Automation Aids Poultry Producers

Chicken houses have come a long way since Rick Brown entered the poultry business in 1976.
The difference is the same as a broiler house compared to a pullet house.
“Daylight and darkness,” said Brown, general manager for RCDC Equipment in Springdale.
New plastic composite ceilings that come in either white or black — white for 24-hour light for broilers, black for the darkness-immersed pullets — are just one example of how far the industry has come in the last few years.
The cost has naturally increased with the technology. Brown said a broiler house in 1976 cost $30,000 to build and less than $20,000 to equip. Today, a grower can spend $60,000 or more outfitting a house that may cost as much as $100,000.
About the only thing a new chicken house has in common with an old one is the number of birds in a standard 40-foot by 400-foot structure.
Thanks to technology and automation, those 18,000 to 20,000 birds live a better life and that’s good for business.
A healthy bird is a happy bird.
“A bird is just like you or me,” Brown said. “If we’re comfortable, we’re going to eat and drink and play.”
Keeping birds — and growers — comfortable is the net result of improved controllers. When Brown started, the only automation consisted of timer-operated fans and feeders. Advanced controllers now direct nearly any house function and even call the grower’s cell phone if something goes wrong.
Brown has customers who install cameras in their chicken houses and monitor activity from their home computer. Higher-end controllers — costing $5,000 to $6,000 versus simpler ones going for $2,500 to $3,500 — can be remotely adjusted over the Internet without the grower ever leaving the house.
Brown said losing a house full of birds could cost a grower $7,000 to $8,000, well worth the cost of a controller.
Automation has changed the model of a growing operation. In 1976, Brown said the most common was a two-house model. One house paid the bills and the other house paid the growers.
The model has grown to six and automation allows one person to manage six houses easier than two. New houses are more energy efficient, and a “drop-ceiling” design is key to creating better ventilation and lower utility bills. Older houses of the “steel truss” design had the insulation attached directly to the ceiling. New houses have an attic design with insulation blown in just like a home. Without trusses suspending the ceiling, fewer obstacles inhibit airflow.
New air circulation models use a process called “tunnel ventilation” that fully circulates the air in the house every minute. The controller automatically adjusts the number of fans in use as well as the amount of water pulled through the cooling cells depending on the outside temperature.
RCDC handles every aspect of the business from construction to the installation and programming of the controllers.
Growers typically seek out companies like RCDC when they are ready to solicit bids for expanding their operations.
“It’s a very competitive business,” Brown said.