Prolonged Water Exposure?

[khalpern]

I feel like a terrible chicken mommy! Today was beautiful. I was reading on the hammock after Mike went to work for over an hour. It was marvelous. After I finished my book, I decided to go down to the garden and admire all of our plants. When I got down there, I saw Juliette looking mighty interested in the ducks pond. When I got closer, I saw one of our white leghorns, Betty, in the water! Who knows how long she was in there struggling to get out... I feel terrible that I was enjoying myself, while Betty was suffering. I scooped her out of the water and ran her into the house to wrap some towels around her. I could tell she wasnt feeling well, because she wouldnt even move.. and if you know white leghorns, you know that they are very skiddish. I took her to the bathroom and attempted to blowdry her to warm her up. She was shivering and she kept closing her eyes. I was afraid she was going to die right there in my arms! After checking her out, I found that she is missing a lot of feathers on her belly and backside.. this leads me to believe that the prolonged water exposure made her feather fall out.. I dont know though.

Now, I dont know what to do.. I brought a kennel inside and put a heating lamp in there along with some towel to try and warm her up. I tried to get her to drink a little, but she wasnt interested..

Do any of you chicken mommys and daddies have any advice about what I should do next? I feel frantic and so sad.

Also, does anyone know why she has a bunch of feathers missing?

 

[Gallusfarm]

Awww, I'm sorry about your girl. Don't feel bad about ntot seeing her in the water - the good thing is that you found her when you did. What you did with drying her off was great. How cold is it there now? Just keep her warm and dry - which you've already done. Maybe she had hypothermia? The featehrs may have some off during the struggle, I dunno... Just keep an eye on her. Maybe try to give her some scrambled egg. We got an electrolyte mix from the feed store to have on hand in case of trauma like this - gatorade for birds. Might want to think about that. It can't hurt.... Good luck to you.

 

[khalpern]

It has been warm here. Yesterday it was 75. She seems to be doing better today and is back to her skiddish self. I think I am going to get some electrolytes from the feed store just in case though. Thank you so much for your help!

 

[skya328]

How did this turn out for your hen? One of my young Polish hens was missing overnight. When I went to feed my horse this morning I found the hen standing in the water trough. She was similar to yours...shivering and eyes shut. I brought her in the house and she's in the bathtub now. There's a heat lamp with hay, food and water. I'm hoping I found her in time! Our temps have been pretty high here in Dallas with the lows being in the low 80's.

 

[Gallusfarm]

Quote:
Is she OK today? Hope so!