Hot chickens!

[slatetastic]

1st year owning chickens. So it's almost 80°F at 9:30 at night and I just did a last check on my girls. My RIR is extremely uncomfortable, beak open, wings open, didn't want to roost. I went and got fresh cold water just for her, she won't drink. I dont have power at my coop, what can I do to cool her down? The others seem to be ok.

 

[NorthTexasWink]

Mist the area upwind of your coop, open it up to ventilation if you can. Sprinklers, wet down the coop's exterior, whatever you can do to get evaporation going and cooling things down. Frozen gallon jugs of water the hens can lay near. Cool earth they can dish out to lay in. Shade tarp over the area in sun. Ice in waterer.

Hope you find something that helps!

 

[PatrickRoo]

Freeze some seedless watermelon. I'd give the frozen watermelon to your whole flock. You don't want to take any chances of them getting heat exhaustion. Dust baths are also an excellent way to cool down chickens. Chickens (if they can find someplace dusty enough) will make a dust bath on their own. If this is not your case, you can search up how to make dust baths.

 

[slatetastic]

Thank y'all. Since its so late, I took some freezey pops and set them on their roosting areas and stood out there fanning them by hand for a while. I'll try the other things tomorrow when I can actually see