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Facilities Required for Brooding and Rearing of Poultry Chickens

1. Housing

Houses for brooding should be such that they conserve heat to keep the room warm. Houses meant for young chicks should be located at least 50m (150ft) away from houses containing older birds in order to minimize the risk of transferring diseases from old to young stock. In constructing a house, it is important to note the following:

a. Foundation and Wall: A solid and strong foundation is necessary. Digging should be done to a depth of between 0.5 – 0.7m (1.5 – 2ft) or more depending on the nature of the soil. After digging, a layer of concrete should be poured in to a depth of about 10cm (4”). This will form the

basement upon which the blocks will be laid. To minimize the effect of termites, an anti-termite chemical can be poured on top of this basement. For growers and broilers the wall should be half-open sided but for layers the solid wall may be anything between 1/3 – 1/2.

If cages are to be used, the solid wall should only be 1/3 of total height tothe caves. It is essential to plaster the inner walls. The open sided portion of the wall has to be screed with 1/2 -3/4” chicken wire mesh. The total height of the wall neednot exceed 1.9m (6’) from the floor to the caves.

b. Roof: Roofing materials such as zinc and aluminum roofing sheets are good for poultry houses. Asbestos is best because it doesn’t absorb as much heat but it is very expensive.

Thatch roofing should be discouraged because of maintenance problems, difficulty of clearing parasites from the house and fire hazards. It is important to provide a good roof overhang of about 0.9 (3ft).

This is necessary to prevent rain draft from entering the house through the open sides of the wall. The roof overhang may be longer than this on the side of the building facing the rain bearing wind.

c. Doors: Doors should be wide enough not less than 0.9m (3ft). This is to facilitate easy movement of staff, equipment, birds and manure in and out of the house. A footbath of disinfectant is needed at the foot of each door. This may be built in at the doorstep or it may be a movable container.

d. Storage Space: Provision should be made in the house for storage space for equipment, feeds and other items that have to be kept in the house. The size of such a space
should be about one-tenth of the total size of the house.

2. Poultry Equipment

A number of equipment is needed for the supply ofheat and light, feeding and watering, manure handling and egg handling. These can be made locally, or purchased from a poultry equipment dealer. Factors to consider when buying equipment are cost, durability and ease of handling.

a. Brooder Boxes: The use of brooder boxes is necessary toconserve heat within a limited area when lamps (kerosene or electric) are used as source of heat for brooding. Brooder boxes can be made from wood or metal or may be improvised from thick cardboard paper or wooden boxes.

Read Also: Principles of Poultry Production and Types or Stains of Poultry

All brooder boxes should be constructed with holes at the top to provide for the escape of fumes especially when kerosene lamps are used. A space allowance of 7sq cm per chick under the brooder bow is adequate, i.e. a bow measuring 1.25 x 1.25m (4 x 4ft) is adequate for up to 400 chicks.

b. Source of heat: Warmth is the most important requirement for the day old chicks once the environment becomes too cold they can easily die especially when reared in large numbers.

Heat for brooding may be supplied through kerosene lanterns, electricity lamps, charcoal, gas brooders or hot water pipes. Whatever source is used for heating, it is essential to prevent it from direct contact with chicks, litter material and brooder boxes.

Two to three kerosene lamps placed on the floor or two 100 watts bulbs hung at about 20 cm (8 – 10 inches) above the floor is sufficient to provide heat and light for up to 75 – 100 chicks.

A recent report indicates that under Nigerian conditions brooding with kerosene lamps as heat source is much cheaper than other sources although it requires more care (Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, 1985).

c. Feeding and Watering Troughs: These are used for feeding and watering the chicks. Feeders maybe longitudinal or conical in shape. A linear feeding space of2.5 meters (8ft) is adequate for up to 100 chicks from 0 – 4 weeks of age for broilers and from 0 – 6 weeks for pullets.

Such a feeder should be shallow, not more than 7.5cm (3 inches) deep and be placed on the floor. The feeding space should be doubled for broiler chicks from four – 10 weeks and for pullet chick six-14 weeks.

For this age and beyond, the feeder should be about 1.5cm (six inches) deep. This means that 100 chicks would require one 1.25cm (4ft) long feeder up to four-six weeks of age use three of such feeders up to 10 or 14 weeks of age.

Beyond 14 weeks of age use three of such feeders per 100 pullets or layers. Feeders should be constructed with lips to minimize feed wastage and fitted with rollers at the open end to prevent chicks from jumping in and contaminating the feed with their faeces. Feeders may be metallic or wooden.

Most waterers are conical in shape. Two, four-litre capacity waterers are adequate for up to 100 birds from day old to six weeks of age. They should be used.

Two waterers of 10 – 15 litre capacity may be used for 100 chickens up to 200 weeks and three of such waterers should be provided for 100 birds during the laying period.

Waterers should not be too large since they will be too heavy and tend to waste water. Waterers usually made of metal, glass or plastic materials.

In general feeders and waterers are often constructed in two standard sizes, one for chicks and the other for older chicken, the chick
feeders and drinkers are used during the brooding period while the bigger sizes should replace these as soon as the birds outgrow them, usually between four-eight weeks of age, depending on whether they are broilers or pullets.

The poultry keeper may find it convenient to improvise his own feeders and waterers. The points to observe in such a case is that the feeders and waterers should be designed to minimize feed or water wastage and to prevent chicks from jumping in to feed or water wastage and to prevent the chicks from jumping into feed or water and contaminating it. For waterers there should be no leakage and it should be easy to wash.

d. Litter Materials: It is necessary to cover the floor of the brooder house with some dry, clean, coarse and absorbent material before putting in the chicks. Such materials is meant to absorb the moisture from water as spillage and chick droppings in such a way that the house is kept dry
all the time.

The most popularly used litter material is wood shavings, available from sawmills and carpenters’ sheds and usually given free. Other litter material include: chopped maize cobs, guinea-corn and millet husks, chopped rice straw, chopped fry grass, crushed groundnut shells and rice husks.

e. Miscellaneous Equipment: In addition to the list enumerated above, the poultry keeper would need things like buckets, brooms, shovels, wheelbarrow, feed scoops, chicken crates, ropes for hanging feeders, water tanks for water storage, egg laying nests, egg trays, weighing scale and for big operations, office space and equipment would also be needed. Other equipment may also be purchased depending on availability and need.

Read Also: Production Practices for Poultry Operations

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