
Summer is Here! Protect Your Chicken From Heat Stroke.
During summer the temperature can rise to 50 degrees Celsius which is very harmful to humans, animals, and birds. While there are wild animal species that can adapt to the rising temperature, pet, and domestic animals require attention and special care during the rising heat.
One of our hens became the victim of heat stroke, fortunately, she was saved but as a farm keeper, you should know the such condition. And therefore, this blog is dedicated to preventing and treating your bird from heat stroke also known as heat stress.
What is heat stroke or heat stress?
Heat strokes occur when the body temperature exceeds the normal temperature of 41°C to 42°C in chickens. It is because your bird is unable to maintain the normal body temperature because of dehydration or mal-nutrition during excessive heat.
Unfortunately, such a condition led to heat stroke.
Symptoms:
Breathing with an open mouth:
When such a condition occurs, your bird will breathe with an open mouth and rest in one place.
Chicken cannot stand on their feet.
Because heat stokes effects internally the body movement has likely been retarded and thus they cannot move their limbs.
During such conditions, your bird prefers to rest in one place to cool down, but there is a risk that it may not survive if left unattended. Therefore, a keeper should immediately react!
Who can get heat stroke?
It affects any size of chicken regardless of gender and age; however, pullets and layers hen is likely to be affected since their body produces eggs and they cannot bare excess heat.

Prevention
When the temperature rises above 35°C you should take extra measures to prevent heat stress. Here’s what you can do:
- Make sure you have kept enough fresh water on your farm at a different location.
- You have enough shades for your birds where they can rest.
- Keep the floor or ground cool by spreading water on it, bird knows how to cool down.
- You should add Oral rehydration solutions (ORS) solution into their drinking water.
Treatment
After all your effort, unfortunately, you have found a bird stoked by the heat. What to do?
Well, don’t panic! Now you know that it is a condition where the temperature of the body has exceeded the nominal temperature and your bird also might suffer from dehydration. Here’s what you need to do:
- Pick the bird and put it in the shade where the temperature is between 25°C to 30°C, preferably inside your house.
- Spoon Feed the bird with nutritious food and with ORS solution (6 spoons of Sugar and 1 spoon of salt in 1-liter water).
- Keep the bird at rest until it stands on its feet itself.
Finally, your bird has been treated and is ready to join the flock. If the condition remains for more than 24 hours, consult with your nearest veterinarian.
We hope this blog helped you learn about heat stokes and its prevention. If you like the blog, please feel free to comment below.