Hibernation

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Monday, May 20, 2002


All Hail The Nude Bird

Purple Carrots, naked chickens?

I love it!

They sure are funny looking, but as this article from Reuters explains, there are practical aspects to featherlessness:

Boiler chickens consume a lot of energy in order to grow rapidly but in the process they generate a lot of heat and they have to get rid of it otherwise their internal body temperature will go too high and they will die.

That's why the growth rate of boilers is significantly reduced in hot seasons or hot countries and that is why the poultry meat is expensive in these countries.

By keeping the chickens feather-free, the birds would direct their energy to growing larger rather than keeping cool.

Cahaner's naked birds would also save poultry farmers large amounts of money on ventilation to prevent their chickens from overheating. The lack of feathers would conserve large quantities of water used to pluck chickens at feathering plants.