Public Domain Picture: 20110421-RD-LSC-0018

Roxanne Molnar and her husband Mathew have an 80,000 chicken farm in Grantville, PA, and were recipients of a $20,000 Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) grant. Her oversized coat and wind blown hair are standard for this American poultry farmer, wife and mother of two boys, on Thursday, April 21, 2011. The grant money is a portion of the cost it took the Molnar’s to modernize the second of two 40,000 chicken capacity chicken houses. Chickens need to be kept at a comfortable temperature to remain productive. New radiant heaters keep the chickens warm during Pennsylvania winters. On warm days, ceiling vents provide passive venting of heat out of the building; when chicken house temperatures are estimated to be above 90 degrees, fans come on, pulling air through water evaporator elements lowering air temperature down 10-15 degrees and flows along the chicken house's length, in effect a tunnel of cooled air. The benefits to the chickens are heat and excess moisture removal; minimized dust and odor; limits buildup of ammonia and carbon dioxide; and provides oxygen for respiration. All these systems are computer controlled allowing owner, Roxanne Molnar to run the farm by herself and raise two small boys Gavin (2) and Grant (5). Husband, Matthew works off the farm and frequently travels, so along with the demands of parenting and manually controlling fans, vents, and having to remove the 80,000 chickens from their feeders and moving them around to cool them was an increasingly daunting task. The computer controls of the new system automate many of the daylong tasks allowing the Molnar’s to run their family farm. USDA Photography by Lance Cheung.

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Chickenfarm, Departmentofagriculture, Energyefficiency, Pa, Pennsylvania, Rd, Ruraldevelopment, Usda, Womanowned

April 28, 2014