Basic information
Layer birds kept in battery cage, eating a normal ratio and laying at a rate of 80%, will produce about 180 kilocalories of heat every day. Thus 10,000 layers will produce as much heat in a day as a furnace burning 231 litres of fuel oil, this means that on a warm summer day, a ventilation failure could result in a rise in the temperature, within the building, of 16°C in one hour. When the hen is in a comfortable environmental temperature (21 to 25°C) she will lose most of that heat by sensible means. Sensible heat loss is by three pathways
Regulation of heats in battery cage
1. Conduction, whereby she touches a surface cooler than her own surface, for example the floor of the cage or the sides of a cool water trough
2. Convection, whereby a cool breeze carries heat from her body
3. Radiation, the electromagnetic process whereby heat moves from a warmer to a cooler surface without using a medium (heat flows to the earth from the sun by radiation)
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Processes
When the laying hen in battery cage is in a very warm environment (28 to 35°C) she must work at losing the heat she produces. She does so by raising and spreading her wings and separating herself from other birds if possible. Despite her best efforts, however, heat loss by sensible means decreases and loss by latent means (evaporation) increases
One reason is that, as the environmental temperature increases, the difference between the temperature of the hen's body (41°C) and the surrounding air, equipment and walls becomes very small. Thus she cannot readily lose heat by sensible means and must do so by evaporation. A second reason is that the evaporation of water uses a lot of heat it is an effective way for her to keep cool
How does she go about evaporating water since she does not have sweat glands? She does it by panting, similar to the dog. The hen can easily increase her respiration rate to 10 times normal and, in addition, indulges in gular (throat) flutter to aid in evaporation. One can readily see the rapid throat movement in panting birds. This throat flutter moves air in and out of the throat area and increases evaporation without such air entering the lungs
During a hot, dry day this is very efficient but on a hot, humid day the hen must pant more to keep cool. This evaporation means that a readily available supply of clean, fresh water is vital. The heat from the laying hen, either in sensible or latent form, must be removed from the building
Procedures
Feed and lighting in battery cage
1. During hot weather it is extremely important to monitor feed consumption of layers raised in battery cage daily, to ensure an adequate intake of nutrients per bird on daily basis. This is particularly important for the 24 to 30 week old pullet. Special feed formulations do exist for summer feeding. Consult your feed company for details. Stirring existing feed within the trough by operating feed lines between feedings helps increase consumption. Running the feeders early in the morning will stimulate feed consumption during the cooler hours of the day
2. The lighting system time clocks should be set to come on in the early morning, cooler hours, i.e. before morning
Ventilation system management in battery cage
1. Air inlet baffles must control the inlet air to provide proper air movement, even distribution and proper house static pressure. Automatic baffle controllers using a static pressure sensor are recommended. Without automatic baffle control, adjust inlet baffles to keep the house static pressure within an acceptable range as fans turn on and off
2. A heat stress problem can occur any time during the year if the ventilation system fails to work properly. In winter when large fans are covered and outside doors on air intakes are closed, it is important to ensure that there is adequate back up fan capacity to cool the barn. An equipment failure at this time is just as serious as in the summer. Check the high temperature warning system regularly year round and be especially sure that winter fans are in working order
Process of enhancing heats
1. Selecting a heat lamp
Making use of a heat lamp, preferably the type that emits 250 watt infrared heat, is the best for keeping chicks happily toasty. While screw in ceramic heaters are also effective, ordinary incandescent bulbs, electric heat pads and hot water radiators are not recommended because they don’t provide reliable heat at an optimum temperature and run the risk of overheating your chicks. A red-tinted bulb instead of a clear or white bulb is less stressful to chicks than white light, and chicks exposed to light or dark cycles sleep better, they are calmer and are less likely to peck feathers
2. Mounting the lamp
Another to step to follow is to insert the bulb into a metal reflector with an adjustable clamp and ceramic socket, and mount the lamp off the ground, facing down into the enclosure. For best results, shine the lamp on one end of the enclosure so the chicks can self regulate their temperature by moving from the cool end to the hot end. Make sure the lamp has no way of falling or touching anything flammable. If one of the bulbs burns out in the middle of the night
3. Keeping chicks comfortable
By adjusting the lamp up and down, ensure to fine tune your brooder box's temperature, then start the lamp a day or so before adding the chicks. Use a non breakable thermometer placed at the chick’s height to determine the ideal heat lamp placement. Temperature and heat lamp placement varies according to chick’s age, before adjusting the temperature, monitor your chicks' behaviour. Comfortable chicks will spread themselves more or less evenly throughout the brooding area. Cold chicks generally huddle together under the lamp, cheeping loudly. Overheated chicks often stand apart from one another, far away from the lamp, panting with their beaks open. Adjust the lamp up or down accordingly until the chicks are comfortable, the chicks' legs will also give you an indication about their temperature preference, when the legs of the chicks are cold they appear puffy or swollen and when the legs of the chicks are overheated they look dry, thin and dehydrated
4. Judging bird comfort
The behaviour and sounds of the chicks will indicate their comfort level. Comfortable birds will form a circle under the lamp, and make soft "cheeping" noises while cold birds will huddle and pile, and make sharp noises. If birds are too hot, they will crowd as far from the lamps as possible. Some birds will pant if the temperature is too high. The birds will do a better job than a thermometer of telling you if they are comfortable
Our services
1. We give adequate instructions to our customers to ensure accurate temperature in battery cage
2. We ensure that our engineers put our customers through on how to use our products
3. We emphasize precautions on any of our equipment customers are purchasing
4. We do follow up to see how effectives our equipment are working
Frequently ask questions
Q: How do you reduce heat stress in chicken?
A: Ensuring cross ventilation is the key factor
Q: How does battery cage system work?
A: Battery cage keep poultry birds safe
Q: What is the importance of controlling heat in battery cage?
A: It aids egg production in laying birds and aids rapid growth in broilers
Q: Does heat affect egg production?
A: It does greatly affect the rate at which layers lay eggs
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