Week 4: Housing & Site The main factors to consider on siting of the area are sufficient area of land, good irrigation, preferably higher land so that the air ventilation is good, far from human activities, have good road connection, electricity supply, clean water supply and free from chicken enemies for example wild animals, do not mix with other kinds of poultry such as duck and village chicken, far from housing estates would be ideal and near to the market place. Open sided houses are commonly used in hot climates such as that found in Zimbabwe. In large enterprises ideally the houses should be sited at least 500m from worker’s quarters and other farm animals for biosecurity. Houses should be built in well drained and well ventilated locations. The buildings should be built in an east to west direction, in such a way that sunlight does not fall on the side walls during the hottest part of the day. The complex should be surrounded by a perimeter fence to control movement of people and animals. There should be a wheel dip at the main entrance and a lockable gate. A showering and ablution facility should be at the entry point of the facility. A clean and protected water source such as a borehole should be available with a tank mounted on site. There should be a foot bath at the entrance of every house. The ideal houses should be 12m wide, 3m to the eaves and the roof should overhang the walls by 1.5 to 1.75m to limit the access of direct sunlight. The side walls should consist of a 25 to 30 cm dwarf wall with wire mesh (25mm) to the eaves. End walls should also incorporate an adjustable roll down reinforced plastic curtain for use during brooding, cold weather and at night. A high roof pitch of 30-40º assists natural ventilation by increasing ‘stack effect’ and reduces heat radiation from the underside of the roof reaching the birds. Ground cover vegetation surrounding the house will reduce reflected heat entering the house. Tree shade can be beneficial provided it does not inhibit air circulation.
Posted on: Tue, 02 Sep 2014 06:57:04 +0000