- Feb 4, 2013
- 7
- 0
- 7
We have three hens, a Leghorn, a Barred Plymouth Rock, and an Easter Egger/Ameraucana. The BPR is about 2.5 years old, the others are under a year old. We live in southern AZ where it's quite warm in the summer -- every day in June topped 100 degrees. We try various things to keep the girls cool, but there's no way around it being hot.
We've had a spike in heat (112 yesterday, 107 today and much more humid) and today our Easter Egger seemed much more lethargic. We normally let the chickens out to run around a little in the early evening and tonight she wasn't very active. She walked with a little limp and would only go a few steps and then sit down. When she was walking she would stick one wing out far more than the other - more than the normal "hot chicken" wing-spreading, seemed like it could be for balance but I'm not sure. When she was standing her tail was drooping down and her rear was near the ground, like when she is laying an egg. (She layed yesterday, not today, but that is normal for her.)
We put her in a small cage with some food and water and brought her inside, where her panting slowed down and she seemed to perk up some, but she would still sit in one place and not stand up. It was almost chicken bedtime so we covered the cage with some towels to make it dark, and now she seems to be sleeping normally.
I'm not sure if this is heat stress/heat stroke or something else. Any advice? We'd like to treat her ourselves if possible.
Other information that may be helpful:
- I'm not sure of her weight, but she is similar to the other birds.
- Symptoms seemed to start today.
- No similar symptoms from the other birds. They spread their wings and pant, but like I said we can only do so much to keep them cool and from talking to other chicken-owners in the area this seems to be normal.
- No other bleeding, injury, trauma apparent.
- We've been feeding the ckickens Purina Layena Omega 3 pellets, along with some treats (green lettuce or cold watermelon) and some scratch in the run. We've been putting electrolytes in the watering can.
- Poop seems normal.
- The housing is a wood coop with wood chips inside, in the run it's a dirt floor along with wood chips that get tracked/scratched out of the coop.
Thank you for any help you can offer!
We've had a spike in heat (112 yesterday, 107 today and much more humid) and today our Easter Egger seemed much more lethargic. We normally let the chickens out to run around a little in the early evening and tonight she wasn't very active. She walked with a little limp and would only go a few steps and then sit down. When she was walking she would stick one wing out far more than the other - more than the normal "hot chicken" wing-spreading, seemed like it could be for balance but I'm not sure. When she was standing her tail was drooping down and her rear was near the ground, like when she is laying an egg. (She layed yesterday, not today, but that is normal for her.)
We put her in a small cage with some food and water and brought her inside, where her panting slowed down and she seemed to perk up some, but she would still sit in one place and not stand up. It was almost chicken bedtime so we covered the cage with some towels to make it dark, and now she seems to be sleeping normally.
I'm not sure if this is heat stress/heat stroke or something else. Any advice? We'd like to treat her ourselves if possible.
Other information that may be helpful:
- I'm not sure of her weight, but she is similar to the other birds.
- Symptoms seemed to start today.
- No similar symptoms from the other birds. They spread their wings and pant, but like I said we can only do so much to keep them cool and from talking to other chicken-owners in the area this seems to be normal.
- No other bleeding, injury, trauma apparent.
- We've been feeding the ckickens Purina Layena Omega 3 pellets, along with some treats (green lettuce or cold watermelon) and some scratch in the run. We've been putting electrolytes in the watering can.
- Poop seems normal.
- The housing is a wood coop with wood chips inside, in the run it's a dirt floor along with wood chips that get tracked/scratched out of the coop.
Thank you for any help you can offer!
