The outside temperature rises to 40C. The year before,
during this period it was not like this. It had rained almost every other week.
The past few months the temperature has been extreme reaching 40C in the
afternoon. It has been the hottest season since 2006.
Even well built Swiftlet
Farms with good insulation materials suffer heat problems what more for
those Swiftlet Farms that are built with single layered brick, poor control of ventilation
system, poorly manage of exhaust fan, poor control of RH (humidity) etc..
Swiftlet farms that run Humidifiers 3 times a day for 30
minutes each session still couldn’t get the preferred humidity above 80% (RH).
Many Swiftlet farms which run Humidifiers on Hygrostat would
encounter a continuously on mode on their control panels. This makes the
Swiftlet farms wet with hot mist. If persisted
the temperature of the Swiftlet farm would shoot up. Internal temperature would
rise above 31C the mist becomes hot and
pushes up the temperature. An interaction
of hot air and fine water droplets in the air. This has very much to do with poor control of ventilation holes as more air
is drawn into the farm through ventilation holes.
As I have mentioned in many of my earlier articles, Humidity
and Temperature are 2 different things though they are interrelated. Using
humidity (RH) to reduce temperature is not a wise move. The walls, the design, the
sizes and the control of ventilation holes of the Swiftlet farm influence the
temperature of the mist produced by the Humidifiers.
Two common misperception
on reducing temperature in Swiftlet
farm:
1) Increase the number of ventilation holes ( more hot air is drawn into the Internal
as outside temperature is 40C)
2) Increase humidity (RH)
If the above is not
properly managed, it would push up the temperature. High humidity and
temperature environment encourages the growth of fungus and mold. Now another
problem arises as a result of trying to bring down the temperature of the farm.
( Unless the Nesting Plank is of Dark brown
Meranti. I doubted it, as 90% Swiftlet farm is using the Pink type Nesting
Plank which is also called Meranti).
As a rule of thumb, one ventilation hole of 4” PVC
pipe for every 140-200 s/f . (Besides
this other factors such as material of the wall, sizes of farm, design, etc.
also influence the temperature).
A properly built Swiftlet farm only needs to run its
Humidifiers 3 times a day ( 20 minutes) during the hot season. Reduce to 2
times a day on a normal day when the hot extreme season is over.
Good Swiftlet Farming All!