This member gave a presentation on February 21, 2024
At the following event:
35th Annual Australian Poultry Science Symposium
This member gave a presentation on January 29, 2024
At the following event:
IPPE - International Production & Processing Expo 2024
Article published the December 5, 2023
A fast-growing broiler produces a surprising amount of heat, roughly 10 - 15 Btu/hr per pound of body weight. To put this in perspective, a single match produces one Btu/hr of heat which means that a four-pound broiler has essentially 40 to 60 matches of heat being produced within it. An eight-pound broiler would have 80 to 120 matches of heat within it, heat it must continually rid itself of in o ...
Article published the December 5, 2023
It is not uncommon to see weeds sprout after applying broiler litter to a field. As a result, it seems logical to conclude that there are weed seeds in the broiler litter. But, is this true?Poultry litter is not like cattle manure or the droppings from wild or backyard birds. Ruminant manure can contain seeds that pass through the digestive tract from their forage. Likewise, wild birds and backyar ...
Article published the December 5, 2023
Managing by the “average” of anything can be a potentially dangerous concept when it comes to growing birds. For instance, when tunnel ventilating market-age broilers the average house temperature could be 80°F, which isn’t necessarily a problem, but it hides the fact that it could be 70°F at the pad end and 90°F at the fan end of the house which definitely would be d ...
Article published the December 5, 2023
The air speed in a tunnel-ventilated house is determined simply by dividing a house’s tunnel fan capacity by the cross-sectional area of the house:Air speed = Tunnel fan capacity (cubic feet per min) Cross-sectional area (square feet)To increase air speed, either tunnel fan capacity needs to be increase ...
Article published the December 1, 2023
Unlike many aspects of operating a tunnel-ventilated house during hot weather, the performance of an evaporative cooling pad system is relatively predictable. This is because there are well defined relationships between the cooling produced by a pad system and water usage, pad area, outside temperature/humidity, and water temperature. Since most evaporative cooling pads are essentially identical a ...
Article published the December 1, 2023
There are essentially two types of poultry house circulation fan systems: vertical and horizontal. In a vertical circulation fan system, fans are located in the center of the house, typically near the ceiling, and are oriented to blow straight down towards the floor. The air then moves across the floor, up the side walls, and back along the ceiling to the center of the house, creating a vertical a ...
Article published the December 1, 2023
Preventing injury to a chicken’s foot pads (paws) is very important for a number of reasons. First, chicken paws are a valuable product, a delicacy in some cultures, and often sell for as much as two to three times as breast meat on a per-pound basis. Secondly, foot pad lesions can become infected, resulting in leg problems and a decrease in overall bird performance. Last but not least, a ch ...
Article published the November 28, 2023
Negative pressure ventilation is the most popular method of ventilating poultry houses during cold weather due to it’s simplicity and relatively low initial and operating costs. Exhaust fans create a low-pressure zone within a house and give a producer precise control over the amount of fresh air brought into a house. Air inlets uniformly distribute fresh air drawn in by the exhaust fa ...