The presentation discusses in detail the efficacy and multipurpose use of an environmentally controlled poultry house and.It basically determines the efficacy of each section of the EC poultry house.

1. ENVIORNMENTALLY
CONTROLLED HOUSES FOR
BROILERS
Dr. Sharon A J
MVSc Scholar
Dept Livestock Products
Technology

2. Importance of housing
 Comfort and Protection
 Scientific Management
 Easy convenient and Economic operations
 Reduces the cost of Production
 Maximises flock performance
 Better health and welfare
 Proper microclimatic conditions
 Increased stocking density
 Optimum and uniform growth rate

3. Environmentally controlled House
 Insulated house with no windows
 Artificial Lighting
 Mechanisation for Feeding
 Mechanisation for Drinking water
 Temperature controlled house
 External temperature varies but internal temperature is set to constant
 Artificial Ventilations to cool the house and keep the birds cool.
 Evaporative cooling pads

4. Macro and Micro Enviornment

5. Environmentally controlled poultry house
 In the poultry house ,the optimum requirements of the bird is provided inside a completely
enclosed and insulated house with ought windows.
 Hence fresh air is brought in and stale air is removed mechanically
 Fully system controls with no manual Controls Feeding system, Watering system, manure
collection system all are mechanised and automatic.
 ECH housing helps achieve better FCR improving production, care of birds and control of
diseases
 Artificial lighting is provided to illuminate the interior(North and Bell, 1990)

6. EC house requirements
 House must be :
 Well sealed (air tight)
 Well insulated
 Ventilation system must be designed correctly
 Heating capacity and distribution
 Side wall inlets for transitional ventilation
 Side wall fans for minimum ventilation
 Fans for tunnel ventilation
 Pad area
 This depends on pad thickness
 Depends on flute angle of the pad

7. Recommended Stocking Density
The following is an example of recommended stocking density in hot climates:
 CE – 30kg/m²
 Open house – 20-25kg/m² (poor ventilation)
These densities can vary depending on relative humidity.

8. Layout of EC houses Side view of EC house
Side view of EC house Interior view of EC house

9. Lighting arrangement in EC house Feeding arrangement in EC house
High density in EC house Brooding arrangement in EC house Feeding and watering arrangement
in EC house
Poultry environmental
computer system

10. Bird Physiology
 For fully feathered birds to stay comfortable
 There has to be a substantial difference between house air temperature and their own
internal temperature
 Normally is above 37.8°C.
 Birds begin to pant when they feel over-heated. It’s like a back-up cooling system, that
usually starts working when temperatures rise around 4-6°C above their current
“comfort zone.
 Birds can tolerate higher daytime temperatures if they are able to cool off during the
night. The effect is most pronounced when night time temperatures drop 14°C below
daytime highs

11. Optimum performance temperature zone
Temperature and humidity work together to determine bird comfort

12. Temperature Zone
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Comfort zone (18.3 – 21.5*C)
Tolerable zone
(22.0 – 28.0*C)
Tolerable zone (17.0 – 11.0*c)
Uncomfortable zone
(28.0 *C and above)
Uncomfortable zone
(11.0 *C and below)

13. Birds Produce Heat and Moisture
 Birds convert feed and water into energy
 They use for body maintenance (operating their organs and muscles and keeping
themselves warm) and for growth to produce weight gain.
 However, they aren’t 100% efficient, so they generate quite a bit of excess heat
along with quite a bit of moisture (in faecal matter and by breathing).
 Typically birds will produce about 11.6 kJ/hour/kg

14. Birds contribute to Humidity and heat

15. Temperature is too low
 Birds increase their feed intake
 Have to use more of that feed energy to keep their bodies warm.
 Reduced growth due to movement.

16. Temperature is too high
 Birds reduce feed intake to limit heat production.
 As the in-house air temperature rises higher and higher, the birds’ heat shedding
mechanisms become less and less effective.
 The birds’ internal temperatures then begin to rise, and they slow down or stop eating and
growing.
 If the situation isn’t controlled, they eventually will die.

17. Ventilation
 Ventilation must be adjusted accordingly to maintain optimum
temperature.
 Ventilation is the only practical way to lower too high humidity,
 Even when ventilation is not needed for heat removal, maintain at least
a minimum rate of ventilation to prevent wet, caked litter and ammonia
problems.
 Adequate ventilation prevents heat build up and keeps birds in their
optimum performance zone

18. Effects of Temperature and Relative Humidity on
Birds
 Birds are basically air-cooled.
 Air moving over the birds picks up their body heat and transfers it to the
environment.
 Birds do not sweat.
 Evaporative cooling effect through breathing and panting they rely mainly on
direct body-to-air heat transfer for cooling.
 If you see birds lifting their wings, they’re feeling hot and exposing more of
their bodies to the air to get rid of the excess heat.

19. Moving air

20. Relative humidity

21. EC houses at Hot and Humid condition
 Liveability depends on air speed and air exchange.
 Can create high air speed (3+ m/s).
 Can exchange all the air in the house in 30-40sec.
 This will be uniform across all the birds.
 Birds can tolerate higher RH if air speed is high.
 Evaporative cooling pads can reduce temperature.
 During tunnel ventilation we need to control bird effective
temperature.
 dry bulb temperature, RH, air speed, bird age, density.

