Heatstroke

[SarahLou]

Anyone who is able to; please help!

I live in Longreach in Qld, Australia and it has been 45 degrees plus here for the past few days. I went down to my coop earlier to let the girls out and found Winnie lying on her side with her head in the dirt and the other girls having a go at her. She's not injured by them, just lost a few feathers but she is laying very still, only opening her eyes every so often and then collapsing back down. She also dripped clear diarrhoea all over me when I picked her up and lost some clear liquid from her mouth as well.

I am treating her for heat stress; I have wet her down and now have her inside laying in front of a fan. I managed to syringe about 3ml of water into her before I remembered about glucose / electrolytes and switched to water with Salvital in it but she is not taking anymore. Her breathing has slowed back down to normal (she was hyperventilating when I found her) but otherwise she has not improved.

Can anyone think of anything else I should be doing? Has anyone had any chickens recover from this before? I feel so useless, sitting on the floor with her, crying.

 

[Haunted55]

I am so sorry! I haven't had to deal with this as our temps very seldom get that high here. I think what you have done with bringing her inside with cooler air is good. If her breathing has slowed back to normal and you got some of the electrolites into her, it's just wait now.

If you have large ziplok freezer bags you could fill one with cold water, cover with a thin towel and set her onto it. Is she upright or still lying on her side? If she's still lying on her side, I don't think I would do this. Just keep her and the area quiet, she may be able to get through with all that you've done.

For the other birds, if you can, put some ice in their waterer and electrolites as well. This will go a long ways to help them deal with the heat.

 

[myfinefeatheredfriends]

You could also try rubbing some ice cubes under her wings.

 

[casportpony]

Maybe rubbing alcohol under her wings? Place in coolest place possible, like on a tile floor.

 

[SarahLou]

Thanks very much for your replies guys, I lost WInnie during the night.

Haunted, I really appreciate the tips for prevention for the other girls too - I have been so worried about them. They must think I've gone nuts, coming outside to pick them up and feel under their wings every half hour or so!! Meanwhile they are all wondering around crooning, and looking for their sister which is making me ache for them.

 

[casportpony]

Thanks very much for your replies guys, I lost WInnie during the night.

Haunted, I really appreciate the tips for prevention for the other girls too - I have been so worried about them. They must think I've gone nuts, coming outside to pick them up and feel under their wings every half hour or so!! Meanwhile they are all wondering around crooning, and looking for their sister which is making me ache for them.

Sorry for your loss.

 

[Haunted55]

I'm so sorry you lost her. Sometimes though, there really isn't a darned thing you can do to keep it from happening. You did what you could do to save her, it just wasn't to be.

I had thought of something I had done for my own birds this past summer as we had higher than normal temps and they were suffering. I froze pieces of fruit and vegetables in plastic containers with water and would float these in a large feed bowl with water in it. They would get right into the water to get the cubes of treats and cool off a little doing so. Great fun for them and you to watch.

 

[SarahLou]

Thanks very much guys, I appreciate it.

That is a truly great idea about the frozen treats - I am definitely getting onto that tonight! One thing about chooks is they are definitely food orientated, lol, so it should be an easy enough thing to coax them into doing.

We had a storm on Tuesday night and it has cooled back off to about 35 degrees - I'm trying not to think "Winnie should have held on one more day..." but her time was just up.

 

[Haunted55]

Thanks very much guys, I appreciate it.

That is a truly great idea about the frozen treats - I am definitely getting onto that tonight! One thing about chooks is they are definitely food orientated, lol, so it should be an easy enough thing to coax them into doing.

We had a storm on Tuesday night and it has cooled back off to about 35 degrees - I'm trying not to think "Winnie should have held on one more day..." but her time was just up.

I am very glad your temps have dropped. That kind of heat is very hard to deal with no matter what you do.

Winnie gave you 'life lessons' to learn from. You have learned a few here and will continue to think up other ways to keep this from happening again. Remember what she taught you and she didn't die in vain. All I can tell you is it does get easier to deal with. You probably won't forget her but the pain and what ifs do fade somewhat. Hang in there and keep doing the best you can, it's all any of us can do in the end. God bless!