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Poultry ventilation

Ventilation in a poultry house supplies fresh air that is essential to sustain life. It also helps reduce the extremes of temperature, humidity and air contamination to tolerable limits for confined chickens. Improved ventilation systems have also made possible the high density populations of livestock and poultry in confinement, thus reducing the building cost per unit housed. This is economically important since it reduces production and labour costs. Ventilation air removes excess heat, moisture, dust and odours from the building and, at the same time, dilutes airborne disease organisms. Properly designed winter systems also conserve energy by utilising heat generated by the birds. Providing proper ventilation to poultry is an art but it can be mastered by any determined and willing poultry grower. It is a challenge, however, since poultry houses are different and ventilation requirements change with time of day, season, temperature, humidity, wind, bird age and density.
Tom Tabler
University of Tennessee (USA)
Sprinkler technology for cooling poultry houses: sustainability, benefits and recommendations
Tom Tabler (University of Tennessee) explains how sprinklers work and their impact on feed conversion, weight gain, and bird performance, in this Engormix interview during IPPE 2024 in Atlanta, USA....
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Mike Czarick
University of Georgia
Static Pressure, Air Speed and Inlet Performance
Mike Czarick (University of Georgia) explains how important it is to have the right combination of static pressure and inlet opening, as well as considering outside temperature, in this Engormix interview during IPPE 2024 in Atlanta, USA....
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Recommended events
Animal Nutrition Conference of Canada 2024
May 14, 2024
Canada - Manitoba - Winnipeg
Importance of air quality control in poultry farms Air quality control in poultry production is key to maintain animal welfare , which is closely related to productivity and absence of diseases. When the air components are not in...
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Mike Czarick
Mike Czarick and 2 more
University of Georgia
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 order to maintain a normal body temperature. As a bird’s body temperature increases,...
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Mike Czarick
Mike Czarick and 1 more
University of Georgia
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 dangerous. During cold weather, an average daily relative humidity of 60% seems ideal, but in...
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Mike Czarick
University of Georgia
When it comes to predicting the likelihood that birds will experience heat stress conditions on a given day, knowing outside relative humidity first thing in the morning is not particularly useful. Though air moisture levels have significant impact on bird comfort, relative humidity is constantly changing over the course of a day. In the morning relative humidity will tend to be between 80 and 100%. In the afternoon, as temperatures rise and the moistureholding ability of air increases, the...
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Mike Czarick
Mike Czarick and 1 more
University of Georgia
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 increased or the house’s cross-sectional area decreased. Air speed is...
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Mike Czarick
Mike Czarick and 1 more
University of Georgia
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 and the summertime conditions are fairly similar across most poultry growing areas of the U.S.,...
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Mike Czarick
Mike Czarick and 2 more
University of Georgia
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...
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Mike Czarick
Mike Czarick and 2 more
University of Georgia
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 chicken’s feet are a good indicator of litter quality. Numerous studies have documented the...
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Mike Czarick
University of Georgia
A properly designed circulation fan system can provide a grower with a variety of benefits. During cold weather, circulation fans can transfer hot air collecting near the ceiling to bird level, increasing floor temperatures and decreasing heating costs. Circulation fans can also help move warm air from the center of a house towards the cooler...
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Mike Czarick
Mike Czarick and 1 more
University of Georgia
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 fans throughout the house and direct it along the ceiling, where the hot air (produced by the...
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Ventilation is one of the most important principles of raising broiler chickens in farms, which is the only key to reduce the respiratory problems of the bird and to reach the highest productivity and the highest conversion rate. Ventilation is an important factor that controls the productive performance of birds. Poor ventilation leads to low weight and food conversion rate, as well as respiratory diseases that increase the mortality rate, reduce the immunity of birds and make them...
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Phil Silva
USDA - United States Department of Agriculture
1. Introduction Air emissions from concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), are reported to cause health impacts for both the animals and humans exposed [1–3]. The concentration of fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) and gases emitted from CAFOs can have regional impacts on people living in the area around them [3–7]. More recent studies show that emissions from agricultural facilities can cause the nitrogen enrichment of soils and waterways [8]. While...
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by Sam Shafer Particulate matter (PM) can damage bird lungs. Now poultry scientists gather data to give a fuller picture of the effects of PM in different housing systems      Poultry scientists are working to better understand the impacts of particulate matter (PM) on bird health and production. Particulate matter includes very small particles of feed, feathers, animal waste, and dander. Researchers have found that PM...
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Connie Mou
University of Georgia
Effect of high-volume circulation fans on bird health and welfare
Connie Mou (University of Georgia) commented on humidity, air movement and dry litter in poultry houses, during IPPE 2020 in Atlanta, USA....
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Shawna Weimer
Shawna Weimer and 3 more
University of Arkansas (USA)
The incubation environment is important for embryonic development and programs chick welfare. The focus of this newsletter is on the effects of the incubator environment on chicken egg incubation, but the same principles can apply to other poultry species. For more information on hatchery topics, see our ...
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Mike Czarick
Mike Czarick and 1 more
University of Georgia
Figure 1. FAPP Poultry house at UGA Poultry Research Center   With growing concerns about avian influenza some poultry producers are wondering if there are ways to filter the air...
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A guide to choosing the right ventilation concept for your farm In this guide, you’ll read about the different ventilation concepts used in poultry and pig housing around the world. A ventilation concept is how you...
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Mike Czarick
University of Georgia
Poultry411 App - Poultry House Tightness Calculator
Mike Czarick (University of Georgia) explains how this application can help you assess the tightness conditions of your poultry house, in this interview during IPPE 2023 in Atlanta, USA....
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