Chicken left out all night

[YukonChicks]

Last night I left on of my giant cornish hens out all night. I live in the Yukon Canada and the temperature got down to low 40f last night. I know it was not to cold for him. But when I went to put their food in their yard. I noticed the lone chicken by the gate. He did not look up. He was sleeping. I picked him up. He started to move and then went back to sleep. He has walked a little. I am feeding him water with some Keifer. He is not interested in eating or drinking. I have placed him in a box with food and water. He wakes up time to time and looks alert. I thought he might be scared or cold but now I think he is sick. Do you have any suggestions on what it could be?
Within the next week we were planning on butchering him. But should I butcher him early?

 

[NanaLantana]

If it were me, and I were going to butcher him anyway, I'd do it now. Dont' want to waste good meat!

 

[Stacykins]

Could he have gotten into anything remotely toxic, plants, chemicals, etc? Any other symptoms like sneezing, wheezing, coughing Or just very listless? Might not be the best idea to plan on eating a sick chicken. He could have gotten into something poisonous, better safe than sorry.

 

[YukonChicks]

Wow, thanks for a quick response. I don't think he got into anything because all the chickens are fenced in. There are no other symptoms. I am dipping his beak in water every hour, but so far no improvement. I think we will probably butcher tonight. I don't know if we will eat the bird. I think we will butcher for the practice and decide later.

 

[YukonChicks]

Sad news, I checked in on my chicken tonight and started to give him some yogurt and water. He took a couple of sips and then died. Kids were sad. My boys are 4 and 7 and this was the first time seeing one of their animals die. It is a good life lesson, but also a very difficult on. We are not going to eat it. He is in our back of our horse corral. Thanks for all your help.

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

so sorry about your chicken. But I can share my experience since I too have left a chicken out in the cold accidently. I found her the same way, sleeping by the coop door. I brought her inside and put a heat lamp on her. She was back up and eating and drinking within 30 minutes. She did develop wry neck a couple of weeks later, and I ended up having to cull her. I don't know if the two were related though......