Could you briefly introduce yourself and your farm?
My name is Christos Dimitriadis. I am a chemical engineer and the farmer of a family-run broiler farm located in Korinos, Katerini, in the Central Macedonia region of Greece. I started with 1 poultry house with around 28,000 birds and have expanded to 4 houses reaching a total capacity of 120,000 birds per cycle.
What challenges were you facing, and why was it important to solve it?
Given my background as a chemical engineer and through my experience working with other broiler farmers, the management of the indoor microclimate of the poultry house was my primary concern from day one. This is a critical factor as it directly affects litter quality, bird welfare (mortality and productivity) and energy consumption. The challenge I faced was to find a solution that would improve bird health and welfare while reducing the farm’s environmental footprint.
What “good practice” did you use to tackle this problem?
To tackle this challenge, I implemented a series of Good Practices. When construction the second poultry house, I decided to use heat exchangers (fan coils) for the heating. This allowed me to make a side-by-side comparison with the first house, which used air heaters (brooders) for heating. In general, fan coils distribute the warm air ideally in the poultry house.
What changed after applying this Good Practice”?
After a year of observations, the results were impressive. I observed a significantly improved poultry house microclimate, better bird health and welfare and lower mortality rates. Specifically, the litter remained much drier due to the absence of produced water vapor. Another important finding was the reduction of energy consumption, which resulted in lower energy costs, accounting for around 20% lower. Fan coils improve the air quality with lower CO2 concentration in the house air and maximize the heat output by requiring less ventilation for air quality purposes, which saves heat. This reduction in emissions is vital for the health and welfare of the birds and the protest of the environment. Based on these results, I replaced air heaters with indirect heating fan coils in the other poultry house.
What advice would you give to other broiler farmers dealing with a similar issue?
It’s very important to maintain a stable climate environment in the poultry house. Alongside heating, I highly recommend investing in insulation for the building (e.g. thermal insulation around the house) to prevent moisture forming at the edges of the house.
What is the most important lesson you learned?
Farm management doesn’t stop at the door of the poultry house. It is crucial to take action to protect the outdoor environment area (e.g. by installing asphalt aprons around the perimeter of the house). This enables proper disinfection between the cycles and prevents pathogens from being carried inside. This is fundamental part of our biosecurity strategy.