East Texan develops better way to clean chicken houses

By KRISTY HEMMINGSEN | East Texas Edition

The blade attachment invented by Larry Hardy of San Augustine can be mounted to poultry house clean-out machines, such as this Kelley Manufacturing Co. (KMC) machine. -Staff photo by Hemmingsen

January 9, 2003 -- Larry Hardy of San Augustine, a contract poultry grower for Pilgrim's Pride Inc., holds a U.S. Patent for an invention he says basically could save chicken farmers who choose to use the device, "a lot of back-breaking work and in some cases, hundreds of dollars."

His invention is an attachable "wing-type" blade that can be easily mounted on a poultry house clean-out (housekeeping) machine.

The device pulls and directs litter that accumulates near the "chain" wall area of chicken house floors into the path of the machine, as well as sifts through shavings on the floor to remove unwanted "cake" from the re-usable shavings.

Hardy explained, that in his opinion, clean-out machines appear to do a sufficient job cleaning out the middle area of chicken houses, but after each cleaning there always seems to be a few strips of accumulated "caked" litter and shavings left near the inner-wall area on the floor, because the machines themselves cannot get close enough.

"It's a problem that has needed to be addressed throughout the chicken industry for some time now," he explained. "An average chicken house operation has around six houses with at least 6,000 feet of chain wall. So, having to do it by hand is quite a chore."

(And, according to Hardy, such accumulated waste cannot be left behind and must be removed in order to maintain a healthy and disease-controlled operation.)

Hardy found out first hand just how much of a chore it could be when it took several days of hard work, with the use of a pitchfork, to clean the outer-wall area of each house after his first batch of broilers had been picked up for harvesting.

He then discovered the only other alternative and possibly "easier" way, was to purchase an extremely expensive attachment made for the same purpose and which often required costly hydraulic motors, hoses, belts, etc.

The attachment pulls and directs litter that accumulates near the "chain" wall. -Staff photo by Hemmingsen

It was when Hardy saw the attachment was too long that he began to visualize a type of uncomplicated "wing attachment" that could be easily added to the housekeeping machine itself.

After experimenting with scrap metal in his shop, Hardy eventually came up with something he said basically worked. "My first attempt was pretty crude, but it did work," said Hardy.

Over the next few years he worked to perfect the attachment before finally inventing a finished product so "nifty" that it was patented in December 1999.

Hardy's finished product is about 24-inches long and uses four bolts to attach it to a plate on commercial cake-out machines.

The device has slits which allow loose shavings to sift through, back to the poultry house floor, to be reused. The cake material is raked to the cake-out machine, which picks it up. Vertical rollers on the end of the wing roll along the walls of the poultry house to ensure the crusted shavings are captured.

Hardy also had to redesign the tongue support on the Lewis Machine number 1, 2, and 3 housekeeping machines to allow clearance for shavings and cake to enter the housekeeping machine because the tongue support on these models is mounted very low to the ground and can restrict the flow of shavings from the wing attachment back into the machine if the shavings are unusually wet or packed.

More benefits of the attachment, compared to other commercially-made "cake-out" devices, according to Hardy, are his attachment folds out of the way when not in use (using a pin to keep the implement in place) and it leaves reusable shavings in place.

With his invention, Hardy said that one side of a 400-foot house could be cleaned in about five minutes.

"It takes a couple of times, or a couple of batches of chickens, to get used to it," explained Hardy. "But after that, you can let your water line guide you to know where the wing is, so that you don't have to look back all the time."

With patent now in hand, Hardy has recorded an instructional video to show potential customers the device in action, and he has also invited representatives from Pilgrim's Pride Inc., as well as a few housekeeping machine manufacturers, to his farm for a demonstration.

He said the device has been well received by both officials and growers and he has also had offers to buy his patent.

Also for his invention, Hardy was nominated and then became one of the 2002 winners of American Farm Bureau Federation's (AFBF) "Farmer Idea Exchange."

After advertising in a few newspapers and poultry magazines, Hardy said orders for the device came fairly quick, and it wasn't long before he had to hire a local manufacturer to make the attachments.

When about 20 attachments are made, Hardy loads them onto a truck and delivers them where they need to go, which has included within and outside the East Texas area, as well as to cities in Arkansas, Oklahoma, Georgia, and Delaware.

He sells the device itself for about $400. (The redesigned tongue support of some of the Lewis machines costs extra.)

"So far, I haven't had any dissatisfied customers yet," stated Hardy.

A former pipeline foreman, Hardy retired in 1995 and soon after made the decision, along with his wife Mary Kay, to build six chicken houses on their property. Today, they now have 14 chicken houses.

For more information, contact Larry Hardy at (936)275-2547 home, or (936)554-8348 mobile; or by email to: larryhardy14@hotmail.com.