Chicken survived a Heat Stroke

[chicksooner]

one of my hens had a heat stroke on a 121 degree day, after being in the shade plenty of water and spraying down the area surrounding to keep them cool, she is alive but not laying (sort of worried about that) and screams bloody murder if i even move to a place she cant see me. i think she might have brain damage but I'm hoping she just needs a little extra time to get normal-ed out.

You can get lifelytes at the feed stores. It is vitamins and electrolytes. Mix it up and put some ice in there for the hot days. You can give her some to see if that helps her get back to normal. Good luck and

.

 

[PandoraChick]

I think this is what happened to my young rooster today ;( It is pretty hot here, and around 1:00 I went to hose everything down(they free range on an a acre with plenty of shades spots/bushes to hide). I have waterers strategically placed throughout the yard and add frozen water bottles to the inside each morning when its hot like this...Anyhow, I did not see his "group"(him and two pullets) and figured they were in the favorite bushes. I am tending to a very sick baby bantam cochin frizzle right now, so my mind was elsewhere and I didn't think to go look. In between my every 30 minutes formula feedings for the chick, I realized I still hadn't seen him or the pullets. I walked to the back and everyone came and greeted me(*most panting a little but alert/perky) except for him. I started searching frantically and finally found him up against the pond pump-house, in the dirt panting. I scooped him up and ran toward the bucket and hose I keep..I first hosed him down...when he continued to pant, I filled the bucket up with cooler water and dunked him to his head.He finally stopped panting and drank a little, however he did not move and did not want any food.
I brought him in the house(now both my bathrooms are chicken infirmaries :/)

I am wondering if it was the heat or possibly something else...I am skeptical of it being only from the heat as when he was in my tub, he had a lose BM and there was a bit of blood in it...not a lot and it was bright red so I don;t know if that is significant.

If the OP is still following, may I ask if your hen was eating normally during her recovery? If my guy had a heat stroke of sorts, I am just wondering if/when he will start eating and if I should intervene at all. I have been giving him electrolytes/water by dropper every hour or so now.

 

[casportpony]

You should learn how to tube feed, it's faster, easier, safer and less stressful on the bird. To properly hydrate a bird it needs to get 30ml/kg every 6-8 hours, there is now way to do that with a dropper.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/722041/how-to-t-feed-a-sick-chicken-and-give-subcutaneous-fluid

FYI, I've had a couple with heat stroke, it took the ones that lived a couple of days to start eating and drinking on their own.

-Kathy

 

[casportpony]

The blood in his stool might very well be related to heat stroke. Try searching for heat stroke in poultry and necropsy findings, I think you'll find that internal bleeding is one of the things that they find, but I'm not positive.

-Kathy

 

[casportpony]

Canine heat stroke necropsy;
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC548637/

-Kathy

 

[ten chicks]

I think this is what happened to my young rooster today ;( It is pretty hot here, and around 1:00 I went to hose everything down(they free range on an a acre with plenty of shades spots/bushes to hide). I have waterers strategically placed throughout the yard and add frozen water bottles to the inside each morning when its hot like this...Anyhow, I did not see his "group"(him and two pullets) and figured they were in the favorite bushes. I am tending to a very sick baby bantam cochin frizzle right now, so my mind was elsewhere and I didn't think to go look. In between my every 30 minutes formula feedings for the chick, I realized I still hadn't seen him or the pullets. I walked to the back and everyone came and greeted me(*most panting a little but alert/perky) except for him. I started searching frantically and finally found him up against the pond pump-house, in the dirt panting. I scooped him up and ran toward the bucket and hose I keep..I first hosed him down...when he continued to pant, I filled the bucket up with cooler water and dunked him to his head.He finally stopped panting and drank a little, however he did not move and did not want any food.
I brought him in the house(now both my bathrooms are chicken infirmaries :/)

I am wondering if it was the heat or possibly something else...I am skeptical of it being only from the heat as when he was in my tub, he had a lose BM and there was a bit of blood in it...not a lot and it was bright red so I don;t know if that is significant.

If the OP is still following, may I ask if your hen was eating normally during her recovery? If my guy had a heat stroke of sorts, I am just wondering if/when he will start eating and if I should intervene at all. I have been giving him electrolytes/water by dropper every hour or so now.

Yes,blood is a result of heat stroke. With heat stroke,the body starts to shut down,with damage to heart,kidneys,liver,brain and gastrointestinal tract. Dehydration accompanies heat stress which cases the blood to thicken,which results in the heart pumping harder,which results in thickening of the blood,blood clots,etc. Rectal bleeding or bloody diarrhea occurs in almost all animals as a result of severe heat stroke,rectal temp.rises and passes blood. Your chicken may take days to begin to recover(as damage has been done to the organs in his body)may not eat(watch for this). Keep him inside to monitor his condition,if he is not eating i would do as Casportpony recommended, tube feeding.

