Chicken panting and laying sprawled out

[Lexigirl00]

(I’m not sure where I should post this.)

I live in California’s Central Valley and have a small backyard flock of different kinds of bantam chickens. In addition to my bantam girls, I have two blind, standard sized, EE hens. They are about 14 weeks old.

I keep my blind hens in a dog ex pen with their own dog house. They easily find food and water. Lately it’s been really hot. For example, it’s 104 degrees today. Even at 90 degrees, my girls seem to be in great distress. They lay down in the shade, panting and spread out. They are in complete shade from noon onward, thanks to a large tree. In the morning, they’re in partial shade. In addition to their water, I also supply them with a large block of ice which melts into a dish. I’m not around all day to switch out ice blocks unfortunately.

My other chickens, both young and old can be found walking about my yard acting perfectly normal. The heat doesn’t seem to get to them.

I have read EE deal with heat just fine, is this all maybe just because they’re young? Should I have them stay indoors during the day? My house still gets hot, but not quite as bad as outside. Is the panting not quite as horrible as it looks? I’m not sure at what point it becomes heat exhaustion.

Thank you!

 

[ajwhite]

(I’m not sure where I should post this.)

I live in California’s Central Valley and have a small backyard flock of different kinds of bantam chickens. In addition to my bantam girls, I have two blind, standard sized, EE hens. They are about 14 weeks old.

I keep my blind hens in a dog ex pen with their own dog house. They easily find food and water. Lately it’s been really hot. For example, it’s 104 degrees today. Even at 90 degrees, my girls seem to be in great distress. They lay down in the shade, panting and spread out. They are in complete shade from noon onward, thanks to a large tree. In the morning, they’re in partial shade. In addition to their water, I also supply them with a large block of ice which melts into a dish. I’m not around all day to switch out ice blocks unfortunately.

My other chickens, both young and old can be found walking about my yard acting perfectly normal. The heat doesn’t seem to get to them.

I have read EE deal with heat just fine, is this all maybe just because they’re young? Should I have them stay indoors during the day? My house still gets hot, but not quite as bad as outside. Is the panting not quite as horrible as it looks? I’m not sure at what point it becomes heat exhaustion.

Thank you!

Well I don’t have an answer for you but I did notice mine doing this just today but mine will do this for a little bit then start walking around again. I think if you have shade and plenty of fresh water for them they should be fine. I don’t know but I think maybe the panting and laying out is just a cooling mechanism for them like dogs panting.

 

[aart]

Panting and wings held out from body are ways for them to cool off.
It can be hard to tell when discomfort turns into an emergency.
My trigger point was lack of mobility and vision.

I give a dose of Sav-A-Chick electrolytes every 4-5 days during heat waves.
Saved that blind hen so I now give it regularly, it really seems to help.

If it's not humid where you live a mister system may help too.
The big chunks of ice are good, I do that too.
A shallow pan with bricks or pavers with water just below the top surface of bricks can really help. There was a video the other day of a guy in Cali (114°F) who used the bricks in water.

 

[Peppercorngal]

Panting and wings held out from body are ways for them to cool off.
It can be hard to tell when discomfort turns into an emergency.
My trigger point was lack of mobility and vision.

I give a dose of Sav-A-Chick electrolytes every 4-5 days during heat waves.
Saved that blind hen so I now give it regularly, it really seems to help.

If it's not humid where you live a mister system may help too.
The big chunks of ice are good, I do that too.
A shallow pan with bricks or pavers with water just below the top surface of bricks can really help. There was a video the other day of a guy in Cali (114°F) who used the bricks in water.

??? I don't get the bricks in the water thing? My chickens will wade in the water. I have large plant saucers full of water and they get right in. I have 4 water pans throughout the free range area and also inside the runs. It's 104 degrees here as well. My chickens are hot and panting too. I water a shaded section of their free range area and they all run to that cool spot. Later I water down their run and they all go lay in there till it dries up. Ice, cold treats like watermelon, misters and lots of shade is about all one can do. I put vitamins in their water regularly too. Summer is hard on the girls!

 

[aart]

??? I don't get the bricks in the water thing?

I dunno...have seen it several places....supposed to be cooler via evaporative affect <shrugs>

 

[Scooby308]

I dunno...have seen it several places....supposed to be cooler via evaporative affect <shrugs>

Could it be for chickens that don't like the water? The ice water cools the brick and the chickens stand on it to cool their feet?

 

[aart]

Could it be for chickens that don't like the water? The ice water cools the brick and the chickens stand on it to cool their feet?

Yes, he said they didn't like to stand in water.
I don't think he used ice water, just water.

 

[Peppercorngal]

Could it be for chickens that don't like the water? The ice water cools the brick and the chickens stand on it to cool their feet?

This still makes no sense to me. If a chicken doesn't want to stand in water, I don't see one jumping onto a brick in water either. Am I really dim, or am I missing something here?

 

[aart]

This still makes no sense to me. If a chicken doesn't want to stand in water, I don't see one jumping onto a brick in water either. Am I really dim, or am I missing something here?

I assume it creates an evaporation effect, cooling the brick and air just above it.
Wish I had saved to link to the video.

 

[Scooby308]

This still makes no sense to me. If a chicken doesn't want to stand in water, I don't see one jumping onto a brick in water either. Am I really dim, or am I missing something here?

I assume it creates an evaporation effect, cooling the brick and air just above it.
Wish I had saved to link to the video.

I was of the thought that maybe the brick was out of the water. The water cooled the brick, then as the chicken stood on the brick the coolness of it was transferred to the chicken. Bare feet on a cold bathroom floor kinda thing. Thus cooling the chicken.