Partial house brooding set-up and thermodynamics

There is certainly an argument for partial house vs whole house brooding.

A smaller area space for starting your day-old chicks – saves on heating and energy costs.

However, depending on your brooding house set-up, the challenge becomes:

1. supplying sufficient airflow
2. locking in the heat within the chamber

…to maintain optimal comfort for your flock.

Here are some example partial brooding solutions for achieving this:

Where to position the brooding chamber within the broiler house?

A partial house brooding set-up means sectioning off a part of the broiler house to hold your chicks.

The challenge here is keeping the flock insulated and cozy whilst also serving them with controlled (mechanised) ventilation (i.e. driving a rush of air at them from a long run-up).

The two physical conditions are conflicting. Heat + a blast of fresh air = a rattled flock of day-old chicks – who will undoubtedly underperform.

The key?

Double curtains at either end of the brooding area will trap in the heat, but allow a natural flow of fresh air to pass over your flock.

Thermodynamics of partial house brooding

Now, let’s take a look at how the combination of heat and ventilation dovetails to provide an optimal ambience for the chicks.

The image above shows us:

• incoming cooler air
• partial house curtain (acting as an insulation barrier)
• cool airflow being mixed with warm air at the ceiling level
• warm air exhaust being pushed out through the curtains

…and all of this being driven by a negative pressure (sucking) ventilation fan.

The fact that the cool air is directed to the ceiling shelters the chicks from draught.

What if you have a partial house with perimeter inlets?

This is the scheme for if you have perimeter inlets.

Either side wall extraction or end wall extraction will work the same.

Block out the inlets and run the fans, bu the chamber set up and thermodynamics are the same.

Chicks are comfy, suitably ventilated and warm.

Overall, this type of partial house brooding set-up saves money on heating & lighting only for the chamber space.