Heat Losses of Large White Turkeys—6 to 36 Days of Age

Abstract

The sensible and evaporative heat losses of turkeys are needed to determine the supplemental heat and ventilation requirements for turkey housing. The heat losses of Large White male turkeys from 6 to 36 days of age were determined for a 24-hour period with a continually measuring partitional calorimeter. The metabolizable energy intakes and body weight gains of the turkeys were also determined. The heat losses of the turkeys were measured at recommended environmental temperatures and at 5.56° C. above and 5.56° C. below the recommended temperatures with a lower limit of 23.89° C. The recommended temperature started at 35.00° C. for 1 week of age and was decreased 2.78° C. per week to 23.89° C.The sensible heat loss per unit body weight for the turkeys tested at the recommended environmental temperatures and at 5.56° C. below the recommended remained fairly constant with increasing age, but the sensible heat loss for turkeys tested at 5.56° C. above the recommended increased with increasing age. The evaporative heat loss per turkey at the recommended temperatures and at 5.56° C. above and 5.56° C. below the recommended remained fairly constant with increasing age.