The Röben family from Edewecht-Osterscheps in the German Ammerland district has been producing turkeys for the past twelve years. To enlarge the family-owned farm further, two new fattening houses for a total of 10,000 turkeys have now been built on the premises. The family completely trusted Big Dutchman equipment regarding their poultry housing and poultry feeding systems. A recent open house of the new buildings drew a great deal of interest: More than 1,000 visitors seized the opportunity to take a closer look at the successful project.
Both houses for turkey production are designed identically and connected by an area in which the service room as well as office and lavatory are located. Both lightweight constructions are 20 x 90 meters large.
Poultry feeding systems for modern turkey production
The new buildings are each equipped with two Augermatic feed lines and three drinker lines supplying the birds with sufficient clean drinking water at every age.
Feed is provided by the Gladiator feed pan, designed for the rearing as well as fattening of turkeys. The pans are filled via the Augermatic feeding system, which has proven its worth for poultry growing. During the development of the rugged pan, Big Dutchman focused on ideal cleaning conditions: The open design of Gladiator ensures that the pans can be cleaned simply but thoroughly after each batch. The pan swings freely at the tube and the pan bottom as well as the grill can rotate. This prevents breast injuries during turkey production.
Two different bottom types have been developed for Gladiator. The shallow pan bottom is used during rearing, providing the poults with easy access to the feed. An ideal poult start is guaranteed thanks to the option for complete pan filling. During the growing phase, the small pan bottom can easily be replaced by one with an integrated feed-saving collar.
Exchanging the pans is very simple as only snap-on connections are used, meaning the pan bottoms can be easily removed and re-attached. Another advantage of the Gladiator feed pan: Its flooding mechanism. It is possible to flood the pans with feed, not only manually, but alternatively also centrally. This reduces the workload for turkey keepers. Additionally, the feed shut-off is weighted, thus preventing the birds from accidentally changing the feed level.
Other poultry housing systems
To avoid problems in case of high outside temperatures, the Röben family opted for the installation of the Fogging Cooler spray cooling system. This system reduces the inside temperature by 5 to 6°C via intake air which reaches the house through the lateral air inlets and leaves it through eleven exhaust air chimneys per house.