SWEL were engaged to provide supporting planning documents for a broiler breeder chicken shed near Tiverton, Devon. An odour impact assessment uses an atmospheric model to gauge the diffusion of an odour plume, plotting modelled odour concentrations on a grid, this grid is then used to create contours.
An odour impact assessment was required to assess odour impacts from the proposed shed which was to house 36,000 chickens. This may seem a large number but by today’s standards this s a relatively small shed, sheds of 300,000 chickens are not uncommon.
Typically it is necessary to statistically manipulate results and give a US 95 or US 99 value for odour concentration derived balancing of model out puts and wind direction etc. but in this instance it was not necessary, worst case scenarios were modelled and found to be within accepted limits.
An odour management plan was also produced, this is an operational document and is to be used by the site operator during the operational phase of the broiler breeder sheds. Odour control in large scale chicken sheds involves controlling diet, watering and ventilation rates amongst other things.