If it makes you northern folk feel any better, the thermometer on the bank here in SC yesterday said 103!
My chickens are out, figuring out how to keep themselves cool, just as chickens were doing for many years before I ever started raising them.
The only thing I noticed yesterday that a hen approached me as I was stretched out cooling off in my kiddie pool, she had her mouth open, probably cooling herself that way. She checked me out (very closely, in fact, I thought maybe she'd take a drink from the pool!), I guess to make sure I didn't have a treat, then went on pretty much normally, not avoiding the sun any more than usual. But then high nineties is normal here...it is quite dry in this part of SC, so you don't feel it as badly as you do say in Charleston. I have noticed the chickens drink water a good deal faster on hot days, so they must need more. Egg production is actually good! And their behavior is the same--they are not cooped up in a building, have plenty of ventilation and can move around however, I'm sure you could kill them quick if they were locked up. The huge chicken farms in the state have roll down plastic sides for cooler weather, but I imagine they are up to the top on days like this. They also have monster fans (my observations are at a distance passing in a car....)
Rabbits on the other hand are SOOO suceptible to heat stroke, dogs too. My dogs have a kiddie pools (I bought an extra for me!
) which they would sometimes rather be in than in the house with me as I try not to use the airconditioning. And my daughter who has livestock guardians --Great Pyranees-- keeps a water trough that the dogs can submerge in them completely year round. (It is warm year round here, some years I never put anything more than a sweater on.)
A rabbit (I used to raise them), especially lop eared ones will drop dead in minutes with very little temperature raising when the regular rabbits are fine. Rabbits cool themselves via their ears and Lops are at a real disadvantage. Their noses will run and it looks like they are sick, they hang over their water trying to stay cool. They definitely need fans. Regular rabbits do fine if in good shade (like a solid artificual shade of some kind with good circulation, open sides, etc. not just trees) and with plenty of water.
I think common sense and observe the animals is the key.
the hens have drank 4 gallons of water today ! and I have spritzed them with cool water and they are still panting its like 95 in the shade ! I don't like air conditioning because then when I go outside it feels even hotter but I have to live so the AC is on
