--- title: Global Warming: Chickens Selectively Bred to Endure Warmer Climate description: High temperatures are associated with sicker chickens. Researchers are using selective breeding to come up with a solution. canonical: https://time.com/2931787/chickens-global-warming-climate-change-feathers/ author: Stephanie Burnett article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-06-27T08:38:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T08:39:54.819Z article:section: Science og:title: Global Warming: Chickens Selectively Bred to Endure Warmer Climate og:description: High temperatures are associated with sicker chickens. Researchers are using selective breeding to come up with a solution. og:url: https://time.com/2931787/chickens-global-warming-climate-change-feathers/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb3b05347660d90de/69869995e8524b38f1603a81/chickens_27-june.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: FRANCE-AGRICULTURE-HENS og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Global Warming: Chickens Selectively Bred to Endure Warmer Climate twitter:description: High temperatures are associated with sicker chickens. Researchers are using selective breeding to come up with a solution. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb3b05347660d90de/69869995e8524b38f1603a81/chickens_27-june.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Global Warming is Tough on Chickens Too, You Know by [Stephanie Burnett](https://time.com/author/stephanie-burnett/) ## Stephanie Burnett Jun 27, 2014 8:38 AM UTC  A photo taken on August 27, 2013 shows a hen at an intensive poultry farm in the western French town of Louannec. French poultry farmers have been hit by rising feed prices and a new European Union directive that has forced them to invest in bigger pens for their laying hens. According to the UGPVB, a union which accounts for 40 percent of French egg production, production costs in France are now running at 95 cents per kilogram of eggs, 20 cents more than current wholesale prices. AFP PHOTO / FRED TANNEAU (Photo credit should read FRED TANNEAU/AFP/Getty Images) A photo taken on August 27, 2013 shows a hen at an intensive poultry farm in the western French town of Louannec. French poultry farmers have been hit by rising feed prices and a new European Union directive that has forced them to invest in bigger pens for their laying hens. According to the UGPVB, a union which accounts for 40 percent of French egg production, production costs in France are now running at 95 cents per kilogram of eggs, 20 cents more than current wholesale prices. AFP PHOTO / FRED TANNEAU (Photo credit should read FRED TANNEAU/AFP/Getty Images)Getty Images by [Stephanie Burnett](https://time.com/author/stephanie-burnett/) ## Stephanie Burnett Jun 27, 2014 8:38 AM UTC May was [Earth’s hottest month](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/climatechange/10921695/May-was-the-hottest-month-ever-for-Earth.html) on record — and as the planet gets warmer, chickens are struggling to adapt. Their body temperatures rise, which leads to higher mortality rates and an increased risk of disease that may threaten global poultry supply in the next decades. Enter geneticist Carl Schmidt and his team from the University of Delaware, who believe that reducing a chicken’s feather count — making it look bald, basically — will cool it down and reduce health risks. “We’re going to be seeing heat waves that are both hotter and longer,” Schmidt [told](http://modernfarmer.com/2014/06/cooler-chickens-warming-earth/) _Modern Farmer_. “And we need to learn how to mitigate the effect of climate change on animals — we need to figure out how to help them adapt to it.” For three years, Schmidt and his team traveled throughout Uganda and Brazil to study birds with featherless necks and heads in the hopes of crossbreeding them with the feathered North American breeds. Researchers stress that this is selective breeding, not genetic modification. Schmidt and his team will spend the next two years analyzing the DNA of the bare-necked birds – however it’ll be much longer until crossbreeding actually takes place. “It could take two decades of research before resulting in any actual chickens,” he said. But at least a start is being made in preserving a food source that can only become more important as the effects of climate change make themselves more broadly felt. \[[_Modern Farmer_](http://modernfarmer.com/2014/06/cooler-chickens-warming-earth/)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2931787/chickens-global-warming-climate-change-feathers/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2931787/chickens-global-warming-climate-change-feathers/"},"headline":"Global Warming is Tough on Chickens Too, You Know","datePublished":"2014-06-27T08:38:36.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T08:39:54.819Z","description":"High temperatures are associated with sicker chickens. 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