Urgent!! My chicken has a pale comb, pany and listliss

[DianeB]

This morning, all my chickens were perfectly fine. When I cam home this afternoon and checked on them one of my hen had a pale comb but still acted fine. Then about a half hour later she was panting and very lethargic. I brought her inside a put fans on her. She is no longer panting. She did eat some yogurt at first. Then she went to sleep. Woke up and only ate a few pieces of oyster shell.

She did lay two double yolkers two days in a row. Help!!! I don't know what is wrong with her.

Thank You
DB

 

[DianeB]

She seemed to have cooled down. I put her back out side. I am running cool water from the hose over the ground to get the temperature. She drank a ton of water and seems to be acting fairly normal.

A decade ago in my teenage years, I was a lifeguard and had to deal with several cause of heat exhaustion and heat stroke. She seems to have similiar symptoms.

She had a similiar episode a few weeks ago. Someone turned off their fans at night and on top of that we went from the 80s to near 100s overnight. It has warmed up like too today, but not as much. Also, I was just told someone turned off their fans last night.

Has anyone experienced these types of problems?

DB

 

[Eggs4Sale]

Yes, when my chickens were in a tractor in the sun. Half of them died. The other half ranged from fine to unable to walk. They even FELT hot. I dipped them in the kiddie pool to cool them quickly and that's what saved them. The ones that couldn't walk eventually regained control of their legs, thank goodness.

If yours is fine now, it sure sounds like heat exhaustion.

 

[muell112]

I would agree with that too. I had a meaty experience that this summer. Brought her inside, put her near the AC, gave her some pedialyte and the next morning she came around. She is doing well now. Good luck, hopefully your chicken is ok

 

[DianeB]

I am so worried about her. I have to work tomorrow and don't know what to do. Luckily, I will get home around 3ish. There are people at the house, but I don't know how well they will watch them. My brother was supposed to watch them while I was gone and this happened.

Right now, i'm soaking the yard. They have shade and water available all the time. What else can I do?

Thanks
DB

P.S. She seems to be acting pretty normal now. I think I caught her in time.

 

[muell112]

I'd give her some pedialyte. I read somewhere in this forum that when they get hot/pant they lose those electrolytes that are so important. If you can't get that I'd try gatoraid. I put a fan in the coop window and put a wet towel over it when it was super hot (for Maine). The main problem I had was with the big meaties. I found mine also liked laying on the cool concrete in their coop (they'd shuffle the shavings away) and I also put a lunch tray out with water so they could stand in it.

 

[DianeB]

Update!! She is acting normal again. She ate some yogurt and feed and drank quite a bit. Her comb is still pale, but it seems like the color is coming back.

She gave me a real scare. I really thought she was about to die.

I talked to a vet tech and she said I should continue to watch her closely. It may reacure tomorrow or she may have longterm problems.

AAAHHHH!!!

Thank You
Diane

 

[DianeB]

Alright, it has been a day and a half and it seems Laverne has made a full recovery. The color is really coming back in her comb. I figure it may take a few days before it is a nice bright red again. She also layed another double yolk egg yesterday.

Thank You
DB