Help!!!!

[Rennifer]

I know my chickens have had issues with the heat before. We're in the plains of Colorado so we're breaking 100° here now. What's the temp like in their coop? And is there shade for them at all times of the day? I know it's weird but I have a piece of sheet metal in my coop that in really hot days my chickens love to lay on since it's always in the shade, just watch for sharp edges. Hopefully it was just heat and dehydration. Cold watermelon is also good at helping with the heat. Fingers crossed for you!

 

[Dani87]

So their poop is still on the abnormal side. It is dark and more solid but it has runny white fluid around it if that makes sense. I have been giving them grapes and it seem

Ah! The heat! Was not aware of that. Electrolytes and ice their water can help. And cold watermelon might be nice. Can you put a fan and a mister out somewhere in a shady spot? Do they have a run or penned area at all? I think maybe you should confine them to a space where you can monitor and treat them today. Run a fan and provide shade. Hosing off the ground so they can dig to find cool earth might help. Do you expect another hot day?

Thank you for the advice. It is always a hot day in the summer here in Yuma. I am going to break down the coop and start over new just in case there is anything that they can get into . I will take you up on the watermelon and fan .I ice them all the time but 100 degree weather is really hot especially for my feathered friends .I have to go to work but on the way home I am going to the mill and feed store if there is anything you can think of that would be good for me to get please feel free to share .Thank you for taking the time out to help us .I honestly know nothing about raising chickens .

 

[Wyorp Rock]

They are all alive and up roaming around this morning . I live in Arizona. It's really hot here this time of year.

They did eat some grapes this morning and drank Pedialyte in their water .they were panting a lot yesterday but it was 111 degrees out almost all day .

This information is the best you have given so far. They are suffering from heat. Heat kills more birds than cold ever will.
The watery poop is from consuming a lot of water, but the lethargy and not moving much is due to heat stress.

Good suggestions by @micstrachan cool water and deep shade. A small amount of watery treat like watermelon is o.k. but they need to be eating their chick starter. You can give them dry feed and make wet feed available as well if you like.

With your climate, likely you don't need a completely "closed in" coop, I don't know how yours is made, but a lot of people in hot climates have more of an open coop - still secured with hardware cloth and maybe having a couple of walls to help keep out wind/rain. Fans are a good option to circulate air, I use them in my runs and coop.

I also do not disturb my birds during the hottest time of the day. I do make sure they have cool water and feed is full, but no chasing/handling, etc. Treats are given usually very early or very late in the day during cooler times.

Pedialyte was a good idea. You want to get them hydrated. You can use that again for another day or so, or you can get some poultry vitamins like Poultry Nutri-Drench or similar. Once they have recovered, offer plain fresh water.

 

[MiriPoe]

So their poop is still on the abnormal side. It is dark and more solid but it has runny white fluid around it if that makes sense. I have been giving them grapes and it seems to help at least hydrate them .

If it's that hot at your place you can also freeze the grapes (also in ice cubes) or add ice cubes to their water, also fruit/greens in ice cubes to keep them cool. I read that they always need cold water or they wouldn't drink it above a certain temperature, so it's good to make sure that it won't heat up too much and change it over the day. I'll look it up again later. So happy everyone is doing better... really so happy for you!!!

 

[Dani87]

If it's that hot at your place you can also freeze the grapes (also in ice cubes) or add ice cubes to their water, also fruit/greens in ice cubes to keep them cool. I read that they always need cold water or they wouldn't drink it above a certain temperature, so it's good to make sure that it won't heat up too much and change it over the day. I'll look it up again later. So happy everyone is doing better... really so happy for you!!!

Thank you. I try to keep them iced throughout the day but my kids slacked off on it I guess hopefully last night opened their eyesob how to care for them better while I'm not home .

 

[Dani87]

This information is the best you have given so far. They are suffering from heat. Heat kills more birds than cold ever will.
The watery poop is from consuming a lot of water, but the lethargy and not moving much is due to heat stress.

