Experiencing a heat wave here, super worried about my girls! How do I cool them off?

[TenderLemon103]

We are experiencing an awful heatwave where I live and my chickens all look miserable. They are sprawled out, beaks wide open, and just panting really fast and really hard. I've been keeping up on their water containers by the hour. I've even gone as far as keeping ice in their water but its just not helping a whole lot. I'm super worried about them because of how awfully miserable they look. What do I do? How do I cool them off? I'm so scared/worried, I don't want to lose my girls ):

 

[SunHwaKwon]

Make sure they have lots of shade but don't restrict air flow. A shallow foot bath with ice for them to stand in. Cold/frozen watermelon chunks, frozen fruits, etc for them to eat.

 

[Eggcessive]

Where do you live? Are there any trees for shade? Are they able to get out to free range? Changing the water twice a day is what I do when it is in the 90's, and keep it shaded. Bushes and trees really help when they can get under them. Some even make low tables or use shade cloth from a garden center to make shade if they lack it. I also use a fan on one end of my coop to draw air through and out the opposite window. Add windows if needed. And lastly, they love to stand or walk through shallow pans of shaded water. The black rubber or metal flat feed pans are good for that.

 

[peopleRanimals2]

You can turn a hose on low to create a stream of cool running water, also X2 to everything everyone else has said. I know some people in really hot places will put fans out to help with airflow, haven't done this myself though. Provide shade, cool treats, etc. Getting their combs and exposed skin wet is good, as it is where heat escapes from, but don't get their feathers wet, as it restricts the natural cooling process.

 

[TenderLemon103]

Where do you live? Are there any trees for shade? Are they able to get out to free range? Changing the water twice a day is what I do when it is in the 90's, and keep it shaded. Bushes and trees really help when they can get under them. Some even make low tables or use shade cloth from a garden center to make shade if they lack it. I also use a fan on one end of my coop to draw air through and out the opposite window. Add windows if needed. And lastly, they love to stand or walk through shallow pans of shaded water. The black rubber or metal flat feed pans are good for that.

We live in Illinois and are basically in the city like on the outskirts but its still pretty busy and too many strays and other predators so I'm not able to have them free range so they just have a very large run I built. We have absolutely no trees ): maybe I could make shade like tying a tarp down on a good section of the run so they still have sun and have shade and also add windows like you said. I'm always changing their water like 3-4 times a day and constantly adding ice. I didn't know that about thew shallow water. I'll have to go buy some of those shallow rubber feed pans. Thank you so much I've been freaking over it worrying I'm going to lose one or all to this heat.

 

[TenderLemon103]

You can turn a hose on low to create a stream of cool running water, also X2 to everything everyone else has said. I know some people in really hot places will put fans out to help with airflow, haven't done this myself though. Provide shade, cool treats, etc. Getting their combs and exposed skin wet is good, as it is where heat escapes from, but don't get their feathers wet, as it restricts the natural cooling process.

Okay awesome I never knew they could leg wade in water I didn't know you could get certain parts of them wet I knew about the feathers so I assumed no part of them could get wet. I was literally just thinking about adding a small fan once I get the two windows put in it. Like attaching the small fan in one of them.

 

[Pork Pie]

http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/788391/keeping-chickens-cool-in-summer-heat