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What does this machine do?
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<blockquote data-quote="simme" data-source="post: 1675523" data-attributes="member: 40418"><p>As far as the machine, I have not seen it operate. The belts look pretty soft and gentle. Chicken houses here have several inches of litter on the dirt floor. I am sure that the machine runs in close contact with the litter. So, I would not think there is a issue of "running over" chickens.</p><p>Biggest risk with the chicken houses is loss of power/ventilation. Houses are completely enclosed with many exhaust fans and auto positioned air inlet dampers and inside mixing fans. Just hatched chickens delivered into a house heated to about 92 degrees initially. Lots of gas usage to get that done in cold winter weather. Especially with the exhaust fans running periodically to remove ammonia and moisture. In a few weeks, the houses are self heated from the chickens themselves. In summer, evaporative cooling pads on the fresh air inlets, fogging nozzles and full outside air makeup. Loss of power or a failure in the controller circuits will kill almost all the chickens in less than an hour in hot weather in the last third of the growout cycle. Electric generators with auto transfer switches, backup controllers, alarm systems all in use. Generators tested weekly. But a dirty fuel filter can stop the generator. A bad battery won't start a generator that started fine just a few days earlier. An electronic board failure in the fan control output box can stop the fans. Then you have a disaster. Thousands of chickens that must be buried quickly. There is a community response from other chicken growers that will include a lot of people, an excavator and several skid steers. In several hours, houses are cleared out and chickens are buried. The chicken farmer could not handle that himself. Then the economic impact hits. About 25,000 or more chickens in a house. Loss of income of maybe $10,000 to $12,000 per house. May have 4 houses or more on a generator. Farming is risky business.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="simme, post: 1675523, member: 40418"] As far as the machine, I have not seen it operate. The belts look pretty soft and gentle. Chicken houses here have several inches of litter on the dirt floor. I am sure that the machine runs in close contact with the litter. So, I would not think there is a issue of "running over" chickens. Biggest risk with the chicken houses is loss of power/ventilation. Houses are completely enclosed with many exhaust fans and auto positioned air inlet dampers and inside mixing fans. Just hatched chickens delivered into a house heated to about 92 degrees initially. Lots of gas usage to get that done in cold winter weather. Especially with the exhaust fans running periodically to remove ammonia and moisture. In a few weeks, the houses are self heated from the chickens themselves. In summer, evaporative cooling pads on the fresh air inlets, fogging nozzles and full outside air makeup. Loss of power or a failure in the controller circuits will kill almost all the chickens in less than an hour in hot weather in the last third of the growout cycle. Electric generators with auto transfer switches, backup controllers, alarm systems all in use. Generators tested weekly. But a dirty fuel filter can stop the generator. A bad battery won't start a generator that started fine just a few days earlier. An electronic board failure in the fan control output box can stop the fans. Then you have a disaster. Thousands of chickens that must be buried quickly. There is a community response from other chicken growers that will include a lot of people, an excavator and several skid steers. In several hours, houses are cleared out and chickens are buried. The chicken farmer could not handle that himself. Then the economic impact hits. About 25,000 or more chickens in a house. Loss of income of maybe $10,000 to $12,000 per house. May have 4 houses or more on a generator. Farming is risky business. [/QUOTE]
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