Chicken suffer from stress too, says study

MANILA, Philippines - With the sizzling days back, poultry raisers would do well to protect their fowls from the sweltering heat.

Fact is, like humans, winged creatures, particularly chickens, suffer from excessive heat stress, too.

It’s because they do not perspire as they do not have sweat glands.

Panting is the most obvious sign of thermal stress, states a report titled “Heat Stress” pieced together by the Department of Agriculture-Livestock Development Council (DA-LDC), DA Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI), and Israel embassy in Makati City through Navot Haklay Mashav, Center for International Cooperation, Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

As temperature rises above optimum (18-24 degrees Celsius) birds      respond with behavioral changes that leave negative effects in growth rate, egg production, egg shell quality and size, feed intake and conversion, and hatchability rate.

(PAGASA reported temperatures in Metro Manila reaching a sweltering 35.7 degrees Celsius last May 25.)

“Severe panting takes a lot of energy and ultimately results in death because of heat exhaustion,” the DA-LDC/BAI/Israel report states.

They advise adoption of management practices to counter heat stress among chicken. Such practices include provision of adequate drinking water supply, avoidance of overcrowding in poultry houses, and preventing manure buildup on the ground below the poultry house.

“Manure will restrict air flow and produce additional heat through the natural decaying process,” the three entities pointed out. “More water is consumed by birds during hot weather in order to prevent dehydration. Cool drinking water stimulates both feed and water intake.”

One low-cost management practice is painting the poultry house roof with reflective paint, particularly on non-insulated houses, to reduce radiation. Another is hanging shade net and curtains on the sides of the chicken house.

“Plant shade trees near the poultry house,” they also advise.

Good management practices that require bigger investments include installing sprinklers and fans inside the chicken house, and insulation of the ceiling with effective materials such as urethane foam and expanded polysturone. – Rudy A. Fernandez