too hot?

jaystar · **Joined:** Sat Jul 17, 2010 7:04 pm **Posts:** 18

It has been extremely hot for several days here. The chicken coop is fairly shady but this afternoon one of my silkys was found dead.

She hadn't been sick and looked fine this morning. Is it likely to have been the heat and is this common?

RPoultry · **Joined:** Thu May 27, 2010 9:40 pm **Posts:** 933

Yes you are right it would have been the heat, i lost one of my best black silkies in this heat, or your hen could have had an underlying disease that she had grown an imunity to but in the hot weather she couldent keep up her defences and succumbed to the disease or the hot weather or both.
Try to keep the other ones cool by hoseing down their pen/s every 30mins or so and keeping the drinking water in the shade and putting frozen plastic drink bottles in the water and replacing it every hour, remember chickens will not drink water that is hotter then their body temp.
Hope you don't lose any more birds and that this info helps.

oozcorpse · **Joined:** Sun Nov 04, 2007 8:15 am **Posts:** 2715

Personally I won’t wet the bird’s pens or the birds anymore since losing so many to Cocci after the fires 2yrs ago. I wet both and still lost a great many birds to the side effects of the heat and then to Cocci a few weeks later

Cocci lays dormant in the soil for several years just waiting for hot weather and moisture. I now have in place a Cocci control program and have not had one incident since [excluding a bird gifted that arrived with a mild dose and was kept isolated and treated but it succumbed to the infection anyway = some birds are very susceptible]

I now exclusively use the frozen water in their drink containers changing it every hour – I also go into summer with more birds than I need just to allow for heat related deaths – I sell all excess birds after the heat now – not before.

RPoultry · **Joined:** Thu May 27, 2010 9:40 pm **Posts:** 933

good advise S.
i did not think of the cocci :oops:

jaystar · **Joined:** Sat Jul 17, 2010 7:04 pm **Posts:** 18

I'm new to chook keeping. What is Cocci and how do you prevent it? Thanks for the advice about chickens not drinking warm water. Today I went down regularly and changed their water for cold water from the fridge with ice blocks. The girls really appreciated it and are looking good.

Vale Tiffany the silkie.

parvo · **Joined:** Sat Jan 02, 2010 7:39 pm **Posts:** 735

Hi Jaystar,

Cocci is short for coccidiosis- a protozoal parasitic infection of chooks (and other birds too)

Go the "Health Knowledge Base" subforum within the "Poultry Health & Wellbeing" heading.

Once there, click on the link and you will see a list of "stickies"- topics considered important in the area of health.

If you look down the list you will see a heading "coccidiosis" which has a 2 page discussion about this disease.

If you have any problems accessing it let us know.

Cheers

Parvo

oozcorpse · **Joined:** Sun Nov 04, 2007 8:15 am **Posts:** 2715

Riverlook Poultry wrote:

good advise S.
i did not think of the cocci :oops:

No worries! We all can’t think of everything every time! That’s why we can all post replies :-D

Keep an eye on yr birds over the next few weeks and if they show the signs - try Baycox - it isn’t cheap [abt $210/L] but it goes a long way as you use so little –

viewtopic.php?f=32&t=8870

click the link for a suggestion on how to treat birds and their housing if they do show symptoms

Julien · **Joined:** Wed Sep 23, 2009 8:52 pm **Posts:** 55

The same thing happened to my silky, it was very hot and humid.
Also one of my ISA browns was sick but she got better after giving her a bath and then it got really hot and she didnt survive.

oozcorpse · **Joined:** Sun Nov 04, 2007 8:15 am **Posts:** 2715

For chooks to survive extreme heat you need to cool their core temperature – the only ways to do this is for them to drink BRRRRRRRRRR cold water [and I mean BRRRRRRRRRR as in refridgerated] and/or house them in air-conditioning set at 22degrees
#note that even the BEST home airconds will only keep the inside temperature about 10-11 degrees cooler than the outside temps = 49 degrees outside is 38 degrees inside even with the unit set at 22 = the unit works none stop and struggles to cool the air – but 38 is better than 49

AND you need to clean the unit daily or it will overheat and potentially catch on fire

Rhode Red · **Posted:** Fri Feb 11, 2011 8:00 am

Hi All,

Another factor that can add the the death rate in hot weather is weight. Birds that are carrying a few extra grams +, are also effected by heat.
Unfortunately at this time of year our hens start to drop off in the laying department, however we (i'm guilty) keep feeding them like they are still pumping out the eggs. Keep an eye on the number of eggs you are getting and possibly you will be able to tell the number of hens that are still laying and how often (in most cases each hen will lay a slighty different egg). The best thing to do in handle the hens every few weeks, just to check they are not overdoing their diet. If possible cut back their feed a bit or remove the hens that are over weight and make up a weight watches club, to shed the extra weight.

Rhode Red

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