Module 3

Environmentally Controlled House – In Poultry Production

Introduction:
Improvements to poultry housing systems in developing countries have focused on
providing an environment that satisfies the birds’ thermal requirements. The environment provided
to poultry flocks has a great bearing on flock performance and profitability. The basic environment
consists of feed, lighting, air (temperature, humidity, pathogen concentration and ammonia), water,
and litter quality. Birds are homoeothermic.
The internal body temperature in the adult chicken the variability is between 105°F and
107°F (40.6° and 41.7°C). The body temperature of a newly hatched chick is about 103.5°F
(39.7°C), and increases daily until it reaches a stable level at about three weeks of age. Birds have
feathers that help them regulate their body temperature Their air sacs allow inhaled air(usually
cooler than body temperature) to reach deep into the abdominal capacity so when the bird exhales
heat is removed from the body.
Birds do not have sweat glands. Birds use a panting mechanism during hot weather to
evaporate water from its throat, thus reducing body temperature. The poultry thermal comfort
zone, or thermoneutrality, depends on species and age, with younger birds responding better to
warmer temperatures. Poultry feed conversion deteriorates when temperatures are outside the
recommended comfort zone. Bird produces heat that must be lost to the environment to maintain
constant body temperatures

What is Environmentally Controlled House?

Environmentally controlled house (ECH) is one in which inside conditions are maintained
as near as to the bird’s optimum requirements. A closed building, longitudinally preferably east to
west, with big exhaust fans on west side while evaporative cooling pads on east side along with
automatic feeding and drinking systems inside, in order to maintain proper ventilation,
temperature, relative humidity and lighting program.

Aims of Climate Control:

Microclimate is the local environment around an animal where the climate may differ from
the surrounding areas of the farm building. The microclimate, or surrounding air, contains oxygen
for the animal’s metabolism and is the medium for the transport of excess heat, water vapour, and
gases emitted by the animals, and of gases from the decomposition of manure, and other particulate
matter.
The important microclimate parameters that affect air quality in animal buildings include
temperature, relative humidity, and air velocity as well as gases such as oxygen, carbon dioxide,
methane, ammonia, hydrogen sulphide, and nitrous oxide.

The important aims of climate control are:

1. To regulate the ventilation inside the house.
2. To minimize the temperature fluctuation in the house.
3. To maintain proper relative humidity inside house.
4. To maintain proper lighting inside house.
5. To obtain better Feed conversion ratio (FCR) in birds.
 6. To obtain uniform air movement.
7. To lower the medication cost.
8. To lower the mortality in the birds.

Control over Micro Environment:

The control over microclimate can be achieved by completely eliminating
macroclimate/environment contact with the house which can be further achieved by completely
enclosing from outside incremental weather conditions.

I. Ventilation:
All poultry houses need some form of ventilation to ensure an adequate supply of oxygen,
while removing carbon dioxide, other waste gases and dust. In commercial operations, minimum
ventilation is often practiced in colder climates, but not generally in tropical ones (Glatz and
Bolla,2004).
Natural (curtain) ventilation works well only when outside conditions are near what is
needed inside the poultry house. In hot weather, strong winds are needed to achieve an acceptable
air exchange rate; in cool weather, cold outside air is likely to drop directly onto the birds.
There are two types of artificial ventilation positive and negative ventilation. In
environmentally controlled house generally negative ventilation is used.

Negative pressure ventilation:

Negative-pressure ventilation creates a partial vacuum that pulls air into the house evenly
through all inlets, creating more uniform conditions in the house. Negative-pressure fan-powered
ventilation creates a partial vacuum in the house, allowing control of the ventilation airflow
pattern. Having a tightly sealed house is critical for successful control of in-house conditions in
negative-pressure ventilation.

Types of Negative-Pressure Ventilation Operations:

1. Minimum ventilation - (also called just “power ventilation” or even “power vent”)-
operated on a timer and used for cooler weather and/or smaller birds.
2. Transitional ventilation – operated on thermostat or temperature sensor and used for
heat removal when wind-chill (tunnel)cooling is not needed or desirable.
3. Tunnel ventilation – Tunnel ventilation When it is warm outside and the ventilation
system operates in tunnel mode, fresh air enters the house via air inlets that are located
close to the gable. The fresh air is »pulled« through the house in longitudinal direction
by means of high-performance fans. This is a so-called displacement ventilation at
minimum energy consumption. The fresh air enters the house on a large surface and
displaces the stale air without mixing with it . Uniformly high air speed of 2-3 m/s at
bird level, the wind chill effect reduces the temperature felt by the birds by 3-8°C,
depending on the age and the weight of the birds. If the outside temperature exceeds
30°C, the cooling effect caused by the air speed becomes less pronounced. If this is
the case, the fresh outside air should be cooled additionally before it enters the house.
It is used for warmer weather and/or larger birds; operated on thermostat or
temperature sensor.

Components of Mechanical Ventilation:

 Mechanical ventilation systems consist of four major components. They are: fans,
openings, heaters, and controls.
1) Fans: Fans are used in mechanical ventilating systems to supply the energy needed to
exchange the desired amount of air in a poultry house each minute.
2) Openings: The functions of air inlets are to provide fresh air throughout the building,
control direction of airflow, and maintain sufficient inlet air velocity Air inlets for
negative-pressure ventilation systems in poultry housing include continuous slots and
discrete box or area inlets. Continuous slot inlets have a rigid, movable baffle for
controlling the size of the opening. Bottom-hinged baffles are preferred. Good inlets are
easily adjusted so that as conditions change the inlet size can be changed. Continuous
inlets may be positioned along both eaves. Tunnel ventilation requires a separate sets of
inlets. Both fans and openings control the amount of air exchange in a mechanical
ventilation system. The openings also have an impact on the air distribution and mixing
in a mechanically ventilated poultry houses.
3) Heaters: Supplemental heat is usually needed in naturally ventilated grower houses to
maintain desired indoor temperatures during cold weather. Different types of heaters are used for
supplemental heating in poultry houses including radiant, space, and make-up air heaters.
4) Controls: They are needed to adjust ventilating rates (fan controls), supplemental
heating rates, and the air velocity rates (fan controls), supplemental heating rates, and the air
velocity through openings as weather, bird age and size change.

