Heat Stroke & Another Dead WITH signs .... What next ?!!

[JulieZ]

I had a Dixie Rainbow die 2 days ago. Without a doubt it was heat related. I found her in the corner of the shed where she likes to lay her eggs; an area not so well ventilated with the way the fan is set up. I tried to block that area to get her to start using the nesters but she squeezed in & by the time I reached her she was blistering hot. I tried to cool her down slowly but it wasn't a go. So now I'm down 8 chickens. (7 prior with what I feel was human poisoning & we did find fertilizer on the outside of the coop.)

On Saturday, "Almost" was not acting normal. Was slightly lethargic but walked around. Drank her water but slumped down like a duck. Just in case, I treated the water with more of the stuff to stop cocci.
Then Sunday comes along ... doing even worse. No pooping, no eating, no drinking. I had to force some water down her. Still walked around & acted like she needed to poop but nothing was coming out. I looked but she didn't seem to be egg bound.
Now today ... went down hill to death. Before she died I felt egg bound was the issue so I looked here on BYC. there was something that said to place her in warm sudsy water. Being it so hot already, I skipped the warm & the bubbles. I grabbed a plastic container & filled it with about 3 inches of water. Not much but a start. When I got to her, she was laying on top of a rubbermaid container where I had the sprinkler going for the chickens to play in. She was sleeping on the water. Then I started thinking dehydration so I treated the water with electrolytes & still placed her in the container of water. She LOVED it. I let her sit there for a bit, took her out & laid her down. I walked away for about an hour. When I came back ... she was going fast. Within the hour she was dead.

I'm thinking worms? I've seen none but "Hockey" is beginning to sneeze. "Leghorn" pooped some lime green today. I read over the poop thread but saw nothing like it.

Where does everyone buy their de-wormer at?

Thanks

 

[math ace]

wazine and other wormers can be bought at the feed stores. Wazine is the only recognized chicken wormer. It only kills a couple of worms. Most people start with this. Some will use another wormer (not a recognized wormer for chickens) a week or two after Wazine.

They do this to avoid shocking and killing a chicken that is heavily infested with worms.

There are many, many, many, discussions on BYC concerning worming products. Do a search. EVERYbODY has a opinion on this topic. Some believe in natural only, some don't worm unless they see worm, some only use wazine, etc.

 

[fldiver97]

Sorry, no help with this one....just a 'bump'....

 

[JulieZ]

Thank you. The Feed Store will see me walk in as soon as their doors open up tomorrow. Do I suspect worms? Not really but I'm treating them anyway. I'm all into natural products but I want to be abrasive with this. I now have 9 chickens down. My heart can not take much more so I'm out to stop the dying & a little preventive medicine goes a long way.

 

[math ace]

I just noticed that you are up here in North Florida with me. This heat has been HORRID on my birds too. I haven't lost any yet, but there have been a few days when all they did was pant.

I've have been doing many things to try to help - - - -

1st - - - I have added additional shade to their run areas.

2nd - - I have moved the water into the shade and try to add ice cubes on the really hot days.
The chickens will STOP DRINKING if their water gets too hot.

3rd - - I have a garden mister that I have moved near their coops. On extremely hot days, I run the mister trying to lower the heat. I move the mister close to their run and they can choose to get wet or not. We have been so dry for so long in North Florida that this helps it feel cooler.

4th - - I am throwing extra treats like cucumbers and tomatoes and cataloupe out for them - - - hoping to keep them hydrated.

5th - - If I see those 100 plus days again - - I am going to set up my 5 gallon bucket of cold water and give everyone a quick dip around 9 - 10 in the morning. This should help keep the body temp lower as the heat of the day gets rocking.

Good luck.

Personally, I am holding off on worming mine again until it cools a little. I think they are stressed with the heat enough already that I don't want to put their bodies through any more.

 

[elmo]

Imagine if you had to walk around in this heat wearing a down jacket! Poor chickens.

In addition to the excellent suggestions above, I also hose down a corner of the run in the shade, so the chickens can stand in the cooler, wet sand. I've read about people putting blocks of ice inside a trash can, turned on its side, so the chickens can stand inside in the cooler air.

I also wouldn't worm my birds in this weather unless I knew for sure they had worms.

 

[JulieZ]

TY for the advice. I will hold off on the worming. Said I was going to go but instead I created more shade in their run, added the sprinkler to the top of the shed house and allowed water to sprinkle into the run (of course they all hid inside!) BUT it made the entire area smell horrible. Now we are looking at better ventilation (that we started on last night) & possible pine shavings. Anyway ... Bought ice & placed into water with watermellon on the side. They are still so very hot !! The fan is almost useless. I'm hoping our Florida heat days are dying down some for the next few weeks. August is yet to arrive though ....

 

[CoopCrazy]

Quote:
If you are gonna eat them then I personally wouldnt worm them ... I do not want to eat worming meds iin my meat... When you say shed are you talking like a metal shed??? If so you need to cut out some MAJOR ventilation , they could be dying from the ammonia in the shed.. Thye really should have access to outside and be able to get to some shade.. Heck my metal shed is hot in spring and im in indiana , i cant even imagine how hot it is in there in florida...

 

[JulieZ]

The shed is a 10x8 has 4 windows & a fan. They have a 10x12 foot run attached to it & we are about to expand everything at least 24x16, if not larger. Where we went wrong with ventilation ... we placed metal siding all the way around the fencing half way down because of the wildlife around us. In the end, it has created more issues with the air flow. We started taking it down last night. Great during winter (that's when we started) but ouch during summer.

I'm learning that no matter how much I've read here on the boards, until I have the hands on experience, I'm not going to know what is going to work. I really thought the metal siding was a good idea. Lesson learned.

 

[CoopCrazy]

Quote:
I understand I have done similar things.. Its all a learning process...