One of my Buffs is having heat stroke. I dunked her feet in cold water. Got her to drink a little water, Put cold water under her wings too. Any thing else I should do for her?
MollyD
Heat stricken hen
Might need to bring her inside out of the heat. Get her cooled and drinking. Do you have any electrolytes? Some sugar in the water might help. Be careful not to lower her temp too quickly as this could induce shock.
This message was edited Jun 9, 2008 3:36 PM
Patch I have her here in the house with me. In fact she's on my lap as I'm typing. What do you mean by 'raise her temperature' ? I think it's too high right now. She went and stayed inside the greenhouse where the temperature soared over 105. The others had the good sense to stay outside. I've been busy with the goats and hadn't seen her since this morning when she escaped twice from their enclosure.
I'll get some sugar water into her. I think I have some electrolytes too. Thanks!
MollyD
Sounds like you have done well with her so far. Give her something to build her energy as well. Maybe some sugar in the water or give her some milk or buttermilk.
I saw on the news this morning that you guys are having quite the heat wave up there. Down here we are used to that but when you and the animals arn't it makes it hard.
Poor thing, keep her as cool as you can and keep us updated on how she is.
Sorry, I edited that out. I meant lower.
Molly D, I hope she is ok! How is she doing?
We put a bag of frozen peas on my older dog's neck and head when she was overheating in the back of the car--she hadn't gone into heatstroke, but she was near it--the car airconditioner was on, but the sun was hitting where she was and the air flow wasn't sufficient. She had waited with my sons in the car while I ran into the store--the engine was on the airconditioner was on, my sons were there and yet she overheated. It can happen so fast. Luckily I had just bought the peas. You want to get the cool water where the blood flow is greatest closest to the surface--which I think in birds is where you have been putting it. Sounds like you are doing everything right--she may be more sensitive to heat from now on. Gook luck and let us know how she does!
Thanks guys. I've been away from the computer tending her. She's still doing very poorly. She keeps her head on the ground and her tail end rounded. Her wings are spread out (to cool off?). I'm having trouble getting anything into her so every few minutes I pick her up and dip her beak into the sugar water. Haven't found my electrolytes. I'm home alone so there is no one to leave her with while I run to the store (hour trip). Her poop is watery too. I've got her in her old brooder with the shelf liner . She seemed to know the familiar surroundings. If I leave she calls me. I tell her I'm here. I'm watching over you. That seems to calm her down.
I'm going to give her another cold water sponging now.
Thanks,
MollyD
Well she's still alive. This afternoon she seemed a bit improved. Last night I thought she was going to die.
I'm not sure now that what she has is heat stroke only. I've got another Buff doing the same thing. Head hanging to the ground and weak. I brought her in with the first hen. They seem content to cuddle together.
MollyD
It's not the gnats is it?
No I think they've been eating styrofoam and it's making them sick. I keep covering it up and they keep finding ways to get a hold of it.
MollyD
Yikes! What could you feed them to help with that? I wonder if it could cause not only obviously blockage but maybe a toxicity too.
How do their crops feel? If it is an impacted crop you might be able to massage the styrofoam out. There are instructions on how to do it when young chickens eat very tough, fibrous grass.
Patch they don't seem to have any blockage but I do suspect some toxicity. The one that got sick first would just lay there with her eyes wide open. If you picked her up her head would let her head hang. This morning she was standing up and trying to hold her head up. This afternoon she walked a little around the room like a person recovering from a really bad illness. This evening she ate on her own. Second chicken is repeating the whole thing. I hope there aren't any more.
MollyD
Catscan their crops were empty.
MollyD
That is odd--could they have gotten into moldy food?--it does sound like a toxin. How to make sure they and the others don't get into it again?
Molly, don't foprget that ACV cleans toxins out, it may be in order for all of them on a maintenance level. and the hens that are bad, i would get something storng like marshmallow root, dandeliion and myrrh. get the tincutres and you can just get a drop down them now and then...
hope they imporve!
tf
tf what is ACV ?
4 hens now have been stricken. The first hen ill was well enough to go back to the flock this morning. Hen #2 is on critical right now. #3 and 4 are on the plus side since I caught them early before the head to the ground stage. I've got them on water with electrolytes, feeding corn meal for high calories. #2 is getting hand fed oatmeal soaked in sugar water with electrolytes. That's what got #1 back on her feet. Should see some more leaving the 'hospital' tomorrow. All the stricken ones have been Buff Orpingtons!
MollyD
ACV is unfiltered (important) Apple Cider Vinegar. You can get it at a health food store. I think I would worry that they may be going back to what made them ill in the first place--if it is a toxin. If it is an infection it may just work its way through the flock--but I can't imagine what it could be.
That is strange. Keep an eye on them out there in their pen, you may discover what they are eating.
MollyD--Here is a site that describes the most common diseases of poultry. I am wondering if it is Mycotoxicosis--it says the symptoms can be highly variable. I didn't see anything that looked like what you are describing--but maybe you will see something that jogs your memory. Good Luck!
http://www.msstate.edu/dept/poultry/dislist.htm
it really sounds like toxicity or acidosis to me. on tbsp of ACV per gallon of water. adding minced garlic helps too.
dandelion tea would be good, if you go to the health food store pick that up... and any tea with vitamin C...
I put different things over the styrofoam they were able to reach. They haven't been able to get at anymore in a while now. Catscan I'll check that site.
tf we've got some here (Paul likes it on his salad). I'll add some to their water. Those I spotted in the early stages seem to bounce back real fast. I guess it's the lack of food and water that brings them down. Two have now returned to the flock. Two are still in hospital. One is still critical. I can tell when they get better cause they start looking for ways out of the brooder. While they're real sick they plain don't care where I've put them.
