Hubbard cockerels (2.8 to 3.6 kg) with chronically implanted electromagnetic blood flow probes placed on the celiac artery were used to determine the effect of elevated ambient temperature on postprandial intestinal hyperemia. Celiac mean blood flow (MBF) increased (P less than .05) from approximately 25 to 50 ml/min in response to feeding. When a thermoneutral temperature of 25 C was maintained, celiac MBF remained above 40 ml/min up to 210 min but fell below 25 ml/min by 300 min postprandial. In response to an acute heat exposure of 37 C, postprandial celiac MBF was reduced by approximately 50% in comparison to thermoneutral control values. Changes in celiac MBF during heat exposure were significantly (P less than .05) correlated (.60) with blood CO2 partial pressure (PCO2). To determine if flood PCO2 affected postprandial celiac MBF, cockerels were subjected to successive elevated ambient temperature and ambient CO2 treatments. Although cockerels exposed to 2.8% CO2 exhibited an increase in blood PCO2 regardless of temperature treatment, postprandial celiac MBF changes in these ambient CO2 experiments were only moderately correlated (P less than .05) with blood PCO2 (.34) but inversely correlated (-.83) with celiac vascular resistance (P less than .001). This study indicates that acute heat exposure reduces postprandial intestinal hyperemia and that this hemodynamic alteration was coincident with, but not necessarily dependent upon, changes in blood PCO2.