Closed House System

Mike Block
IR Technical Services Manager
March 2019
 Open Houses
• Are no longer sustainable:

 ABF era means less protection

Disease challenges – AI, Newcastle etc
More neighbor complaints- smell, flies etc
Lower production
Typical open broiler house
Open House
 WHY?

• Why Closed Houses :to provide a more even ,

comfortable environment which is disease free and
enables you to get the best from you chick in a more
sustainable way.
 Converted Closed House- Tunnel only

Better Hygiene and sustainability

Control over Biosecurity
Better Performance
High capital cost to set up
 Hygiene
• Much easier to clean the house as not getting outside
dust continually entering
• Better ventilation means drier droppings so not the smell
or flies
• Less neighbor complaints or issues
• Have good separation between clean and dirty areas
• Better for controlling disease challenges
• Providing day old chick with a clean bacteria free
environment
Better cleaning & sanitation
 Biosecurity
• Much easier to control movement of disease challenges
in your flock
• Less opportunity for birds and rodents to enter the house
• Can set up footbaths/ boot changes
• Hand washing or sanitation

• You have full control of what enters your house

Control of outside vectors
Excellent entrance
 Boot changing
• Inside / Outside boots best option
• Footbaths and lime not effective
Open shed storing rice hulls
 Performance Improvements

Stocking Density
Controlled environment
Lower mortality
Less labour intensive
 Stocking Density
• Using a closed house can increase terminal density as
much as 25%( depending on kill weights)
• Due to being able to get rid of the heat load easier
• Better ventilation
• So likewise growing birds on slats instead of deep bed
litter would allow you to increase SD
• SD will be determined by kill weight/age and whether
you thin the birds or not
 Stocking Density
• With your climate I would not go over terminal density of
30kg / sq/mt
• Example 1 : if first kill wt is at 1.2kg , you could have a
placement density 1.2 x 25 bds/sq/mt = 30kg sq/ mt
• Example 2 : if first kill wt is 1.6kg, you could have a placement
density 1.6 x 18.75 bds/sq/mt= 30kg sq/mt
• But to go up to 30 kg you need to be able to achieve at least 3
m/sec ( 660 ft/min) air speed
• If house capacity is only around 2m/sec ( 400ft/min) then
only go up to around 25 kg / sq/mt
• Just a rough guide
 Controlled Environment
• By enclosing the house you now have control over the
environment
• With the addition of evaporative cooling and tunnel fans
you have tools to use to assist bird comfort
• Air speed is the key tool in hot weather
• Usually your environment has high RH which renders the
evaporative cooling more harm then good
• If RH is 75% or higher don’t use ( unless young birds)
 Windchill Example (UGA)
9.0
8.0
6.5
5.5
Wind Chill (°C)

4.5
3.5
2.0
1.0

0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0

Air Velocity (m/s)

Example: Air temperature 30ºC; Air speed 3m/s ( 600 ft/sec)

Thermometer will show 30ºC; Birds will feel ±22°C

Effect greater on young birds

 Controlled Environment
• Gives the ability to provide a more even environment
across the whole house
• This will allow the birds to access and utilize all the
drinkers and feeders evenly- less competition
• Not always the case in an open house
• Better access will give better uniformity which will
improve live weight gain and fcr
• A bird in their comfort zone will perform closer to its
potential- less stress
 Heat Loss (UGA)

24 27 30 32

Average House Temperature (°C)

 Thermo Neutral Zone

COLD HOT
 Heating
• You need to have enough heating
• As a guide 160watts/ sq /mt of heating
• Evenly spread along the house ( or just for brood area )
• Needs to be set just below set point for ambient heat :
- 0-10 days- 0.5 deg below set point
- 11- 18 days – 1.0 deg below set point
- 19 – kill – 2.0 degs below set point
• As a guide only as depends on heating type , number of
heaters etc
• More heaters in a house will use less gas then not enough
heaters
 Heating
• Concrete floor temp at placement – 28degs
• Trials have shown this is a key figure
• Greater then 28deg gives better 7 day weights
• Lower mortality
• Therefore greater performance potential
• May need to pre heat for two days
• Heat before putting rice hulls in
• Depends on turnaround time
Trial data

Sourced from Cobb

3 days old
 Lower Mortality
• As a result of less disease and bacterial challenges you
can get more birds to kill/saleable age
• The ability to brood the chicks better , because of
controlled environment ( heating / fanning)
• Better chick start the better the immune system the
better it can withstand challenges and better
performance
• Every 1 gram at 7 days is 8-10 gms at 35 days
• Can achieve <2% mort up to 30 days
Less labour Required
• Due to automation
 Automation
• Your entire ventilation system needs to be driven through
the controller
• Cannot have manual vents and automatic fans
- means have to set tunnel vent opening for night
- but have fans on automatic

