the conditions of the broiler chicken farm construction
The broiler chicken farm project is a highly profitable economic project in the veterinary aspect.
In 2021, about 20,4 million metric tons of broiler meat was estimated to be produced in the USA, which is the top chicken meat producer in the world.
Let's address the conditions of the broiler chicken farm constructions through this article.
This article involves:
The advantages of the broiler farm project.
Why does a broiler need a house?
Characteristics of the ideal broiler chicken house location.
How to design a perfect broiler chicken farm?
The ideal environmental conditions required for the broiler chicken farm
The broiler house direction (House orientation).
The perfect size, width, and height of the broiler chicken house.
The choice of the broiler chicken house foundation, doors, floor, and roof.
The lightening of the broiler chicken house
The advantages of the broiler farm project
The broiler chicken farm project is a highly profitable economic project as a result of many reasons, including:
Broiler chicken is a cheap, and palatable protein source for human consumption.
Short cycle (45 days/cycle) i.e 8 cycles annually under the normal conditions.
Low required land spaces (only 1 square meter is enough for rearing 10 birds in summer, and 15 birds in winter).
Low mortality rate, 5%.
Why does a broiler chicken need a house?
The house is very important for the broilers as it
Protects the broiler chicken from sudden climatic changes.
Ensures providing scientific, adjusted, and controlled food rations.
Facilitates management of the economic operation.
Controls the microclimatic conditions around the birds.
Ensures good and controlled supervision and effective control measures of different diseases.
Characteristics of the ideal broiler chicken house location
Some principles must be considered for the choice of the Location of the broiler chicken farm, including:
It must be far from both industrial and residential areas and well ventilated to avoid the respiratory diseases
The farm should be in an elevated area with road facilities and without any water-logging.
It must have electricity, a water supply, and a draining system.
Easy to get farm laborers at relatively suitable wages.
How to design a perfect broiler chicken farm?
The basic principles to be considered for layout.
The size of the broiler controls its house layout.
For example, small-sized birds require the construction of only one house. But both large and medium-sized bird farms require special placement considerations.
Neither visitors nor outside vehicles are allowed to be near the birds.
Both the feed storeroom and the office room should be extremely far from the broiler house, near the farm entrance, to reduce the movement of people around them.
The construction of the sick room and the disposal pit must be at the end of the site.
The ideal environmental conditions required for the broiler chicken farm
The following conditions must be optimally controlled to avoid any risks for the broiler and to obtain the best conversion rate.
Temperature: 22-30 0C (70-85 0F).
Air flow: 10-30 meters/minute.
Ammonia level: maximum 25 ppm.
Relative Humidity: 30-60 %.
Litter moisture: 15-25%.
The broiler house direction (House Orientation)
The direction of the open farm must be perpendicular to the direction of the prevailing winds to increase ventilation into the broiler farm.
Unlike closed farms, which must be parallel to the direction of the prevailing winds to avoid obstruction of the ventilation fans.
The broiler farm should be in such a way that the long axis is in the east-west direction to prevent the direct exposure of the birds to direct sunshine.
The broiler chicken house Size
The size of the broiler house depends on the number of reared birds.
Each broiler requires one square foot of floor space.
The ideal width of the broiler house
In environmentally controlled broiler houses, the width of the broiler chicken house may be Up to 40 feet or more due to the controlled ventilation by the exhaust fans.
The width of the open-sided broiler houses is not exceeding 22 to 25 feet to allow good ventilation of the middle part of the house.
The housing height
The sides should be 6 - 7 feet in height, and the center height should be 10 - 12 feet.
The broiler chicken house Foundation
The foundation of the house must be concrete, with 1 - 1.5 feet below the surface and the same above the ground level to avoid water seepage to the birds.
The house Floor
A concrete floor with rat-proof devices is recommended.
The floor of the house should be dampness free, and
extended outside the wall on all sides by 1.5 feet to avoid invasion of rats and snakes.
The broiler house doors
The door must be open outside.
The door size should be 6 x 2.5 feet, and The presence of a foot bath filled with disinfectant at the house entry is necessary.
The sidewalls of the broiler house
The height of the sidewall should be 1-1.5 feet to protect the bird during cold weather and rainy days, and it's necessary for good ventilation.
No side walls are needed for the cage houses.
The broiler chicken house roof
The choice of the house roof depends on the economic budget ability, as each type of roof has a specific cost.
It may be shed, flat concrete, Gable, Gambrel, half-monitor, full-monitor (Monitor), or Gothic.
The lightening of the broiler chicken house
In fluorescent lights, the interval between two lights is 15 feet.
In incandescent bulbs, the interval between two bulbs is 10 feet.
Generally, Light should be hung from the ceiling at 7- 8 feet above the ground level.
Poultry Housing systems
Some factors determine the system of the broiler house, including:
Availability of land.
Climatic conditions.
Cost of land.
Labor availability.
Aim of the project.
The poultry housing systems are variable, and their types will be addressed in the next article.
Finally, the broiler farm is one of the most important economic veterinary projects that must be considered to support livestock all over the world.