MANILA, Philippines - From brownouts to dried up crops, the dry spell has also taken its toll on chickens in La Union province.

Hundreds of chickens have died of heat stroke in at least 2 farms in the province because of the drought.

A farm owner in Balaoan, La Union told ABS-CBN that 1,200 chicks and 2,000 45-day chickens have died because of lack of water to drink.

Caretakers said the farm's deepwell, which is their main source of water for the chickens, have dried up. They said other wells in the province have been drying up because of lack of rain.

They added that remaining chickens have also become weak and may die in the coming days if the effects of the El Niño phenomenon in the province continue to intensify.

In another chicken farm in Santol town, caretakers said 6 to 10 chickens die daily due to heat stroke.

They said that even the chicken's egg production is also affected. They said chickens seemed to have lost their appetite, which decreases their egg production.

The mass death of chickens in La Union happened as thousands of tilapia died in Pangasinan province, one of the 14 drought-stricken provinces in Luzon and Visayas.

The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) said Thursday that at least 10,000 kilograms of tilapia have died from lack of dissolved oxygen due to the low water level at the Magat Dam, which lies between Isabela and Ifugao provinces.

"There were fishkills in the past, but not as serious as this... Reports reaching our office indicate that at least 10 tons [of tilapia] was affected," BFAR chief Malcolm Sarmiento said.

He said that initial investigations showed that the decreasing water level at the Magat Dam deprived the fish of dissolved oxygen.

Sarmiento said more tilapia may turn up dead in the coming days, which is why they have advised fish cage operators to immediately conduct "premature harvest."

"We advised them to make premature harvests so that the [remaining] fish would have enough dissolved oxygen," the BFAR chief added. – Reports from Maira Wallis, ABS-CBN La Union and Julius Camba, ABS-CBN Dagupan