Chicken farm LED light guide

Poultry farming is usually very conservative, and it took a while to accept LED technology. But now the poultry farming industry has embraced LED technology and its energy-saving benefits. In the past five years, the increasingly sophisticated LED technology has gradually met the lighting needs of the poultry industry.

A good LED lamp is 80% to 85% more energy efficient than an incandescent lamp. But not all LED lights are the same, and farmers should spend time researching LED lights before buying. All LED lights are more expensive than incandescent lights, so you definitely don't want to make mistakes and waste money.

Lighting is an important environmental factor in the poultry industry. Lighting affects production efficiency, animal welfare, and growth rate. The four major elements of light are intensity, period, source, and spectral range. The color of light depends on the different wavelengths in the visible spectrum.

White light contains all the wavelengths in the visible spectrum. But even if it is the same white light, it will show different color temperatures due to the different energy emitted by different wavelengths. Therefore, poultry farmers do not try to use LED bulbs without asking for details or consulting a credible person.

LED field test

Fortunately, many well-known universities in the United States, including Mississippi State University, Auburn University, Georgia University, University of Arkansas, University of Maryland, University of Delaware, etc., have been promoted by agricultural extension workers when LEDs are first introduced into poultry farming. The test. After conducting numerous field trials, these promoters evaluated a variety of different LED products, providing a fair assessment of the cost analysis, investment recovery potential and service life of the product. These results are free of charge, so feel free to ask and study carefully to help you make the right purchase decision.

Please do not select LED bulbs that have not been field-proven in the house. Due to the effects of dust, humidity and ammonia, the environment of the house is much harsher than that of homes and businesses. Some light bulbs are not designed for such an environment and cannot withstand the test of these factors.

The energy-saving performance of LEDs is impeccable. Farmers have questions about LEDs. Will poultry behave like LEDs under incandescent light?

The answer is yes, but it needs to be under conditions where the incubation and growth periods are adequate, the dimmers are working properly and the poultry is well cared for. In this way, poultry will perform as well under any LED light source as any other light source.

What is the impact of LED on poultry?

Many farmers have replaced the compact fluorescent lamps with LED lights and found that the poultry's temperament has become more docile. This may be because the LED lights are not flashing like fluorescent lights. Because chickens are more sensitive than humans, chickens are more susceptible to flashing lights.

To some extent, LED technology is ahead of dimmer technology, so not all dimmers can be matched to LED bulbs. This causes the LED bulb to not dim in a linear manner like an incandescent lamp (the so-called linearity means that when the dimmer is dimmed by 20%, the brightness of the bulb is also darkened by 20%). On LED lights, the dimmer may need to be adjusted to a large extent to make the LED light show signs of darkening. Dimmer manufacturers are also struggling to catch up, but there are still many old dimmers on the market, which need to be upgraded to accurately adjust the brightness of LED lights.

Some dimmers may work with just one upgrade chip, but some dimmers are too old to replace newer products to accommodate more advanced LED technology.

Choose an LED bulb of the right color temperature. The color temperature is expressed in Kelvin temperature units (on). Warm light is from 2700 to 3000, similar to incandescent or high-pressure sodium, with orange-red. Natural light ranges from 3,400 to 3,700. The cool light has a blue-white color ranging from 5,000 to 6,000.

The color temperature of the most widely used LED lamps in broiler breeding is currently 5000, and the most widely used in breeder farming is 2700. Again, not all LED lights are suitable for farming. A quality home omnidirectional LED light is not the best choice for a chicken house.

Approximately 40% of omnidirectional LED lights illuminate the roof and walls, which may be good for a home, but not practical for a chicken house, as the house requires most of the light to shine directly onto the ground.

For this reason, it may be necessary to purchase high wattage LED lights to meet the needs of the chickens, which are more expensive than low wattage. Most of the LED lights sold in hardware stores or discount stores are omnidirectional lights.

Even the cheapest LED lights are more expensive than incandescent lights, so be sure to confirm that the LED lights you buy are what you need. You need to understand the meaning of the unit of luminous flux and the luminous flux readings in use. Your after-sales technician may come to the house with a light meter to measure the lighting effect.

Footlights are a unit of light intensity that measures the light intensity of different light sources. A 1 foot candle is equal to 1 lumen flux falling on an area of ​​1 square foot. 1 lumen is equal to the total emitted light flux produced by a candle at a solid angle, that is, the brightness is reflected. For example, a 10 watt 19 amp non-dimmable LED bulb may have 900 lumens of brightness; a 6 watt 19 amp dimmable LED bulb may have 530 lumens of brightness.

Chicks usually require 2 foot candles or more depending on the breed and nutrition plan within 4-14 days of birth. However, the lights must be adjusted to very dark levels (0.03 foot candles or less) at a later time to keep the flocks in good condition. Proper light intensity is the key to maintaining poultry status. The lighting should be much higher than the feeding trough and try not to illuminate the wall. Uniform lighting in the house is important and should not be too dark or too bright.

LED manufacturers are also constantly improving the process to minimize dark spots and reduce the range of over-brightness. Accurate lighting angles help direct light to poultry and reduce the amount of light that is wasted on walls and ceilings.

What is the performance of LEDs in the farm?

Most of the LED lights are used in broiler chickens, and there have been recent attempts to apply them to hens and broiler breeders. Early results showed that the effects applied to the latter two chickens were as good as those used for broilers.

A broiler farm in Mississippi replaced all the high-pressure sodium lamps in the four houses with LED lights a year ago. This move saves $1,500 in monthly electricity bills.

The production index of chickens under LED lights is no different from that under high pressure sodium lamps. The farm uses a 10 watt 2,700-inch 19-amp non-dimmable LED bulb, two light strips 10 feet long above the cage, and two light strips above the slit in the middle of the cage. Again, hens and breeder breeders tend to use 2,700-lit LED lights, while broiler breeders tend to use 5,000-inch LEDs.

However, a recent study by the US Department of Agriculture said that under three different LED light sources (a brand of 2,700-lit bulbs and two other brands of 5,000-litre bulbs), the weight of the broiler chickens increased, and with incandescent lamps. There is no difference in blood physiological parameters compared to the next chicken. This may indicate that these three LED light sources can replace incandescent lamps in commercial poultry farming, reducing energy consumption and increasing production efficiency without affecting physiological indicators.

In the United States and Canada, the federal government's environmental quality incentive program and local government savings programs encourage producers to replace incandescent lamps with energy-efficient LED lights. If possible, you can use these projects to get the appropriate incentives.

However, in many cases, the waiting list is very long. Once you register, you need to wait a long time to get there. Obtaining an entry into the savings program may require a farm energy audit report, which would be an additional expense. As a result, more and more farmers choose to replace their own bulbs and immediately save on electricity bills instead of waiting for savings plans.

In the long run, even if you don't join the savings plan, you can buy a light bulb and replace the LED light is a wise choice. Within one year, the electricity bill saved by LED lights can offset the purchase expenses. And most LED lights have a three-year warranty, and some brands offer a five-year warranty.

Finally, once again, please do your homework before shopping and shop around. Regardless of the expensive, all LED lights will save a lot of electricity. LED lights with field experience in an agricultural environment (eg chicken houses) should be selected.