Housing Management in Broiler Farming

It is ideal to fence a broiler farm or unit to reduce human traffic which will reduce an incidence 

of disease outbreak and birds theft. These birds are most commonly raised on deep-litter in 

Traditional poultry houses and sometimes in backyard poultry houses. 

Chickens can also be raised in modern commercial chicken house. The length of the house for 

rearing can be a manageable dimension but the width can be of 11 or 15 metres for sufficient 

natural ventilation.

Also Read:  Indispensible nutrition for raising broiler

Reducing the floor space thereby increasing population per unit space results to overcrowding, 

increased mortality, cannibalism, reduced feed efficiency, uneven growth, and increase breast 

blister incidence. The more the floor space provided per bird, the more the average mature 

body weight.

Also Read: How to improve feed efficiency in broiler?

For large-scale commercial broiler production, the broiler population in a house can be as high 

as 10,000-50,000. Maximum recommended population per pen when using deep-litter is 2,500 

for ease of management. Broilers can be raised in cages (battery cage system) as well as on the 

floor (deep-litter system). When raise in cages, more birds are raised per unit space.

Broiler farmers have used various lighting programmes for broiler production ranging from lack

of supplementary lighting to all-night lighting with one hour of darkness in environmentally 

controlled poultry houses. The reasons for the one hour of light per day is to accustom the birds 

to some darkness in the event of accidental darkness in such event, birds will not be frightened

and stampede with consequent injury. The light provided to broiler should not be too bright to 

reduce bird activity. It should just be bright enough for the birds to find their feed and water. 

Also Read:  Food Consumption in Broiler Feed

For conventional housing, supplementary light may not be provided at night. Research has found

that there is no significant advantage in providing supplementary light at night.