Good suggestions by @micstrachan cool water and deep shade. A small amount of watery treat like watermelon is o.k. but they need to be eating their chick starter. You can give them dry feed and make wet feed available as well if you like.

With your climate, likely you don't need a completely "closed in" coop, I don't know how yours is made, but a lot of people in hot climates have more of an open coop - still secured with hardware cloth and maybe having a couple of walls to help keep out wind/rain. Fans are a good option to circulate air, I use them in my runs and coop.

I also do not disturb my birds during the hottest time of the day. I do make sure they have cool water and feed is full, but no chasing/handling, etc. Treats are given usually very early or very late in the day during cooler times.

Pedialyte was a good idea. You want to get them hydrated. You can use that again for another day or so, or you can get some poultry vitamins like Poultry Nutri-Drench or similar. Once they have recovered, offer plain fresh water.

Thank you so we much for all your help .we turned the Arizona room into their coop so it's breezy in there and it's a place where there is shade .I bought Gardstar Garden & poultry dust to dust them with after a few days .I believe the heat got to them yesterday and I just hope it doesn't happen like that again . Thank you for all your help. I honestly don't know what I would do with out your advice and the advice of others on this page .

 

[micstrachan]

You can freeze blocks of ice in old milk cartons, large yogurt containers, etc. and the ice will last longer than little cubes. How’d they do today? They are expensive, but these battery operated, bucket-top fan misters from Home Depot have helped my flock on hot days.

 

[Dani87]

You can freeze blocks of ice in old milk cartons, large yogurt containers, etc. and the ice will last longer than little cubes. How’d they do today? They are expensive, but these battery operated, bucket-top fan misters from Home Depot have helped my flock on hot days.
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They are doing good. They have been staying in the shade. I worked most of the day but they seem a lot better than yesterday. I can't thank you enough for all the help you gave us last night. I really thought we were gonna lose her. I really hope my kids know how serious it is for the chickens to sit in the heat without fresh water and ice during the days that I work .The mister you have is definitely something I am going to look into .again thank you

 

[micstrachan]

I was happy to try to help, but now that I understand the heat situation, my advice was not all that helpful.
Some people like to put shallow dishes of water around for them to stand in. I used to put a kiddie pool in their run with bricks just barely submerged for them to stand on. It was a pain to clean out, but they did like to cool down their feet. If you try this, just be aware that chickens can easily get freaked out and drown themselves in shallow water (like toddlers) so I would keep it very shallow.
As far as the misters, they only run a couple hours on the battery (it’s included, but they also run on Ryobi One+ batteries). Someone needs to be availabke to refill the bucket and swap out the battery. Or else have them turn it on at the heat peak. You can also make a do-it-yourself (DIY) mister dan by running a mister off a hose and plugging in a fan so it can run all day.
One other thing my girls like on hot days: frozen berries in a shallow fish of water. Provides nutrients and hydration. Just be careful they don’t consume so much it gives them the runs, as this would be counter productive. Good luck! I hope your kiddoes learn to pitch in to help your flock. That’s an utterly lost cause at my house, unfortunately.

 

[MiriPoe]

They are doing good. They have been staying in the shade. I worked most of the day but they seem a lot better than yesterday. I can't thank you enough for all the help you gave us last night. I really thought we were gonna lose her. I really hope my kids know how serious it is for the chickens to sit in the heat without fresh water and ice during the days that I work .The mister you have is definitely something I am going to look into .again thank you

I'm so glad everything is going better! That must be hard to work AND take care of everything else. You are definitely caring a lot and giving your best for your chickens.
I think it's a great idea to incorporate your children to help when you are at work. I need to do that with my daughter as well, but first the chickens need to learn the new outside routines.

I learned a lot from all the input from everybody here and looking up stuff online last night...that was great! Thank you!