Why an intelligent poultry house?

Nowadays, due to the heavy expenditure of poultry houses, including grain production, labor force costs, heaters fuel costs and the amount of electricity consumed by lamps and fans; it is very important to save on each of these factors. By using modern science in poultry houses automation system, it is possible to avoid additional costs. For instance, it is possible to consume the exact amount of grains by measuring the daily feed intake in each meal or save the amount of electricity consumed by using the control system in light and ventilation in order to bring down the costs of poultry farmer. The intelligent system has a noticeable effect on the prevention of diseases by controlling the parameters of ventilation, light, temperature and humidity. Moreover, the conversion factor can be given to the poultry farmer by daily measuring of the weight and the amount of consumed grains in order to inform him of proper breeding quality.

How to automate a poultry house?

1. Ventilation

Ventilation in poultry houses is one of the most important parts that supplies fresh air and is highly effective in elimination of ammonia and carbon dioxide. To do this, the number of fans and inlet valves in proportion to fans should be determined and then different types of ventilation systems should be used according to them.

2. Temperature

Chickens are very sensitive to temperature in the early stages of their life because they cannot regulate their body temperature, and since they do not have sweat glands, they are only able to take the temperature out with their respiratory system and keep it with their feathers. As a result, it is very important to be able to adjust the temperature by intelligent heating and cooling system in a way that prevents the outbreak of diseases.

3. Humidity

One of the factors that can make breathing easier for poultry is the amount of humidity in the poultry house. Humidity prevents tissue damage, but the proper amount should be from 50% to 70%. The most significant factors that affect humidity amount are: the time fans are on/off, working of the foggers and the amount of room temperature.

4. Light

Just as humans need light and dark for their peace of mind, poultry also need them for their sleep, food, and normal activities. Proper length of light and dark in the hall reduces cardiovascular disease, paralysis, etc. As a result, we need timelines to adjust light and dark duration in order to bring comfort to chickens. 

5. Controlling Ammonia & Carbon Dioxide Emissions

Faecal ammonia and the carbon dioxide released during respiration are very dangerous if they exceed. As a result, it is very important to ventilate these gases and replace them with fresh, oxygen-enriched air. The amount of ammonia should not exceed 20 ppm and CO₂ should not exceed 400 ppm, otherwise by the outbreak of respiratory problems they will cause a variety of viral and bacterial diseases of the respiratory system.

6. Poultry Weight Control

One of the factors that helps the poultry farmer to enhance the quality of the breeding and to assess his performance is the regular weighing of the poultry. However, he may be facing difficulties since it is demanding and time-consuming job. Today, smart scales make it a lot easier for poultry farmers. By having daily weight and grain consumption, conversion factor can be obtained which is one of the important parameters in breeding.

7. Water & Food

The highest cost of a poultry farm is associated with grain and water consumption. On the other hand, one of the important factors of good nutrition is the proper distribution of grain and water and their availability to the bird. consequently, if we mechanize the distribution and production of grain and water, additional costs will be lowered. By installing a water meter on the main water tank, the daily amount of water consumption can be received and by mechanizing the frequency of distribution and production of food, extra costs can be brought down.

8. Automated Fault Detection System

Most of the time, due to the large amount of work, the poultry farmer would be unaware of some of the systems’ breakdown. Intelligent control system has the advantage of discovering faults automatically in which case it notifies the poultry farmer of the failures of the systems by sounding the alarm and informing via mobile phone.

9. Online Monitoring

Observing from a distance is a major factor in determining the status of poultry, including detecting the distribution of chickens in the hall, their activity and inactivity as well as their nutrition, to name but a few.