• So need a solid tunnel vent so can put on a winch system

driven through controller to maintain comfort zone
Tunnel vents

No Full
Control Control
 Current Tunnel no Minimum

House conditions are not uniform

Low temperature Temperature good Temperature warm

Air quality good Air quality average Air quality bad

Fine for older

Birds
 Benefits for Minimum Ventilation
• Provides even house temperature
- mix's wasted heat in roof of house
• Will use less heating
• Better heat distribution
• Maintain fresh quality air

• Better Bird Comfort

• Which will lead to better performance
Need Minimum and Transition Venting
• If building new , need side wall inlets
• Need to control RH , gasses and provide Oxygen for
young chicks without any drafts over the chick
Set Up for Minimum and Transition
Could install vents in this house
Example of Minimum Ventilation Calculation

• Step 1:
-30,000 bird house at 8 days , weight 200 gms, so require
0.258 m3 / hr per bird
- 30,000 x 0.258 = 7740 m3/ hour

• Step 2 : Calculate percentage ON time of fans:

- ventilation needed – 7740m3 / hr
- total Fan capacity for Minimum- 1 fans at 38,000m3/hr
- % = 7740/38,000 x 100 = 20.4%
 Example
• Step 3: Calculate fan ON time
- assume a 5 min ( 300sec) cycle time

- On time = 0.204 x 300 = 61 sec

• So 50” fan will run for 60 sec and off for 240 sec

• Variable speed fan can work , but difficult to manage

• But remember , just a guide
 Ideally need a smaller fan
• A smaller fan means you can run for longer periods
• It can help to keep a more even environment
• Less stress on the bird with pressure changes
• If house is not well sealed a smaller fan wont be as
aggressive and pull unwanted air in as can operate at
lower pressure

• So possibly combination of smaller fan and mixing fan

• So a 30”- 36” fan ideal
Use of cassette tape as indicator
 Night time
• In colder night time climates this is where most growers
lose performance:
1. because don’t check on birds during this period
2. don’t change/ adjust ventilation rate for colder air
temp
3. don’t have enough heating

• Air Quality – need a chicken smell , not to fresh

 Minimum Ventilation

House temperature is at or below set point

Even distribution of fresh air

Uniform house conditions

Fans operate on cycle timer ON/OFF

 Minimum Venting
• Gives ability to bring in small amounts of air without changing
internal temp
• Only every second or third vent open
• Not getting drafts over young birds , so are not chilling them-
Keeping them in Thermo Neutral Zone ( Comfort Zone)
• Using fans on timers , can be a tunnel fan , but ideally a side
wall fan, to create a more passive environment – not
aggressive
• This will operate when outside temp is lower then inside
required temp
 Thermo Neutral Zone

COLD HOT
 Transitional Ventilation

House temperature is above the set point

Even distribution of air

Fans run continuously. No more ON/OFF.

 Transition venting
• So this will kick in when inside temperature exceeds the
set point
• So all of the side wall inlets will open with more fanning
• Not all tunnel fans will be operating
• This is a step between minimum and tunnel ventilation
again to help keep the young birds in the comfort zone
• All controlled through controller
• My preference is not to have tunnel fans coming on until
about 4/5 deg above set point use transition up to that
point
 Tight House
• You need to control where the air is entering the house
• Must be through the vents , side / tunnel
• This gives you the ability to control the air flow
• Pressure test house
 Tight House
• A tight house enables you to create a negative pressure
• This means the pressure in side the house is different
from outside
• Negative pressure helps control air speed
- higher the pressure , higher the air speed
- lower the pressure , lower the air speed

• Gives you control over environment

 Pressure Test
51000

47600

44200
Test Fan (m³/hr)

41000

37500

34000

30600
1115 1500 1850 2230 2600 3000 3350 3720

House Floor Area (m²)

 Cost
• Yes high capital cost :
- Controller , fans etc
- Electricity upgrade
- House conversion

• But well worth the outlay, due to better biosecurity ,

performance and more susstainable
Adding Minimum To Tunnel Only Houses
• Fan Jet option – which you are currently trialing
• Retro fitting mini vents where you have solid side walls
• Air cannons
• Dropping side curtains – if possible
Fan Jet
Air Cannons
 General Comments
• Insulation- the more you can insulate your house the
better
• At the very least do your roof to help keep your house
cooler
• R20 in roof ideal but anything is better then nothing, just
a vapor barrier( air space) is not enough
• Going forward ,new builds should be of solid
construction
• You will get at least a good 30-40 yrs from these houses
Farm constructed 25 yrs ago
Ideal House Going Forward
 Summary
• We no these birds are growing faster every year so you
need to match that change
• Yearly improvement – 45-50 gms , 2-3 pt fcr

• Closed house is the only sustainable way that you will be

able to keep up with the ever changing landscape
 Summary
• Higher stocking density means more bird throughput for
the same number of cycles – placement density could be
double
• Lower Mortality – more birds to sell
• Better performance – liveweight and fcr
• Biosure and welfare friendly
• Fully automated house
• Minimum ventilation capability

• Invest now it will bring returns and longevity of your

business
•Terima
Kasih