22. The Roof
Properties of a good chicken house roof (open or closed
environment)
1. Insulation (polyurethane, polystyrene, glass wool)
 Keeps heat in during winter
 Minimises radiant heat during the summer
2. Radiant barrier
 Reflective layer to deflect radiant heat away from the house
3. Protection against thermal bridging
 “Steel-on-steel” contact in the structure

23. The Roof
Outer roof sheet
Structural steel
Sun
Heat radiates into the house
You cannot ventilate radiant heat away

24. The Roof
Outer roof sheet
Inner roof sheet
Structural steel
Insulation Insulation
Sun
Heat radiates into the house

25. Well Sealed vs. Poorly Sealed
 

26. Poorly Sealed
 

27. Artificial ventilation
 The hot and humid air along with other gases developed like
ammonia should be removed by artificial method because all sides
of house is covered.
 Fresh air should be brought into the house by mechanical methods.
 For these fans are used to draw air inside the house.

29. Types of artificial ventilation
 Duct Ventilation.
 Cross Ventilation.
 Tunnel Ventilation.
 Side Wall Ventilation.
 Atic inlet ventillation

30. Duct ventilation
 Air is brought into the house through ducts provided on the either
sides of the house.
 Exhaust fans are provided on the side walls of the house at regular
intervals.

31. Cross ventilation
 In this system cooling pad is installed in one end of the house.
 Exhaust fans are installed in the opposite side wall of the house.
 These fans will suck the air from cooling pad along cross of the house.
 These fans may create dead spots while running.
 Works best in 10m wide house

32. Cross ventilation

33. Cooling Pads

34. Side wall ventilation
 fans and inlets on the same side wall

35. Attic inlet ventilation
 Fans are distributed on the side walls and inlets on the roof

36. Tunnel ventilation
 Most effective in tropical climate due to higher air exchange rate &
faster air movement…2-3.5 meter/sec.
 Fresh air enters the house at one end and pulled through the house
in longitudinal direction by means of high performance fans

37. Tunnel ventilation

38. Tunnel ventilation
 For keeping the birds cool during hot weather, we use tunnel ventilation.
 Tunnel ventilation system in the broiler house consists of large air inlets at one
end and fans at the opposite end. The fans used in one end pull air the length of
the house at a velocity .
 This system removes excessive heat from the building very fast and make a wind
chill that provides the birds additional cooling.
 Evaporative cooling system is also used for cooling the house, when tunnel
ventilation system alone is not sufficient enough.

39. Tunnel ventilation Objectives
 Main goal of Tunnel ventilation is cooling birds.
 Maintain end to end temperature difference as low as possible.
 Maintaining low humidity during extreme hot and humid weather.
 Get rid of immense heat dissipated by the birds.
 To obtain wind chill effect as per requirement of the birds.

40. Tunnel ventilation:
Tools working sequence
 Tunnel Fans : On
 Min. Ventilation Fans : off
 Cooling Pad : Open
 Vents : Closed
 Evaporative Cooling : On
 Tunnel door : Open

41. Principles of tunnel ventilation
 Pulling air in a single direction from one end to the other end produces a certain
velocity. This air movement from one end to the other carries all the excessive heat
dissipated by the birds and excessive humidity, gasses outside the house.
 With increasing air velocity effective temperature felt by the bird is decreased.
 Evaporative cooling system decreases the temperature by adding humidity in the
house. It is very important to realize that the evaporative cooling produces far less
cooling than does the air speed.

42. Tunnel ventilation

43. Points to be considered in tunnel ventilation
 Ventilate with Tunnel, only when cooling the birds is the goal.
 Turn on the right number of fans for cooling needed, depending upon the
age of the birds.
 Watch the birds not only thermometer to see how much cooling is needed.
 Do not run fewer than half of the installed tunnel fans if you intended to be
tunnel ventilating .
 Monitor and maintain adequate air flow.
 If running evaporative pad cooling static pressure should be 0.05 to 0.1 inches
of water column.

44. Tools of tunnel ventilation
 Cooling pads: it is a pad made up of cellulose with
different flute angles. When we pour water upon
pads and air pass through the wet flutes, air cools
down due to addition of humidity. That cooled air is
pulled in a single direction by exhausts fans through
out the house.
 Air velocity across the pad must be 350fpm with
operation of all fans.

45. Inside view of Cooling pads

46. Cooling pads

47. Cooling pads action

48. Tools of Tunnel ventilation
• Tunnel door
• Cooling pads motor
• Power track for the
operation of tunnel door
• Controller
• Temperature sensors
• Humidity sensor
• Humidity switch

49. Ventilation during hot and dry weather
 With increase in temperature a poultry house needs higher ventilation.
 With increasing age and temperature we may keep on operating more fans until we
reach to a velocity of 1 minute air change.
 If the effective temperature felt by the bird is still high then we have to operate cooling
pads.
 When the air passes through the wet cooling pads it is cooled down in dry weather and
directed towards the ceiling of the house to avoid chilling of the birds at pads area.

50. Ventilation during hot and dry weather
 The cooled air would be transported to the end of the house in 1 minute.
 So the temperature of the house would come down quickly and it would be
sensed by the sensors and conveyed to the controller. The controller would bring
down the air velocity by shutting off fans to avoid chilling by combined effect of
low temperature and wind chill.

51. End to end temperature difference
• In tunnel ventilation end to end temperature difference must be as low as
possible.
• Higher the air velocity lower would be the end to end difference.
• In the given diagram the end to end difference is almost 2 degree with an air
velocity of 550 fpm.
• it also depends upon insulation of the house.
• Poor the insulation higher would be the end to end difference.

52. Transitional Ventilation – CE Houses
 Using fans and side inlets, WE control how much air enters the
house.
 Large volume enters away from the birds.
 Bird comfort is regulated by the number of fans being used
(controlled).
 As temperature increases, more fans can be used to keep the birds
comfortable.

53. Transition Ventilation Inlets
Sponsors

54. Transitional ventilation air flow

55. Feeding of Broiler birds
Feed silo with automatic
input
Automatic feeder with unger
system

56. EC house Limitations
 Bad house design
 Over complicated ventilation control systems
 Lack of education and training

57. THANK YOU