Panting, Pacing Chicken

[KnightNic]

I have a 6month old Plymouth Barred Rock who is acting weird and I suspect she's unwell. She's pacing around her coop and walking into walls, into her food bowl and acting distressed. She's also panting and has a very red, hot comb/wattles (more so than usual). She's eating grain but it still panting while doing it.

It's very hot here today, 30+degrees C, and at first I thought heatstroke but shes extremly active/hyper not laying about at all.
Their coop has shade and clean bowls of water.

I've had her and her 2 sisters free-ranging in the yard so they can go to cooler spots but she's just speedily walking around everywhere, not seeking shade at all. The other 2 have been panting a little from the heat but nothing major and have been quite happy wandering around the garden and chasing the cat from the best shade.

I have been putting my hand in cool water and running it over her comb and face when she will let me but she's not much interested in drinking...just pacing the side wall of her (open) coop.

If she wasn't eating little bits of grain I'd be concerned about her sight by the way shes crashing around the place but I think she just confused and unwell.

There are no predators where I live so I know it's not that sort of stress. And the chickens are much higher on the pecking order than my cat so it's definately not him. I really think it's an illness, or maybe a weird reaction to the heat?

Any help would be apprecciated!!

 

[blueberrychickens]

I think you need to catch her & cool her down before she gets over heated. Take a bag of ice & hold it on her for a bit till she cools off. I wouldn't dunk her in water, it might cause her to go into shock & that would be bad. Hope she's ok!
You can also try a fan that they can stand in front of

 

[KnightNic]

Thanks for that!! I wasn't sure about cooling methods because I was worries I'd be going from one extreme to another but I'll bring her inside with the fan on and see if that helps.

Don't worry, I wasn't dunking her Just cooling down my hand and running it over her comb etc and also putting a bowl of water within easy reach for her...I probably ran that sentence together a bit in the earlier post

Thanks for the help!!

 

[charsbird]

Are they laying yet? She could be reacting to the need to do "something" but she doesn't know that she's got to lay an egg? Mine did that the first few times, and she would cry too.

 

[SteveBaz]

First off

You bird sounds like its under stress and to hot for some reason. I would isolate her in a small dog or cat kennel and force her to lay down. Feed her high protein foods and dairy such as eggs scrambled and hard boiled get her some yogurt and some other good foods. I would also put a section with a nest for her to lay and make an egg if it happens. I would get a separate bowl with vitamin water and some type of apple cider vinegar a tablespoon or 2. If it persists Get a stool sample and take it to a vet to get you on tract.