Creating the right climate for poultry

In this podcast, aviNews International talked with Mr. Teun van de Braak about his article, “Creating the right climate for poultry,” published in the December 2022 edition of the magazine. Mr. Teun is a Master’s in animal breeding and genetics from Wageningen University and currently, he works as a product manager for Hendrix genetics layers. The climate inside the poultry house influences health and wellbeing of a chicken flock. When suboptimal climatic conditions are common, it is more likely to have disorders related to the respiratory and digestive system. Next to that behavioral troubles can occur with the flock. Growth and productivity can also be negatively impacted when the climatic conditions are not met according to the standard. The best way to measure the climate is by having a look at the chickens and the way they behave, are they active, do they eat and drink normal levels, are egg production and mortality in line with the expectations, are they visibly panting, i.e. suffering from heat stress? The climate is defined by several factors:

• House temperature
• The relative humidity
• Air movement and it’s speed
• Air composition
• Light

Always monitor and measure the climate at bird level! It can be very well possible that the climate inside the house is acceptable, but that it is unsuitable at bird level. For example: CO₂ is a heavy gas, therefore the CO₂ levels can be much higher at floor level (bird level) compared to eye level (human level). The following questions were discussed during the podcast: How can the climate be defined? and why is it important for poultry operations? How can we measure the climate inside poultry houses? Talking about temperature, what is the critical temperature either for pullets and laying hens? Why is relative humidity critical for poultry? What is the relationship between temperature and relative humidity? How do the laying hens respond to heat stress? To read the full article, click here