II. Cooling the House:

When temperature increases above 850F(29.4oC) then for providing comfortable environment
to the birds cooling system are required.

There are four methods of cooling in the poultry houses:

1. Low pressure fogging system: Fogging nozzle that operate at regular water pressure are
installed throughout the house or over the birds in the cages.
2. Pad –and- fan system: Exhaust fans in the house draw incoming air through a wet pad
where the evaporation of moisture from the pad reduces the incoming air.
There are two types of this system used for cooling poultry houses.
a. Pressurized system: Evaporative coolers are placed outside the house and air is
sucked through the evaporative pads of the coolers, then forced into the poultry
houses
b. Vacuum system: In this system evaporative pad is placed at one end of the house
and exhaust fan at other end of house. The exhaust fans cause air to be sucked
through the evaporative pad, thus reducing the incoming air.

3. Fog and fan system: It is similar to pad and fan system except the incoming air is drawn
through a hood in which high pressure foggers have been installed. As the air drawn
through the fog, its temperature reduced. The cooling effect is significantly increased by
airflow from the use of fans within the shed.
4. High pressure nozzel system: Fogging systems are sometimes used to reduce the shed
temperature. Fogging works best in dry climates, and usually involves several rows of
high-pressure nozzles that releases fine mist throughout the house. This converts the
liquid phase to vapour phase. This change has a great cooling effect on the air that comes
 in the contact. This system eliminates wet pads and operates in the presence of high
humidity.

III. Temperature control in environmentally controlled house: Farmers need to compensate

for undesirable climatic conditions by manipulating control systems or modifying the house
to ensure that the welfare and environmental needs of the birds are satisfied. Environmental
extremes (heat and cold stress, excessive or inadequate ventilation, poor air quality) can be
managed if the design of the poultry house is appropriate for the conditions. Heaters
Supplemental heat is usually needed in naturally ventilated grower houses to maintain
desired indoor temperatures during cold weather. Different types of heaters are used for
supplemental heating in poultry houses including radiant, space, and make-up air heaters.

IV. Feeding in environmentally controlled house: A feeding control system requires some way
of knowing when to turn the feeders on and off. It is important for the same amount of feed
to be available at all locations along the feeder. Feed monitoring systems are available to
measure the amount of feed consumed by bird. Normally 7- 8times per day feeding occur in
environmentally controlled houses.
V. Lighting management in environmentally controlled house: Environmentally controlled
house must be lightproof; that is, no outside light should be allowed to enter in the building.
A monitoring and control system should provide scheduling of lights that is easy to use. It is
especially important breeding facilities for precise lighting schedules to be followed. A
system than can pre-program lightings schedules over the life of the flock is very useful for
management. It is also important to provide the desired intensity of light.

Comparative Efficiency of Environment Control (ECH) and Conventional Open-Side

House (COH):
The technology of ECH is rapidly becoming popular among broiler producers due to its
following significant advantages:

1. The ECH brings down the temperature by 10 to 15oC as compared to the conventional
open-sided houses (COH) and makes it comfortable like colder regions.
2. Due to severe heat stress during 4 long summer months the broiler production is
stopped in COH, resultantly only 4-5 flocks are possible in such houses in a year.
However, in ECH 8 batches of birds are marketed without any break.
3. ECH being complete closed system has minimized the incidence of diseases, cutting
down the cost of vaccine and medication i.e.Rs.2/bird against Rs.5/bird in COH.
4. Mortality in ECH has been decreased to 2-3%as compared to 8-10% in COH.
5. Installation of highly mechanized automatic feeding and nipple drinking system in
ECH has provided the solution of manual and poor management practices. One
houseman at daytime and one at night time are sufficient to look after a flock of 35,000
birds. In COH nearly 6-8 housemen are required to manage such a flock
6. Equal distribution of feed and water to broilers through automatic system in ECH has
markedly improved the uniformity up to 95% as compared to75% in COH.
7. In ECH a broiler flock is ready for market in 35days as compared to 42 days in COH.
8. Feed conversion ratio (FCR) of broiler in COH is1.9 to 2 whereas this figure of FCR
is improved to1.7-1.8 in ECH. All these significant features in ECH has reduced the
cost of production of broiler to Php24.2/Kg as compared to Php27.66/Kg in COH.
9. Number of Birds in a given space (bird density) is more in Environmental control
House (ECH) as compare to birds kept in Open-Side House (COH).
 References:

https://www.thepoultrysite.com/articles/basic-introduction-to-broiler-housing
environmental-control

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/324483130_Environmentally_Controlled_House-
In_Poultry_Production

http://www.thepoultrysite.com/articles/386/basic-introduction-to-broilerhousing
environmental-control

http://www.poultryventilation.com/

http://www.dynamicautomation.co.za/Ventilation.htm

http://www.zootecnicainternational.com/article-archive/focus/773poultry-house-
environment.html

http://www.bigdutchman.de/en/poultry/products/poultry-climate-control.html