Poultry housing systems are classified into three systems. These are free range, which is rearing chicken from outside, they feed and get water themselves.
The second is deep litter, an indigenous system of raising chickens whereby chicken are raised on the floor covered with some material called beddings to prevent the direct contact with the birds and the bare floor.
The third is the battery cages, a housing system used in poultry farming but primarily for laying birds. The name arises from the arrangement of rows and columns of identical cages connected together, in a unit as in an artillery battery.
For a farmer to minimise disease outbreak and maximise egg and meat production on the farm, the following factors must be followed while constructing a poultry house.
- The poultry house must be roofed well so that your birds are not hit by rain to control diseases caused by cold and too much sunshine.
- Must have a concrete or raised so that water dries fast and does not become a menace for the birds.
- The chicken house must be rectangular in shape with an unlimited length and at least 10-metre width.
In order to weaken the strength of wind which moves with most diseases into the poultry house and can easily break the poultry house, do the following;
- Avoid fruit trees near the poultry like mangoes, oranges and many others. These attract wild animals like rats and snakes which move with diseases like gumboro and Newcastle.
- Make sure the structure has good ventilation and aeration. Birds need oxygen for egg laying, energy, feeding and for breath.
- Enough security and division/separation for different ages and species of birds.
