How do I keep chickens cool?

[6forus]

It’s my first flock and I live in southern USA, where is is hot, humid and wet. I was just wondering how I can cool my birds off? I do put ice in their water at noon, especially because they are young and haven’t payed yet.

Our first flock too and we live in a desert climate. I use pans of cool water they can stand in. Then I put shade cloth and a cotton blanket on their pen. I watered those frequently and it cools it a lot. Since seeing that working pretty well, I added portable misters to the side of the pen (not on them) to keep it moist and cool. Their pen and coop is in deep shade most of the time, but temps are still pretty uncomfortable sometimes. The water seems to help a lot. They also love grapes and watermelon. Also, I grow mint and add it to the pans. It’s supposed to be cooling and they can eat it, but bugs don’t usually like it.