Heat stress in farmed chickens causes significant suffering and mortality. Managing thermal environment is a critical welfare challenge in tropical and subtropical production.
Chickens experiencing heat stress exhibit panting, reduced feed intake, weakness, and in severe cases death. The welfare burden of heat stress is enormous given global broiler population size. Climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of heat events in tropical production regions. Investment in climate-appropriate housing and cooling systems is both a welfare and production necessity, but remains cost-prohibitive for many smallholder producers.