Should I be giving electrolytes?

[3chickchicks]

The high today is 104. My girls are still teenagers so there's no laying. Their combs aren't even developed yet.

I have one girl (Ms. Ruth) who tends to start panting earlier than the others. Two days ago she started having a limp. Today she's not limping but she continues to move a little slower than usual. She's eating and drinking, just doesn't act 100%. Her stools are normal. The other two girls are fine but they pant during the hottest part of the day as well.

I wonder if electrolytes will help Ms. Ruth? I suspect she just has a minor leg injury that is getting better. But I can't really ask her and I want to make sure the heat isn't stressing her too much. This morning, she was still moving slower than usual which lends me to believe it's not the heat, but I'm not sure. She still pecks the ground and is eating and drinking. Maybe I should just let her be and not fuss?

 

[MrsBachbach]

I don't think it will hurt, but it may be best seperate her for a few days. If you have a cool separate place to put her to recoup it would be better. If she can see the others she may not panic as much or if she really is feeling bad, she may not panic at all. Chickens do their best to hide their injury or illness as long as they can by acting as normal as they can. A chicken that acts sick or injured is usually attacked by the others in the flock, thus they try to hide it. If you think it's just heat related, try putting a shallow container with a few inches of water in it for them to stand in to help cool them off. I have seen chickens step in their water bowls during hot weather in an attempt to cool off. So some large shallow container in the coop would help during this heat.

 

[3chickchicks]

Thanks for the tips! At what age do they have problems going back to the flock if they've been gone a few days? Mine are 14 weeks old. I don't have a way to separate her and still be able to see the others without making her too hot.

So far, I've used a hose and watered down the sand in their coup. They really enjoy laying down on the wet sand and all of them are laying together in the coolest corner, no panting right now. The door to the coup stays open so they can free range the back yard but during the hottest parts of the day, they like their wet sand and will wander out after it cools off.

 

[Eggcessive]

I agree with Mrs. Bachbach on the shallow pan of water. I don't use them in winter, but they are great for putting water around the yard so that there is shaded water at all times, and mine do like to cool their legs off. If she is not getting picked on you could leave her out, or put her back in only at night so she can "keep up appearances."