Free-range birds benefit from under-floor heating: A Devon poultry farmer is well on the way to becoming one of the UK's first carbon neutral chicken producers with under-floor heating slashing his energy bills

摘要

When Stuart Cole built his first chicken houses at Menchine Farm, Witheridge, Devon, he was convinced that there had to be a better way to heat them. Three years on, he is setting a new standard for poultry production with two new sheds featuring under-floor heating and large polycarbonate windows. "Within a few months of building the other (four conventionally heated) sheds I figured there must be a better way than heating the air above the chicks and then using yet more energy to push the warmth down to their level," he says. "But at that time the technology to do it differently just wasn't available."