Worried about chickens dying from heat shock during power outage, chicken farm owner in Nghe An seeks solution

Power outage, chickens die en masse due to heat shock

Recently, the situationpower outageGrid failures and rotating power outages occur frequently in localities across the province. In fact, when there are power outages, there have been mass deaths of chickens in some farms, causing economic damage to the people.

Thousands of chickens of Mr. Nguyen Van Binh's family in Nghi An commune (Vinh city) died due to sudden power outage. Photo: Facebook

For example, on the afternoon of May 18, the chicken farm of Mr. Nguyen Van Binh's family in Kim Phuc hamlet, Nghi An commune (Vinh city) had about 5,000 60-day-old chickens die, with a total estimated weight of about 7.5 tons. He said that the weather was hot that day, the power grid suddenly went out, although the family had prepared a response plan by investing in a generator, but because the generator had a problem, they could not save the chickens at that time.

Mr. Chu Van Mai - Chairman of Nghi An Commune People's Committee said, immediately after receiving the informationchicken farmIn the case of thousands of chickens dying from heatstroke in Mr. Binh's family, the local government directly came down to help handle the situation. Accordingly, all the dead chickens were destroyed by burying, causing hundreds of millions of dong in damage to the family. Through this, the commune also advised chicken farmers to always have plans to deal with power outages on hot days, in order to limit economic damage.

Recently, on June 4, Mr. Cao Van Thin's chicken farm in Dien Tho commune and Mr. Nguyen Dong's chicken farm in Dien Trung commune (Dien Chau) also faced a similar situation, with poultry dying en masse due to power outages. Of these, Mr. Cao Van Thin's family lost 1,000 chickens, and Mr. Nguyen Dong's family lost 400 broiler chickens that were close to being sold.

It is known that the owners of these chicken farms had proactively planned to have a backup generator on site, but because the generator broke down at the time of the power outage, they were unable to react in time.

Be more proactive in responding to power outages

During hot weather, if the cooling system in chicken farms stops working, the chickens will die of heat shock in a short time. Therefore, in the face of frequent power outages like the recent past, the top priority for chicken farm owners is to provide timely electricity to the chicken farms.

Mr. Bui Sy Thanh in Hamlet 9, Dien Trung Commune (Dien Chau) operates a generator to generate electricity to take care of his chickens, whenever there is a power outage. Photo: Xuan Hoang

Dien Trung VietGAP Chicken Farming Cooperative (Dien Chau) is the place with the most chicken farms in the province, with more than 140 chicken farms with a scale of over 1,000 chickens.

These days in Dien Trung commune, the story of power outage is the most concerned story for people. Because if there is no electricity in the weather conditionshotAs it is now, in a short time chickens will die en masse.

Mr. Pham Dinh Tu's family in Hamlet 6, Dien Trung Commune is currently raising 15,000 broiler chickens in a closed barn system. Mr. Tu said that in previous years, his family invested in buyinggenerator7 kW capacity, but this year, due to expanding the farm, we have to invest more money to buy a 10 kW generator worth 21.5 million VND to meet the demand.

Chicken farms in Dien Trung commune (Dien Chau) are raised at high density. On hot days, if the cooling system is not working, chickens can easily get heat shock. Photo: Xuan Hoang

"In a hot summer like this, the cooling system must operate continuously 24/24 hours, so fuel must be stored to proactively run the generator when there is a power outage. This type of generator uses about 1.5 liters of oil per hour, so each time the power outage lasts all day and night, the fuel cost is about 30 liters of oil, equivalent to about 500,000 VND. It is so expensive, but we have to "bite the bullet" and endure it, otherwise tens of thousands of chickens will die from heat shock, causing billions of dollars in damage," Mr. Pham Dinh Tu shared.

The cooling system for chicken farms using exhaust fans consumes a lot of electricity, so it requires a large capacity generator. Photo: Xuan Hoang

Mr. Bui Sy Thanh and his wife in Hamlet 9, Dien Trung Commune are currently raising 3,500 broiler chickens and are also in a constant state of anxiety. Mr. Thanh said that when there is a power outage, they accept running the generator, but the biggest worry is when the machine breaks down in the middle of the process. The machine has broken down several times and it took a long time to call a repairman before they came to fix it, but luckily it was still in time to save the chickens.

"The barn is closed, in the hot summer, the entire cooling system: 3 exhaust fans, 3 industrial fans... and a rain spray cooling system on the roof... Therefore, we must use a generator with a capacity of 10 kW or more to handle the load," said Mr. Thanh.

In addition to airy barns, each barn must also have many fans. Photo: Xuan Hoang

Mr. Dau Ngoc Hoa - Director of VietGAP Dien Trung Livestock Cooperative said: There are 140 chicken farms in the commune. However, due to the hot summer weather, chickens are difficult to care for and grow slowly, so there are currently only nearly 30 farms raising chickens, with a scale of 3,000 or more.

Faced with the situation of continuous power outages, power outages lasting for hours, even all day and night/period, chicken farm owners are very worried. If there is no plan to deal with power outages, the entire chicken farm will suffer from heat shock and die in a moment.

Many chicken farming households in Dien Trung commune have agreed to invest in larger capacity generators to provide enough electricity for farming. Photo: Xuan Hoang

"With many years of experience in raising industrial chickens, before entering the hot season, chicken farm owners in the area have proactively repaired generators, and households that expand their farms have replaced them with new generators with higher capacity. However, risks cannot be avoided, because during the process of using machinery, there will be unforeseen problems," Mr. Dau Ngoc Hoa shared.

This summer is forecasted to be hotter than last year, and the power shortage will continue. Therefore, the situation of power outages lasting for many hours/period will continue in the coming time. The livestock industry in general is facing many difficulties. Especially for households raising livestock in the form of farms and ranches with large numbers, appropriate solutions are needed to limit damage.