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What does the owner want from the chickens? Of course, a lot of eggs from layers, and meat from broilers. To achieve the desired result, the house needs to be kept clean. But this alone is not enough. It is important to think about room ventilation. Otherwise, the air inside the hen house will be musty, especially in winter, which will adversely affect the health of the birds. Now we will look at how to make ventilation in a chicken coop with our own hands, and also find out what types of it there are.
Why ventilation is needed in a home chicken coop
Ventilation in the poultry house provides air exchange, that is, bad air comes out of the hen house, but clean air enters. Let's see why this is needed:
- Chicken droppings give off a lot of ammonia. An unpleasant odor spreading through the house is only half the trouble. Ammonia fumes are harmful to the body of chickens, and can even cause poisoning. A particularly large accumulation of vapors is observed in severe winters, when the owner tightly closes all loopholes in the house.
- With the help of ventilation in the hen house, the required temperature regime is set. In the hot summer, it is stuffy inside the house, from which the chickens also suffer. The inflow of fresh air discharges the atmosphere, making it comfortable for the birds.
- Ventilation of the chicken coop allows you to regulate the indoor air humidity. Too dry air is unacceptable for the chicken, as well as damp air. A high concentration of moisture is observed in winter. It is released from the droppings and also evaporates from the drinkers. Dryness prevails in hot summers. Ventilation ensures a normal balance in the atmosphere, which has a positive effect on the health of the chickens.
If you have already decided to engage in poultry farming, you will not get good results without arranging a hood in the chicken coop.
In the video, ventilation for the poultry house:
What a poultry farmer should know about ventilation
In order for the installed ventilation in the chicken coop to work effectively with your own hands, you need to take into account several important nuances:
- The volume of clean air should be sufficient for all birds. The more chickens are kept, the more fresh air injection is required. The optimal result can be achieved by choosing the correct cross-section of the air ducts, as well as their number.
- To prevent ventilation in the hen house from causing birds to freeze in winter, the system must be made adjustable. To do this, all air ducts are equipped with dampers that allow fresh air to be supplied in portions during the cold season.
- Ventilation should change the air inside the coop, but keep it warm. In winter, the supply air ducts are covered with a mesh with very fine meshes. In severe frosts, the inflow is completely covered.
If all these nuances are taken into account when installing ventilation, the cleanliness of the indoor air will be guaranteed.
Three ways to manage ventilation inside the house
Generally, ventilation is divided into two types: natural and forced. There are three ways to organize it inside the house.
Airing
Such a ventilation device in the hen house is considered the simplest. Ventilation is a natural type of ventilation and does not require the installation of any air ducts. Air exchange takes place through open windows and doors. For this, even at the stage of building the poultry house, a small ventilation window is provided in the ceiling or above the door.
Airing is effective only for small rooms, and even then not always. In winter, large volumes of cold air will flow through an open window and door. The poultry house will quickly cool down, which will require heating more often.
Supply and exhaust system
The most effective and budgetary for a poultry house is a supply and exhaust system. It also refers to natural ventilation, but it is equipped with the installation of air ducts. The photo shows a diagram of the supply and exhaust system. As you can see, the ventilation consists of at least two pipes. The exhaust air duct is installed under the ceiling, and taken out on the street above the ridge. The supply pipe on the street is brought out above the roof up to a maximum of 40 cm.Inside the room, the air duct is lowered to the floors, but not closer than 30 cm.
The hood is placed closer to the feeders or perches to remove unpleasant odors more effectively. Installation of supply pipes over a place where chickens often sit cannot be done. Birds will constantly get cold and sick from the draft.
In a home chicken coop, plastic pipes are used to make air ducts. For a small poultry house, there are enough channels with a cross section of 100 mm. A large house will need several of these pipes. To make a hood with a minimum violation of the integrity of the roof, it is better to use air ducts with a larger section, for example, 200 mm.
Mechanical extraction
Forced ventilation is called mechanical, not because the system uses mechanisms, but because of the large number of sensors. They are installed throughout the coop to control humidity. The system itself is similar to supply and exhaust ventilation, only the air ducts are equipped with electric fans. If desired, the channels can be equipped with dampers that work in conjunction with sensors. They themselves will open and close if necessary.
Building such a system at home is costly, and it is simply not needed. Forced ventilation is installed on large poultry farms, where the natural system cannot cope with air exchange. If you really want to make mechanical ventilation for your poultry house, then you can install a fan in the window. But here you have to be ready to pay more for electricity.
The video will tell about the mistakes of poultry farmers when organizing the hood:
Self-assembly of ventilation
It makes no sense to consider in detail the method of airing, since you do not need a lot of mind to open doors and windows. Now we will learn how to make the correct supply and exhaust and mechanical system.
Self-made supply and exhaust system for the poultry house
The supply and exhaust system is capable of providing high-quality air exchange in winter and summer, so it is ideal for a home chicken coop.
So, let's start installing the air ducts:
- You will need a pair of plastic pipes to install the ventilation duct. In order not to be mistaken with the cross-section, we take them with a diameter of 200 mm, and for adjusting the air flow, it is better to put dampers. We buy pipes 2 m long. This is enough to raise the air duct above the roof and lower it inside the chicken coop.
- In the roof, under two air ducts, we cut out the holes with a jigsaw. We lower one end of the exhaust pipe below the ceiling by 20 cm, and bring the other end of the air duct 1.5 m above the roof. We lower the supply pipe through the hole in the roof to the floor itself, making a gap of 20–30 cm. Above the roof we leave an outlet 30–40 cm long.
- To make the ventilation tight, you need to buy two aisle nodes in the store. With the help of them, we attach the pipes to the roofing. We put on protective caps from above on the air ducts, and from below we adjust the dampers with the help of plastic plugs.
That's all, the system is ready. To avoid the formation of condensation in the air ducts in winter, pipes from the street can be insulated.
Self-assembly of the mechanical system
We have considered one of the ways of arranging forced ventilation in a home chicken coop. It provides for the installation of a fan in the window. A more efficient system can be done differently. First, a supply and exhaust system is made in the chicken coop. Next, it remains to buy a round fan and fix it inside the pipe. You can control its operation through a conventional switch mounted on the wall of the chicken coop.
The video shows the ventilation of the chicken coop:
Conclusion
Ventilation for a home chicken coop can be done in any of the ways discussed, but it is absolutely necessary, and you cannot argue with that.
