The Importance of Light

Lighting is proving to be an important environmental control in poultry houses, producing significant positive impacts on welfare and production outcomes. The solutions offered in our Biolumen lighting range have been shown to keep birds calmer, resulting in healthier animals with a reduction in vice and ultimately improvements to feed conversion ratios as well as energy savings.

Poultry and Light

Animals experience light differently to humans. Birds are tetrachromatic, meaning that they have three types of cone cells in their eye which are sensitive to specific colours like humans, but that they also have a fourth type that is sensitive to ultraviolet light. They use this to recognise each other via the UV light reflecting from their plumage. As with most complex organisms, blue light is also used by birds to derive their hormone cycles from the length of day and night. Red light also has an effect on hormone cycles; particularly with regards to sexual maturity and egg production. Further to the above, poultry have high flicker sensitivities and so lighting needs to be operated at either a very high frequency or constant voltage.

The Biolumen Solution 

The technology is now available for us to tailor the light spectrum to the visual and biological needs of the animal. Biolumen Series 500 Blue lighting includes NUV to cater to the ultraviolet needs of the birds, as well as our patented Nature Perfect blue LED technology which is comfortable for humans to work under, but also perfectly placed to improve birds’ visual acuity as well as entrain hormonal processes with the use of proper control of light/dark periods. For layers, the Biolumen Series 500 Red also includes NUV, but this time with some red to stimulate sexual maturity and improve egg production. This red is carefully balanced to minimise aggression amongst flocks. All dimming frequencies used are specified well above 200 Hz as a minimum - it is usually upwards of 1kHz. 

The spectrum of light alone can have the above effects, but there are further benefits to using Biolumen LED lighting. They are extremely robust and easily installed LED fittings. They are designed in the UK specifically for the environment they are to be used in and are plug-and-play devices powered by safety extra-low voltage (SELV) power supplies. They can be strung up on a catenary wire and connected up without the need for any tools or special qualifications, just as long as mains power is available. The LEDs are also controllable, allowing for accurate timing and dimming. We offer our own control systems but can also adapt to most existing lighting and environmental controls. 

Download our Broiler Case Study and Layer Case Study to see the incredible benefits that our system can offer.

The return on investment period is well within the in the 3 year warranty period based on feed reduction alone, without taking energy savings into account, so please contact us now for a no-obligation quote.