can't leave the door open. Will buckets of ice water without a fan be any use?

 

[justplainbatty]

Thanks all! I really appreciate all the advice and I'll do a check on all my birds in the morning.
Question- how urgent is it for me to do something for them? I don't like to see them uncomfortable, but at the moment my options are a bit limited! I don't have a fan, and I'm not sure I can get into town to buy one tomorrow... I can sneak down there right now and put in a bucket of ice water or two, but I can't leave the door open. Will buckets of ice water without a fan be any use?

Sure! think about how it feels when you open the fridge door. It's a good safe option for you right now.

and do remember to check the one who is worst for any other problems.

 

[MrsBrooke]

Sure! think about how it feels when you open the fridge door. It's a good safe option for you right now.

and do remember to check the one who is worst for any other problems.

X2.

Just do what you can with what you've got! Chickens can be fairly forgiving. <3

MrsB

 

[kurui]

ugh, I went down there with ice and checked the hen with her wings out's crop and it's not quite rock hard, but it's hard!! Blaugh! Luckily I have some laxative medication for her. Fingers crossed...

 

[justplainbatty]

ugh, I went down there with ice and checked the hen with her wings out's crop and it's not quite rock hard, but it's hard!! Blaugh! Luckily I have some laxative medication for her. Fingers crossed...

Not so fast! if it is night time for you now, her crop should be stuffed. By breakfast her crop should be pretty empty. If it still full then, it is a problem.

 

[kurui]

Should it be quite hard, though? I checked the other two, and their crops had stuff in but they weren't hard, more like water balloons. Hers was like... I guess kind of like porridge, if it had been left for long enough for a lot of the water to evaporate. I recently had to deal with one of my hens having a crop that wouldn't empty, and this one's crop is harder than that one was... I thought I only had one girl daft enough to stuff herself with spring greens but I guess not...

She laid an egg today that was just fine, very normal size/colour for her, was acting perfectly normally beyond being hot (when she was cool enough, she was doing all her normal chickening lol). She's been producing a fairly normal amount of poop but it was watery- I assumed this was because it's hot...

In any case I imagine it won't get much worse by morning? It's coming up on 1am now. If her crop's still full in the morning I guess she's on laxative meds and massaging of her crop

 

[kurui]

Oh and a question about fans- do I need to be careful not to have it pointing at them? I have a cockatiel who is very sensitive to drafts. I'm not sure how chickens fare.

 

[justplainbatty]

Oh and a question about fans- do I need to be careful not to have it pointing at them? I have a cockatiel who is very sensitive to drafts. I'm not sure how chickens fare.

I would wait until morning to properly diagnose the crop. With the warm weather you are having, drafts are not an issue. When using a fan, just have it on just enough to catch their feathers a little. And, of course, you don't want to be blowing dust and dander around like a hurricane. My fan does point in my birds' general direction, just below roost level (they roost at 6 feet) and the fan is about 8 feet away from them. you'll figure it out. If it is blowing too hard, they may not like it and move away or if it's picking up too much dust, they may start sneezing. The low setting on the fan should be fine, just so the air is moving. Chickens pump out 10 watts of heat per hour each.

 

[Silkieworld]

I hope she is feeling better

Keep us posted!

 

[kurui]

Thank you so much. When I went down to check on them, I found a cluster of six geckos sitting on the outside of the coop door, basking in the chicken-heat!!

Putting out ice water seems to have helped a little. My poor girl with the hard crop is doing odd kind of neck jerks, as if she's trying to rearrange everything in there... poor thing. I really hope she's going to be okay.