Heat exhaustion in late September almost killed April

[Jenni Hen]

You should see my chicken first aid shelf in my garage. It has more stuff than I have for my own first aid. You will start out with the basics and add to it over the years.

Gatoraid or Pedialyte with sugar is best. Sugar is important in reviving a chicken that is in shock or is weak from starvation. A lot of first responder procedures for humans are also valid for chickens. Raising glucose is the first step in stabilizing a chicken after an injury, during sickness, and during extreme heat and cold.

Yes, it's wise to obtain a tube feeding kit to have for emergencies. If you've lived long enough, you've probably discovered it's best to have supplies on hand rather than needing to go hunting and shopping at the same time you're dealing with a health crisis.

You can buy a tube feeding kit from most vets for a few dollars. To insert a tube, it's similar to inserting this syringe as this photo shows. View attachment 3366271

Thank you, that illustration is really helpful.
One of my bantams appeared to have an impacted crop, so I followed advice in the article on BYC (which thankfully I had seen and read beforehand): I got her on my knee with a syringeful of vegetable oil as per advice from BYC ...and realised I didn't know how to open her beak to insert the syringe.
(I solved it by using olive spread that she could peck at and fortunately she enjoyed the treat and it worked)
Apart from being prepared, so as not to be rushing around for info or supplies, it's hard to absorb new info when something urgent is happening; whereas prior knowledge clicks into place,
My daughter used to do pre-emergency medicine so I'll ask her about what first response kit would be useful. I've a feeling that I might have saved a young pullet that died, had I had better knowledge at the time she suddenly went downhill.

 

[Jenni Hen]

I am not sure I know how to copy a link to an article- I will try.
Nope. Can’t figure it out. But search for an article titled First Aid Kits for Chickens by @pipdzipdnreadytogo
It is an old one but good assuming you are in the US - not everything is named the same if you are in Europe

Thank you very much. With my new glasses I can browse and succeed in finding things lol!! I'm in UK, but as I've just mentioned, my daughter used to do pre-emergency medicine so I can ask her about what things are called.

 

[Jenni Hen]

I want to emphasize what azygous said as far as do Not plunge a bird into cold water if it shows signs of heat exhaustion/heat stroke. my immediate reaction was to carry her over to the chicken's drinking water and lay her down to cool off.

Oh that must be so upsetting. I do feel for you. We can only do what we're able to do and your intentions were the very best.
I do know about this principle because of First Aid and poorly kids - when my son was little he used to get high fevers and I'd be up doing tepid sponging to keep the temperature within the safe limit. However I wouldn't have know how to do tepid sponging on a chicken without reading Azygous' advice.
Also I would never have imagined such a drastic and irreversible reaction.
We rarely get high temperatures here but last summer had two heat waves in which the temperature reached over 40 C - warmer than body temperature. I was hosing the run and the soil behind my big plant pots where the chickens were sheltering, hoping that the evaporation would cool the soil, and it seemed to work.
I wouldn't have guessed that a quick change in temperature would be more dangerous than an actual high temperature. But now I know, thank you

 

[micstrachan]

I want to emphasize what azygous said as far as do Not plunge a bird into cold water if it shows signs of heat exhaustion/heat stroke. This seems like common sense after the fact, but during the heat of the moment I was only thinking how to quickly cool down a bird in trouble. One day this past late spring, temperatures hit low 90s after being in 70s the days before. I found a hen in a nest box that afternoon with exactly the symptoms azygous described. I recognized it was heat-related, and my immediate reaction was to carry her over to the chicken's drinking water and lay her down to cool off. The water was not cold, but shaded, so maybe about 15-20 degrees cooler than the air temperature. When I placed her into the water, she died instantly. I was shocked. (RIP Blue Feet) It's sad enough when our favorites die, but so much worse when it is by our own hand, however well-intended our efforts may be. So again, please take note and heed Azygous's advice as far as how to treat heat exhaustion; which does Not include submersion in water.


I'm guessing they are attracted to the red color. I think the red fruit punch is by far the worst-tasting of all the flavors. So note to self, keep Red gatorade in the chicken medicine cabinet. I would never have thought to keep a Gatorade flavor on hand that I would personally never drink. Yuck.

So sorry this happened to you and your chicken. I learned the hard way, as well. I had a very sick chicken and it was 114°F out. I was emerging the chickens wanted that time into a bath. Somers is dead, but some seem to enjoy it. I did the sick chicken last, as I wasn’t sure if it was the right thing to do. I did it anyway and she resisted. as soon as I pulled her out, she started screaming, which was really trying to clear her airway I believe. She screamed and screamed and screamed and screamed and eventually stumbled and died. I felt so horrible. I will never wet a second chicken again. Though sometimes I will clean up their butt, if needed.

 

[Jenni Hen]

So sorry this happened to you and your chicken. I learned the hard way, as well. I had a very sick chicken and it was 114°F out. I was emerging the chickens wanted that time into a bath. Somers is dead, but some seem to enjoy it. I did the sick chicken last, as I wasn’t sure if it was the right thing to do. I did it anyway and she resisted. as soon as I pulled her out, she started screaming, which was really trying to clear her airway I believe. She screamed and screamed and screamed and screamed and eventually stumbled and died. I felt so horrible. I will never wet a second chicken again. Though sometimes I will clean up their butt, if needed.

That was a difficult call in stressful circumstances and you yourself might also have been affected by the heat. If some had appeared to enjoy the immersion it's not surprising that you did the same for the sick one and as she was very sick, she might not have pulled through anyway.
I've had a busy coupe of days and was just thinking I'd not managed to do anything about that first aid kit yet... I need to make it a New Year's resolution.

 

[micstrachan]

So sorry this happened to you and your chicken. I learned the hard way, as well. I had a very sick chicken and it was 114°F out. I was emerging the chickens wanted that time into a bath. Somers is dead, but some seem to enjoy it. I did the sick chicken last, as I wasn’t sure if it was the right thing to do. I did it anyway and she resisted. as soon as I pulled her out, she started screaming, which was really trying to clear her airway I believe. She screamed and screamed and screamed and screamed and eventually stumbled and died. I felt so horrible. I will never wet a second chicken again. Though sometimes I will clean up their butt, if needed.

Geez. TONS of voice to text error there, but hopefully it was decipherable.