They're little eyes look so sad as they lie there just looking at the ceiling :-(
Molly
i know your sadness. i have been caring for my fav PBR roo. he was in the way when Brandywine jumped over something and landed on his toes. he is better, scooting around on the floor, and the hens aren't bothering him. the first ocuple of days he was just so sad i wasn't sure he would live through the pain. now i go frequently to be sure his pans aren't runed over, and move them to wherever he has moved...
i try to keep detox type teas on hand. it's good for the hens now and then. also red raspberry leaf tea about once a month keeps them regular on egg laying... right now they are getting my leftover nursing moms tead, pregnanacy tea, mother milk tea, etc... along with their usual chamomile.
i think i will do the parsely dried from now on, i tried add it to their tea/water, and it just soured and,,, YUCK!
don't forget to give them a talking to about their diet! ;-)
tf I added the vinegar to the dish I'm feeding them from. There are still two hens in there. One is really bad and the other seems to be going downhill but is trying to eat on her own. A little while ago I was feeding the really ill one and notice the other hen eating for a long time. Too long. I looked more closely and she was standing there asleep with her head in the dish almost flat. Right now they're cuddling together. Guess that's good for them.
MollyD
oh dear! if they pull through the night they will be OK. watch for a messy poo! if it seems runny, don't turn them back out to you give them barley of some kind. i like the barley cereal you cook lthat is like a mash. then they should poop a HUGE blob. cleans them up and slows it down...
tf this morning those two are back on their feet though they're still feeling run down. I can tell cause they're content to huddle together and sleep. Have a new one down this morning. Same exact symptoms so now I know what to do for her. I added vinegar and electrolytes to the flock water today as a preventative. I almost missed this hen cause she had fallen behind a large box. If she hadn't called to me she might have died there.
MollyD
It is beginning to sound more like an infection. But at least they recover from it. I wonder what it could be?
Molly, I've been following this thread....I don't know that much about ailments in chickens, so I haven't had much to add. I have been wondering though....you said that they were in your greenhouse and were eating the styrofoam.....I have heard of a product that gardeners use....it is also used in diapers and bladder problem products and feminine products as well.......it is a super absorbant polymer. In personal care products it is used to wick away moister and can absorb 400- 800x's it's mass in water, very quickly. For gardening, it is used to hold water and prevent plants from going dry. I was wondering if maybe this product was used in something you are using for your plants and your hens have gotten a hold of it. Before moisture is added to this polymer, it looks like salt. I'm not sure what would happen if even a small amount of this was eaten, but I was thinking that if a chicken swallowed some, once ingested if it would then absorb liquids inside the chicken quickly, making them sick. You said that their poo was runny, so this might not be it.
I read all about it by going to wikipedia and typing in 'super absorbant polymer'....I don't know how to make the link thingy yet. I couldn't find any info on whether it was toxic or not, or what would happen if it were ingested...I'm not sure where to look for that.
I don't know if this polymer is the cause of the sickness, but this is such a puzzle that I thought it couldn't hurt to mention this.
Good luck Molly.....I hope your girls come out of it and no one else gets it.
Christy
Thanks Christy. I know the product you mean and no there isn't any of that in the greenhouse. I've used it out in the garden (underground) but never in the greenhouse.
So far no deaths from whatever this is. I'm wondering if it's a fungal infection. They do seem to mend with the treatment I'm giving them. The weird thing is that all the ones who've gotten ill so far have been the Buff Orpingtons. None of the New Hampshires or the unknowns have gotten ill yet. Ducks and geese seem fine too but then they never touch the styrofoam stuff at all.
MollyD
you know if it is fungal, you need chamomile tea and garlic in their water...
funny, ladybugs, i was thinking hte same thing, that it must be something they found in the greenhouse. some plants are toxic to chickens.
molly, i know vermicultie is natural, but if they consume anything that is absorbent, it would cause them to be dehydrated, thus the fatifue and runny poo... and the explanantion of only the buffs, don't they sorta flock together? so the others may not have discovered what they are consuming...
try upping their viatmins and somehow getitng kelp or trace minerals into them, to blanace out their systems so they won't seek out to eat weird stuff?
tf there are no plants in the greenhouse. There haven't been any since the chicks moved in. Can't say they didn't find something on the ground cause that's always possible. My chicks don't group by breed. They seem to have developed groups with assorted members. Don't know if that's because there are only 24 of them or what.
MollyD
well, then it is very suspicious that only th buffs are coming down with this... but aren't they more heavily feathereed breed?
Not that I can tell. I wondered if the Buffs have a genetic weakness that made them more susceptible. For all I know the NH may start getting sick later.
MollyD
Today is the first day there has not been a sick chicken. The one I found yesterday behind a box died this morning. I think I just didn't get to him in time.
Today everyone was running around, playing silly games and getting into trouble. All normal.
MollyD
Awwwwww, Molly, I am so sorry it died. I know how hard you tried to save it. You are a very good chicken mommy.
GG
I'm sorry you lost that one too Molly.
I sure am glad the rest are doing well and are in
fine shape! I hope none of them find what ever
it is that did it to them again!
Christy
Thanks Christy and GG. Today seems to be another normal day. No sick ones so far. I think I would have been able to save that last one if I had found him in time :-( but given how many were ill I feel fortunate to only loose one.
Yesterday I expanded their area almost double in size and they've been having a blast running around checking out all the new stuff. The ducks and geese are so excited they forgot to go swimming!!
MollyD
They forgot to go swimming? How extraordinary!! They really must have gotten excited. LOL
GG
LOL it was! Today they're back to normal alternating between eating in the new area and swimming.
MollyD