Help with chickens and quail needed. Appear to be drinking themselves to death.

[CritterLuvin]

I have done a bit of reading on here but i just need a little more information directly. I live in Kentucky and my area has not seen a drop of rain in months and the heat index is at min of 90/100 degrees.

I have 3 month old Leghorn/Rhode Island Red X chicks that have been kept in a brooder grower pen. Total of 9. They all have had access to clean water and food at all times every day. I would change water twice a day depending on the heat and if they appeared stressed. They were kept in an area with very little ventelation so i kept a fan going at all times circulating air around the pen (not directly on them to avoid chills). All appeared fine however today as my husband and i were finishing the new hen house to the pen and we lost one unexpectedly.

She appears to have collapsed by the water feeder (which is elevated so no drowning from the feeder). When i lifted her out a ton of water did come pouring out of her mouth as if she drank so much she chocked on it. I checked her body weight which was much lower than the others. (All chickens are panting by the way). I read a bit about waterlog happening and i pretty much believe this is what happened. My biggest concern would be how aggressive my other larger chicks all the same age though are becoming. They even attempt to attack me when entering the pen. I am hoping now that they have a huge open secure run with full hen house the stress level should decrease. Sorry for so much info.

My question would be: What other signs should i be watching for to ensure the health of my other babies?

No others appear to be underweight and are lively enough. The panting has got to be from the heat but there really is not much i can do about this unless someone has any ideas. I live in a BFE area and live off water being hauled to my house. My other birds are also becoming aggressive.

I have 10 barred rock hens and 1 australorp rooster in one huge pen along with my lil RIR X that is constantly getting picked on.

Then i have 3 silkies in there own confined well shaded pen and they seem to be doing fine. No aggression.

The 9 X breeds i am posting about are now in a full size run and hen house (first night and they are sleeping outside the house) Will have to work on that tomorrow.

My feed is poultry scratch grain now. They were taking chick grower medicated then moved on with finisher. They are all over 3 months now and i am slowly mixing the grain in with the finisher.

Now i have 7 baby coturnix quail that drank so much water today i almost lost one. I had to rub its pocket on the next to exspell the extra water so the poor baby could breath. Now seems to be doing fine.

WHY are they doing this!!!!!! I really hope someone can read all this and help. I have come to far and put all i have into these birds and they are apart of our family. I hate seeing them stressed like this.

*To get an idea of my setup a bit and see my birds check out my photo album "Critters of the Hills" Most recent pics. Thanks to any response!

 

[galanie]

They are having heat stroke. Shade, shade, and more shade. Then, give them shade. Shade on top of shade. You are doing everything you can to get air circulating and that is great too. Consider a low pan for them to wade in like the smaller black one below. The large one was a custom job for another purpose that has served me well. And put it in the shade. They get real relief by wading in a bit of cool water.

Edit: As to the aggression, separate the main aggressor from the rest. That is the only thing that works for me.

And as to air circulation, you may have to consider cutting some more windows.

 

[CritterLuvin]

That is what i was afraid of. I never even thought of a a small wading pan for them. I have moved the youngest chicks out to the grower run now that has a complete top over the it. So now they are out where they are getting fresh air...it's still hot though. My larger run currently has brown tarp covering on side and tied down so the wind can not blow it off. Tomorrow i will add a second tarp to cover the middle section for extra shade and add the wading pool. I may end up selling the aggressive one. I have no idea if it is a roo or a hen. This one is 2 times larger than the others. I will post pics of the house because i am really concerned about the ventalation. My husband says they would be fine since they are only going to be in there at night but even our nights have been extremely humid and hot. I will add them in about an hour. And give an update on there condition. Thank you so much for your advise.

 

[crchickens]

We have a little wading pool too, but I also lay frozen old soda bottles that I fill with water on the ground for them to lay against to cool themselves down. They really seem to like these two options. I also add ice blocks to their afternoon drinking water.

 

[CritterLuvin]

Here is the new grower pen with a new hen house. The only ventilation is the entrance we created for them to go in at night.

This is the aggressive largest pullet. Leghorn X.

Sorry for the cages and stuff in the way. This is the best angle to see the feeders and shad.

This is the new hen house. My thoughts would be to cut out the square piece and replace it with small thick fencing to ensure nothing getting to them through it.

 

[Pele]

I had to read the post twice to make sure I caught all the details, and I'm glad I did. You are not feeding them a proper diet if all you are feeding them now is scratch. Think of scratch as candy. It's a treat, a sweet. No nutritional value whatsoever.

Switch them to layer feed immediately if they are a laying flock. Or game/ meat bird feed if they are a meat flock. It could be that your birds are becoming aggressive because they need protient badly. If you don't give it to them, they will resort to cannibalism. It's not an if, it's a when.

I also agree with the other posters. Give the chickens access to cool wade pools, shade, misting lines, etc to keep cool.

 

[CritterLuvin]

Right now they are all pullets with none laying. I was mixing some scratch with their grower finisher feed. I will start them on layer feed first thing tomorrow (they are def ready to be taken off of the finisher feed). TS knows me very well. I had planned on starting them on layer feed later on since they were so young. I never even thought about the protien needed. I have been keeping chickens for about a year now but this is by first batch of chicks from day one. My last batch of chickens were 1 year old and were in poor condition from the previous owners. It took a TON of TLC but i had them on a very tight schedule. Layer feed slightly mixed with cracked corn and water changed 2x a day. I greatly appreciate all of the replies! Everyone has been very helpful. Any other ideas are welcome.

 

[galanie]

That grey box looks like an oven. YES by all means take out a side or cut it into a frame to which you firmly attach 1/2" hardware cloth or some other sturdy welded wire!

Edit: I see you are using a lot of chicken wire. Do keep in mind that chicken wire is only designed to keep chickens IN. It is not designed to keep predators OUT.