Already panting in January

[Eddie12109]

Hi everyone,
My 8 year old egg laying hen is starting to pant again and I know it is from the “heat”.
I live in Florida and lately it has been decently cold... like 50F at night and she has been fine for awhile now but before it got cold, she always pants, isn’t having labored breathing but she keeps her mouth open and seems to pick her breathing up a tiny bit.
she is starting to do it again even though she is sleeping in a cage on my porch with decently cold water and the fan on low. and so is my 5 year old... is there anything I can do for them... especially at night?
I already give them coldish water when it’s hot and I have given my eight year old baytril and have started to put tetracycline and doxycycline in there waters again because I believe there could be mg. I also give watermelon and things like that when it is very hot. I also have a sprinkler/mister for them but they are terrified of it... it’s only January and it is going to get much hotter here... what are good ways to cool them off

also just because I didn’t mention it as much in that post but the only symptoms of the two are open mouth breathing, there is not labored breathing, maybe a few squeaks or something because their mouth is open but that’s it... their breathing picks up a bit but it’s not too excessive but it is noticeable

 

[azygous]

I have a Silver Cuckoo Marans hen that pants when it's barely warm. Some breeds feel the heat more than others.

Besides the cool water and cold melon treats, if you reduce the carbs when it's hot, mainly hold back the scratch grains, bread, cracked corn, etc, your chickens won't produce as much body heat. It's much the same as we humans modify our diets away from red meat and carbs when it's hot in order to feel more comfortable.

Keeping the air moving is as important as cooling it down. Placing the misters up high where the chickens don't notice might help them tolerate them.