Hope for my heat exhausted chicken?

[Chiriohs]

My boss chicken, an easter egger, collapsed from heat exhaustion yesterday afternoon. I brought her inside and gave her a bath. I've been giving her water with a pipette, and she's in a pet carrier lined with hay inside the house (78ish degrees F).

I have been seeing small improvements, but she still doesn't stand and sleeps all the time and does not appear to be eating or drinking on her own. When I first brought her in she would not hold her head up or sit on her feet, but by the time the bath was over she was holding her head up. That evening she could sit on her feet and was starting to protest having her beak opened for the pipette. This morning I touched her and she opened her eyes and whipped her head around to look at me. This afternoon when I went home over my lunch break to give her water, I was able to just squeeze the pipette onto the side of her beak and she drank once a larger amount had entered her beak, although her eyes were half closed the entire time. She does wake up all the way when I move her. She didn't touch her piece of bell pepper (her favorite) that I gave her today, though.

t's been 24 hours, so I was curious if she is likely to regain normal functions, as I've seen a few posts about heat exhausted chickens functioning normally after spending the night inside.

Also, is pedialite okay to feed chickens for electrolytes? I'm also considering giving her some fresh uncooked homemade low sodium mild salsa for dinner.

 

[dawg53]

Pedialite without iron is good. I recommend giving her plain yogurt as a probiotic mixed with crumpled boiled or scrambled eggs for extra protein. Continue with freshwater as well. I wouldnt give her any bell pepper nor salsa.

 

[Chiriohs]

Good idea, thanks.

 

[Chiriohs]

Well I came home and she's drinking on her own! And she ate a few bites of refrigerated peach I gave her. I mixed a vitamin & electrolyte animal supplement (says it's appropriate for poultry) in her water and she is still drinking.

Now I'm unsure if I should force-feed her the yogurt and egg now that she's conscious enough to be stressed by being handled. Seems like she's on an upward trend by herself.

Advice?

 

[cletus the rooster]

we brought ours inside to the AC and forced her to drink cold sugar water.a day later you would never know there was a problem.think it had to do with the fact she had just been broody and hatched out 10 of 14 eggs.that 2 weeks of not leaving the nest i think was hard on her because none of the other birds showed that much stress.

 

[dawg53]

Glad to hear she's eating and drinking. I still recommend the plain yogurt and egg. She should be able to it on her own...she'll probably scoff it up!

 

[Elite Silkies]

I hope she gets to feeling better and makes a full recovery.

 

[new chick 203]

my chickens won't touch pedialite with a ten foot pole, but they can't resist cold watermelon. You might try that.

 

[Chiriohs]

Boy she DOES love yogurt and egg. Look at that messy face! I accidentally dumped the entire cup of yogurt in with one egg, which is why it's so watery.

I ended up buying a water soluble vitamin and electrolyte mix from Tractor Supply, which is why her water is yellow. She's drinking it very well.

 

[dawg53]

She looks exactly like my EE...Susie!! lol. Well, now you know what to do when they suffer from heat exhaustion. Just keep an eye on her when you let her back out. No bell peppers nor salsa lol.