ABSTRACT
The objective of this work was to monitor, in real time, the thermal environment of an avian posture and to perform a complete mapping of the distribution of the variables air temperature, relative humidity and temperature and humidity index in the housing. The study was conducted in January 2013 in a commercial farm of laying hens, vertical systems, with six floors of cage. The aviary is fully automated, having 100.000 birds housed in density of 300 cm2 bird-1. The collected data were analysed for the average temperature and relative humidity during day and nighttime and for different positions at the facility. The resulting thermal maps show that there was a temperature variation at different spatial positions within the poultry house, the central region having higher temperature in comparison to border but within the range of thermal comfort of the birds, considering the situation of average temperatures during extreme heat the internal temperature reached 33 oC in the installation. The relative humidity showed little variation during the day and highest in the evening. Regarding the temperature and moisture content, the greater part of the plant remained within the comfort range.
Key words:
laying hens; thermal distribution; thermal comfort
