Temperature and air flow critical to broiler performance year-round
How much cooler do birds feel with various amounts of air movement?
6 September 2022
2 minute read
By: One of the most common questions among broiler producers is determining how much cooler the birds feel with various amounts of air movement.
Though there are charts that provide rough estimates, we really don’t know exact degrees of cooling and probably never will. This is because the way a bird perceives its environment thermally is extremely difficult to determine.
The concept of “hot” or “cold” is determined by a bird’s perception of its environment. In reality, hot and cold relate to the rate at which heat is being lost by a bird. A bird is always losing heat to the environment around it because its deep body temperature, approximately 106o F (41o C), is greater than house air temperature. The greater the amount of heat a bird is losing, the colder it will feel.
If a bird is not losing enough of the heat it is producing, its body temperature will start to rise and it will feel hot. If a bird is losing just enough heat to maintain its body temperature with little to no effort on its part, it would be considered comfortable.
Obviously, temperature has a major impact on the rate of bird heat loss. The lower the air temperature, the greater the amount of heat a bird will lose to the air surrounding it — and the cooler it will feel.
