Higher animal welfare standards are increasingly focusing on the provision of natural lighting within indoor poultry buildings.
Conventional poultry sheds can often suffer from highly inconsistent daylight levels owing to the aspect of vertical side glazing in relation to the position of the sun, or they may even be completely windowless and reliant only on artificial light. Government recommended welfare code states that livestock must not be kept in buildings with permanent darkness and that poultry buildings must have light levels sufficient to allow all hens to see one another and be seen clearly, to investigate their surroundings visually and to show normal levels of activity.
For a broiler house in Ireland, the solution to this problem was to install 30 Ø 53 cm Daylighting Systems. These systems harvest daylight at roof level – a position less affected by the building's orientation – and deliver a higher degree of light uniformity across a much greater area than would be achieved by traditional windows.
Solatube Daylighting Systems proved to be a very cost-effective solution in comparison to installing a more conventional window system.
Solatube Daylighting Systems for these applications use a fraction of the required glazed surface area normally associated with conventional windows thus improving the structural, thermal, acoustic and, in some cases, ventilation properties of these buildings. This is a cost effective solution that may be fitted into new or existing buildings.
