Keeping chickens cool amid lingering heatwave in Japan

The Japan News/Asia News Network Photo

SAITAMA, Japan — Workers at one poultry farm have had their hands full spraying water on chickens to keep them cool this summer, as scorching heat continues across Japan. 

 The temperature inside Shinohara Yokeijo egg farm’s poultry houses reach 40 C on some mornings, according to the farm in Higashimatsuyama, Saitama Prefecture.

“I’ve never experienced a summer this hot,” a 57-year-old farmer in charge of production said with a wry smile.

When the temperature spikes, chickens lose their appetite and end up producing smaller eggs. The farmers have been battling the heat by spraying the chickens every hour, feeding them at daybreak when it is relatively cool, and dousing the roofs of the poultry houses.