11 year old hen showing signs of heat stress

[M3lLov3sCh1ck3ns]

Hello everyone. It has been hot outside lately, around 70°-85°, which my chickens are usually fine dealing with because they have shade, water, and a fan. I also spray the ground with cold water every day when it's the hottest to give them something to do and also help cool them down. About two hours ago, when I went to do my nightly check-in, I noticed my 11-year old Ameraucana hen, Hawkeye, was still panting and had her wings out, even though the sun was down and it had cooled down to 78°. (It was around 86° most of the day.) When I checked her feet and comb, I found that both were noticably warm/hot. After checking my other hens, I found that she was the only one who was struggling. I figured that she would cool down, and put her on the "outside" roost with the others, (it isn't exactly outside.. still covered, but it has fencing instead of walls so it is much cooler. I came back about 20 minutes later and she was no different. I got some cool water in a spray bottle and misted her feet and under her wings, and gave her a drink of cool water. After a few minutes she stopped panting, and seemed better, but her comb and feet were barely any cooler. I waited for another 10 minutes, and she got better, but I am extremely worried since she is very old and the other hens had no issues with the heat today. She also only started showing signs of heat stress later in the evening. She has had runny poop most of today though. It is 10:30pm for me right now, and I'd rather let her sleep unless there's anything I should do now. They have plenty of shade during the day, fresh water, food, oyster shells, grit, and get some table scraps every once in a while. They have plain water with no additives, but I plan on getting some electrolytes for them. Can she get sick from heat stress? Is she being affected more by the heat due to her age? What should I do?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

It wouldn't hurt to provide electrolytes in one water station, be sure to also have plain water in another.

Possible she is struggling more with regulating her body temperature due to her age.
I'd watch to see that she's getting to food/water.

Heat stress can take it tole on birds and they can get sick or even die. I'd watch her closely.

Panting is a normal process of how chickens regulate temperature as is holding out the wings. Combs and feet may also feel warm to us, our human body temperature is +/- 98.6F where as a chicken's normal body temperature ranges around 105-107F, so they will usually always feel warmer to us.

I would be very careful about wetting her under the wings, this will dampen feathers and make them less able to fluff - the feathers under wings are usually quite sparse and this is large area of skin where trapped heat can escape.

Some folks provide shallow pans of cool water for their chickens to stand in during hot weather.
If you feel she needs to be cooled off, don't dunk her in cold water, instead you can stand her in Cool water or move her to a cooler area like a garage, etc. Bringing into the A/C can help, but it can also be a bit of a shock too.

11years old, she's doing good to live this long and you've been taking good care of her. Hopefully she will adjust to the heat fairly quickly, but her age may be affecting her too.
Mine were hot today too, some had their wings out - it was around 85F her in WNC. April is usually not this warm and it was cold a few days ago, so it's been up and down with the temps - hard on us and our animals.