 

[mzkittyschicks]

my first year with chickens, i only have three and am very attached to them. my concern was that she might get egg bound but i also know that in stress they wont lay either. i don't care if their not laying in the heat my self unless it means health issues, there are no vets that deal with poultry in my area so all the information i have to go on is from other people and my own experiences. another worry i have is certain things she used to love to eat she doesn't recognize anymore; lettuce, meal worms, zucchini etc. she only seems to want things that are orange in color. my hope is that shes not beyond help. i cant leave her alone and she now goes for the other twos eyes.

 

[ten chicks]

my first year with chickens, i only have three and am very attached to them. my concern was that she might get egg bound but i also know that in stress they wont lay either. i don't care if their not laying in the heat my self unless it means health issues, there are no vets that deal with poultry in my area so all the information i have to go on is from other people and my own experiences. another worry i have is certain things she used to love to eat she doesn't recognize anymore; lettuce, meal worms, zucchini etc. she only seems to want things that are orange in color. my hope is that shes not beyond help. i cant leave her alone and she now goes for the other twos eyes.

Yes,in high heat/humidity egg production declines,this is normal. It could take her quite a while to get back to her normal self,heat stroke can cause damage to internal organs. As for her pecking at your other girls eye,i would separate her,put her in a crate,bring her inside home and monitor her,keep her there for a couple of days. See if she starts to recognize her favourite foods. I am wondering if the sunlight has anything to do with her only recognizing orange colored feed,or maybe a slight damage to her eyes. Reintroduce her,see if this helps with the pecking issue.

 

[casportpony]

She needs to be tube fed fluids or she will probably die. Any vet will have the supplies you need for tubing and should just sell them to you. Ask them for a size 18 french catheter and a catheter tip syringe. She should not be fed until she is hydrated! Keeping sick birds alive requires a lot of hard work and most people wait too long to get what they need to do it. Sorry if I sound harsh, but heat stroke is a life threatening problem and needs to be treated as such.

-Kathy

 

[Squiggytheroo]

My rooster Squiggy (a golden laced polish mix...we don't know what he's mixed with) had a heat stroke this summer as well. We were in the middle of a heat wave and I had been giving my chickens water and electrolytes along with frozen fruit to help keep them cool and hydrated. We were outside in the pool when I noticed Squiggy was just laying on the ground with his wing in the electrolytes. His eyes were closed and he wasn't moving. I went over to him and called his name and he still didn't move. He was still breathing. I dipped his beak into the electrolytes and at first he did nothing, after two more tries, he took a few sips. I kept trying until he stopped drinking. He still wouldn't open his eyes so I put him in a large dog crate and brought him into the basement where it's about 75 degrees (as opposed to the 98 outside). I gave him electrolytes in the crate and more frozen fruit. I kept him indoors until the heat broke three days later. The first day he couldn't stand up and could barely keep his eyes open. The next day was about the same. By the third day he was standing up and responding when I called his name. We brought him back outside to his coop and he seemed ok enough to leave him out there. He was still a bit slow but could walk, eat, and drink on his own. He seemed a bit relieved to be back outside with his girls. He lives with 5 month old pullets, a barred rock, a speckled sussex, and an ameracuana. He came to us as a rescue and was part of an all male flock looking for a home. We took him and one other roo home. They lived together until June of this year. We found Lenny (the other roo) a home with a family who wanted to add a friendly rooster to their flock of hens. After Lenny moved out, we got Squiggy some girlfriends and he's never been happier. Within hours I could hear him outside crowing. He has been back in his coop for about a week now and is still showing the effects of his heat stroke. He stands with his head drooped quite often and his eyes are closed a lot. He also moves pretty slow. I'm hoping in time, that will improve as well. The misters you mentioned are a great idea! I will have to look into those. After Squiggy's heatstroke I put 'pools' of water in the two runs (squiggy's run, and an all silkie flock). The pools were just storage bins with low sides that I filled half way with water. I read somewhere that they like to stand in the water when it's hot. Some did actually seem to enjoy it. For anyone living in a hot climate or having a heat wave like we did, I would recommend putting electrolytes out for your chickens, in addition to their water, daily. They are pretty cheap. It's about $2.50 for powder to make 3 gallons. I truly believe if we hadn't had those electrolytes out there, things would have been much worse for Squiggy. I've also heard of people putting fans out for their chickens too. So happy to hear your chicken is doing much better after her ordeal. It's so scary to watch them go through all of that. And for anyone wondering if their chicken is having a heat stroke, there are signs to look for...panting or labored breathing, lethargy, pale comb or wattles, spreading wings away from the body, limp, unresponsive, seizures or convulsions, and diarrhea. If the diarrhea is lime green, this is a sure sign. If you see any of these signs be sure to give them electrolytes and make sure they have cold water to drink. If they are unresponsive or unconcious, you need to cool them down right away and get fluids into them. If they can't drink on their own you need to get them to the vet asap. If you don't have chicken electrolytes on hand you can use gatorade or pedialyte or make your own. Here is a simple recipe for homemade electrolyte solution...1/2 teaspoon salt substitute (can be found in the spice aisle at the grocery store), 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon table salt, 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 gallon water.