Taking a chicken's body temperature is part of the physical examination process. An unusually high or unusually low temperature can indicate different types of diseases.
How to take a chicken's body temperature?[]
Chicken temperature
Demonstration of taking a chicken's temperature.
Restrain the chicken by holding it facing backwards under your non-dominant arm. Use the arm to gently hold the wings against your body and slide the hand underneath the legs and squeeze them together.
Gently insert the thermometer into the cloaca.
The chicken’s temperature is relatively high compared to humans and should be between 40.6°C and 41.7°C. Freshly hatched chicks might have slightly lower body temperatures.
Remember that the stress from handling the chicken can slightly elevate its temperature.
How to take the temperature of a young chick?[]
Because of their size and because they are easy to stress, it is not common to take a young, unfledged (that is, without the feathers, when they are only covered in fluff) chick's temperature.
However, especially for young chicks who are not able to regulate their own body temperature and rely on external warmth, it is very dangerous to go much below their regular body temperature. Once they get chilled they can die very quickly.
It is therefore very important to make sure that young chicks are not too cold.Cold chicks should be moved to under a heat lamp. Bird's temperatures are naturally high and so when you pick up a young chick, it should always feel warm in your hands. If it doesn't it is likely to be too cold.
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