Poultry house ventilation management is critical for welfare during heat events, as even brief periods of inadequate airflow can cause mass mortality.
Poultry house ventilation welfare is an acute welfare risk where system failure converts a chronic stress issue into an emergency mass mortality event. Power outages during heat waves have killed hundreds of thousands of birds in single facilities when ventilation failed. The welfare of birds in high-temperature barns without adequate ventilation deteriorates rapidly through panting, prostration, and death. Investment in backup power systems, ventilation monitoring, and early warning technology is both welfare-positive and economically justified given the catastrophic losses from failure events.