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Weeden Sprinkler System®

The Weeden Sprinkler System® is a unique concept developed by Len and Kevin Weeden. The water droplets produced by the Sprinklers themselves are heavy enough to fall to the litter and don’t hang in the air like a high pressure fogging/misting system. This is extremely important. The Weeden Sprinkler System® is NOT a Fogging/Misting System and should never be confused as such.

What happens to poultry when they experience heat stress?
  1. First of all they tend to sit down. The litter or floor actually feels cool to them when they first sit down. Unfortunately, their body soon heats up the area under them just like how we heat up the pillow under our head at night and even when we flip that pillow over, it only feels cool for a short time.
     
  2. They begin to pant. The birds and livestock are attempting to replace the hot moist air in their lungs and air sacs with cooler drier air. This is their most effective method for cooling themselves. The higher the humidity, the less effective the panting is.
     
  3. They stop eating. Their feed is made up of protein and energy that produce heat when consumed. If they back off feed during heat stress, they don’t produce as much heat and therefore don’t get as hot. 

Up until the introduction by Weeden of their Sprinkler System®, our industry didn’t have a good way to reduce the above negative points other than to attempt to drop the temperature within the facility while unfortunately increasing the humidity making it harder for the birds to cool themselves.

When the Weeden Sprinkler System® is activated, something unique happens - when the droplets hit the birds, they stand up. In fact within 10-20 seconds of sprinkling, the entire flock will stand up.


Captured heat is released when bird gets up (see infrared images below)

Captured heat released when birds get up


When the birds stand up, captured heat is released lowering the breast temperature of the birds. The birds are then left with water droplets on their backs and necks that together with today’s wind speeds, creates surface cooling or evaporative cooling off the birds themselves. We’re creating “artificial sweating” as we know birds and most animals don’t sweat. This is done without increasing the humidity within the facility due to the fact that the water droplets don’t hang in the air like the water from a fogger/misting system. Research has shown a 20% reduction in humidity compared to when a fogger/cool cell system is used for cooling.

Humidity Graph


(data taken from University of Arkansas, Division of Agriculture, Research & Extensions paper called "Sprinklers Cool Birds and Conserve Water)


Our concept now has the industry utilizing the Weeden Sprinkler System® as the first 3 levels of cooling together with tunnel ventilation in a commercial Broiler or Turkey facility and the results have taken growers to the number one position when marketing birds within weeks of extreme heat stress.

The Weeden Sprinkler System® is not only inexpensive to install and run but it also:
  • Operates on Line Pressure of 50psi (3.5 bar), so no need for a pressure pump
  • Uses less than 50% of the Water compared to traditional systems
  • Covers ~450 square feet (42 sq. meters) with each Sprinkler Spinner
  • Provides ~10 (300 mL) ounces of water in 20 seconds over the 450 sq. ft. (42 sq.. meters)
  • Reduces dust in dry houses
  • Minimizes spread of dust-carried pathogens
  • Can be used for Activity Promotion in times of Non-Heat Stress to increase weights and improve FCR.
  • Is virtually maintenance free.