Mostly unresponsive hen, possible heat stress or dehydration

[SomeChookLover]

Hi everyone,
A little earlier today when I was checking all the animals I noticed one of my hens acting odd. She was just standing in place with her eyes closed.
Even when I approached her, she didn’t respond to my voice, the other chickens or the twigs snapping. She only very briefly open her eyes when I actually picked her up.
It’s 39 degrees Celsius today, and she’s an Orpington bantam which obviously isn’t the best combination.
The most likely option here, from what I’ve read as well is heat stress, stroke or dehydration.
She was also broody until yesterday (I don’t let hens sit on eggs in summer.) She seemed fine this morning, it was only this afternoon she went downhill.

I’ve taken her inside, wet her legs to cool her down a bit and have been giving her some water, but she usually won’t dry to drink. Occasionally she lifts her top beak a bit but she’s mostly just lying there and she’s clearly weak.
I’ve never dealt with heat stress/dehydration in chickens before despite being Australian, so I’d appreciate any advice. The chickens are free range and have access to multiple layers of shade, moist dust baths, sprinklers and different water sources, so I’m not sure how she got in this condition. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Cheekychook12]

Hi everyone,
A little earlier today when I was checking all the animals I noticed one of my hens acting odd. She was just standing in place with her eyes closed.
Even when I approached her, she didn’t respond to my voice, the other chickens or the twigs snapping. She only very briefly open her eyes when I actually picked her up.
It’s 39 degrees Celsius today, and she’s an Orpington bantam which obviously isn’t the best combination.
The most likely option here, from what I’ve read as well is heat stress, stroke or dehydration.
She was also broody until yesterday (I don’t let hens sit on eggs in summer.) She seemed fine this morning, it was only this afternoon she went downhill.

I’ve taken her inside, wet her legs to cool her down a bit and have been giving her some water, but she usually won’t dry to drink. Occasionally she lifts her top beak a bit but she’s mostly just lying there and she’s clearly weak.
I’ve never dealt with heat stress/dehydration in chickens before despite being Australian, so I’d appreciate any advice. The chickens are free range and have access to multiple layers of shade, moist dust baths, sprinklers and different water sources, so I’m not sure how she got in this condition. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I also live in Australia, sounds like you were doing the right things to keep her cool, but 40 degrees is really really hot, if it’s that hot I would just dip my chickens in cold water to the neck, and do so again after they dry
Broodiness probably also didn’t help
I don’t know much about heat stroke but sounds like you’re doing the right thing
I would also give her sugar or electrolytes to help her gain energy and maybe feed her some scrambled eggs if she’ll eat them

 

[Cheekychook12]

I also live in Australia, sounds like you were doing the right things to keep her cool, but 40 degrees is really really hot, if it’s that hot I would just dip my chickens in cold water to the neck, and do so again after they dry
Broodiness probably also didn’t help
I don’t know much about heat stroke but sounds like you’re doing the right thing
I would also give her sugar or electrolytes to help her gain energy and maybe feed her some scrambled eggs if she’ll eat them

I forgot to mention, do you put ice in the water, and make sure it’s cold? Chickens won’t drink warm water

 

[chooki]

What is her age. I have lost an older bird to heat before, like all the younger ones were okay, just lost the oldest.

It's preventable, but I didn't know some older birds need special care back then.

It's also possible that it has something to do with her broodiness.

I broke my broody hen recently (because I had no fertile eggs for her and I could not handle any more cockerels after eggs hatching), she is acting a bit weird as well - not as active as the other birds and not eating as much. Sometimes, it will take a couple of weeks before those broody hens go back to normal once they had been removed from the nest.

Keep her in a cool place and hydrated, hope she improves.

 

[SomeChookLover]

I also live in Australia, sounds like you were doing the right things to keep her cool, but 40 degrees is really really hot, if it’s that hot I would just dip my chickens in cold water to the neck, and do so again after they dry
Broodiness probably also didn’t help
I don’t know much about heat stroke but sounds like you’re doing the right thing
I would also give her sugar or electrolytes to help her gain energy and maybe feed her some scrambled eggs if she’ll eat them

Thank you for your reply.
I’ll definitely be doing that for my other chickens from now on. I’ve put some sugar in the water at a safe proportion (unfortunately I don’t have electrolytes.) I might try and feed her some wet chicken food since that worked for an old hen I had who was blind.
And yes I do put ice in the water but it had been a couple of hours so it might’ve warmed up too much for her. All the other chickens seemed fine drinking from it though.
Thanks again for you’re reply!

 

[SomeChookLover]

What is her age. I have lost an older bird to heat before, like all the younger ones were okay, just lost the oldest.

It's preventable, but I didn't know some older birds need special care back then.

It's also possible that it has something to do with her broodiness.

I broke my broody hen recently (because I had no fertile eggs for her and I could not handle any more cockerels after eggs hatching), she is acting a bit weird as well - not as active as the other birds and not eating as much. Sometimes, it will take a couple of weeks before those broody hens go back to normal once they had been removed from the nest.

Keep her in a cool place and hydrated, hope she improves.

She’s probably from 2-4 years old now, I’m not sure as I didn’t raise her. A family member hatched her during Covid and ended up being unable to take care of her once most of the lockdowns were over.
We do have a hen over 5 years old who seemed to cope fine.

I know hens body temperature raise a bit when they go broody so I thought it was worth mentioning. I didn’t realise the effects could last that long though!
Thank you for your reply. I hope she improves too.

 

[Cheekychook12]

Thank you for your reply.
I’ll definitely be doing that for my other chickens from now on. I’ve put some sugar in the water at a safe proportion (unfortunately I don’t have electrolytes.) I might try and feed her some wet chicken food since that worked for an old hen I had who was blind.
And yes I do put ice in the water but it had been a couple of hours so it might’ve warmed up too much for her. All the other chickens seemed fine drinking from it though.
Thanks again for your reply!

No problems
Just make sure you don’t dip their heads under
Sugar water should help hopefully
I would just keep an extra eye on your birds in this heat
I also heard that if you put multiple layers of things for shade it will lower the temp more, like how deep shade layers in a rainforest make it cooler
I have super fluffy chickens too, they are bred for fluffy roundness so they struggle with heat too