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The Rural Voice, 2019-08, Page 35meats and dairy, he began researching how his hens could have access to “pasture” 365 days a year and not just the summer months. And so was born the idea of integrating into the system a greenhouse growing hydroponic greens and sprouts and a “winter garden,” a 50’ by 80’ Britespan building, a dome- covered yard, where the hens can “graze” daily throughout the winter months. The temperature in the garden is ambient but the lack of snow, rain and wind make it a comfortable foraging facility for the hens, Poechman says. “My experience with Britespan has been exceptional,” Poechman adds. Local builder Peak Builders Construction Services Inc. designed the unique integration with the old layer barn, and combined with local manufacturing in Lucknow, the Britespan option was his obvious choice. The greenhouse consists of a 24’ by 60’ metal frame erected on a pre- existing concrete pad and over which are stretched two layers of greenhouse-grade plastic. Air is blown between the two layers to maximize insulation value. A propane furnace provides heat. Greens and sprouts, including buckwheat, oats, barley and peas, all of which Poechman says his birds devour, are grown in hydroponic trays where their roots form dense mats. When ready, the mats are wheeled into the winter garden and pulled apart and spread evenly around the floor. Then the foraging frenzy begins. With the summer outdoor range, only a small percentage of hens ever went outside, and because the “pop holes” from the barn to the pasture are small, and given the hens’ “mob mentality,” birds could be suffocated in the crush, Poechman says. He solved the congestion problem by installing a 12-foot-wide door between the aviary and garden. A funnel-like structure directs the hens’ entry into the bright, domed environment. Every day at 1:30 p.m., having just finished their noon feeding of mixed grain, the hens queue at the door anticipating the awaiting mixed salad. They line up “politely,” Poechman says. When the door, controlled by a solar-powered clock, opens the hens enter the garden six to eight abreast and in a relaxed, orderly manner. And they eagerly eat everything, Poechman adds. In addition to hydroponics, the family is also growing and feeding greens, including triticale and peas, in raised soil beds in the greenhouse. They want to compare the nutrient density of plants grown in both media. Another built-in efficiency feature of the multi- component set-up is the recycling of heat generated by the greenhouse’s propane furnace. Ducts were installed to direct excess heat from the winter garden into the aviary where it makes for less dust and drier, ammonia-free air. Poechman says his chickens are now calmer, more alert, and more active. In addition to the cage-free aviary, greenhouse, and winter garden there’s a fourth component: another Britespan storage facility to which manure from the barn is regularly transferred by conveyor belt where it is stored and later removed to another site for composting. The composted manure is used to fertilize the family’s organic crops, including the grains eaten by their flock. Yet another bonus is the limited daily labour required to run the aviary and its component parts. Walking the barn to monitor the health of the birds and ensure systems are working takes up to 30 minutes. Preparation to grow the greens and sprouts and scrubbing down the growing trays requires about 60 minutes. Hand packing the eggs, which are automatically conveyed from the aviary to two packing stations, can take two hours. So in total, the Poechmans spend a modest three or so hours a day doing fairly easy and stress-free aviary- related chores. The Poechman family enjoys a premium for their certified organic eggs and the market for their eggs continues to grow as consumers become convinced that organic eggs are better, more nutritious, and more flavourful than eggs produced conventionally. With their “pastured” eggs, the Poechmans now aim to create a new marketing category within the general egg market. They just might succeed. Preliminary comparative nutrient tests show that their pastured eggs register five to 25 percent more nutrient dense for some vitamins than conventional eggs. ◊ August 2019 31 The 6,000 hens at Poechman Farms near Hanover live in a two-tier version of the Pro 10, a cage-free tiered aviary designed by the Hellmann Poultry Company out of Germany. All tiers are outfitted with feeders, waterers, egg belts and manure conveyances.