Heat Stress In Poultry

Heat stress is a negative balance between the net amount of energy flowing from the animal’s body to its surrounding environment and the amount of heat energy produced by the animal. It is uncontrolled flow of heat between the bird and its environment. The birds are stressed up when there is difficulty in achieving temperature balance and die when it is greater than normal for a very long period of time. Heat is produced internally in birds by metabolic processes like growth and egg production. This imbalance may be caused by variations of a combination of environmental factors like sunlight, thermal irradiation, air temperature, humidity, characteristics of the animal like species, metabolism rate, and thermoregulatory mechanisms. 

Environmental stressors, such as heat stress, are particularly detrimental to animal production. The issue of environmental stress has quickly become a great point of interest in animal agriculture, particularly due to public awareness and concerns.

Some of the symptoms or exhibiting signs of heat stress in poultry are:
• Spreading of wings.
• Diarrhea.
• Pale combs and wattles.
• Laboured breathing and panting.
• Opening of mouth always.
• Seizure or convulsion.
• Decreased appetite.
• Drop in egg production.
• Increased thirst.
• Lying down.
• Closed eyes.
• Lost of body weight.
• Lethargy or droopy acting.
• Increased cannibalism.

If any of the symptoms above is being noticed, it means you have to verify some other exhibiting signs to confirm the heat stress in poultry. Once it is confirmed to be heat stress, the following steps have to be taken to quickly control the situation:
1. Make sure there is access to clean, cold drinking water at all times. You can even add ice cubes to cool it.
2. Provide shade from direct sunlight.
3. Feed them during cooler time of the day to minimize heat generated by digestion.
4. Keep them calm by preventing them from children, cat, dog or other pets chase and disturbance.
5. Supplement the lost electrolytes as a result of panting.
6. Water melon in mostly water and chickens love it. Add sliced water melon treat to them at least once in a week during hot season.
7. Apart from placing ice cubes in their water, you can also add frozen strawberries and red grapes in ice cube trays.

All the tips serve as guide to understand better about heat stress, causes of heat stress and control of heat stress in poultry. We wish you best of luck!

You may also like to read about
How To Prepare The Poultry For Day Old Chicks  and  Medication and Vaccination Time Table For Broiler.

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