DEVELOPMENT OF AN ENVIRONMENTAL FRIENDLY POULTRY HOUSE FOR OPTIMUM PRODUCTIVITY OF BROILER CHICKENS

Abstract

The design of the poultry house for hens or broiler in some countries is not always based on engineering and scientific foundation, but on some on imaginations, and practices or lack of accurate information. The aim of the research is to develop an environmental friendly poultry house for optimum productivity of broiler chickens. The specific objectives are to design and construct an environmental friendly poultry house for rearing broiler chickens and compare with existing poultry house in the same environment. This research was carried at the Federal University of Technology, Akure. The following components; frame, ventilation port, floor space requirement and nesting boxes were designed. Nauclea Wood (Opepe) was used for the construction of the frame, nesting boxes, and perches. It was designed to accommodate 15 grown broiler chickens or layers birds. It has two compartments, which are; the coop space and the fun run space. A ladder inclined at angle 30 degree for ease of mobility. The coop space is covered with wooden walls with controlled ventilation ports, and wire mesh flooring distanced by 0.5 m from a removable wooden platform for easy poultry waste management. Coop is also designed with nesting boxes to house layer birds with external collecting outlet of eggs. The housing unit was evaluated with fifteen broiler chickens for 42 days. Parameters measured included mortality rate 0%, ventilation rate 4.16 m3/s and stock density 0.33 m2/bird by the birds. The results were compared with existing poultry houses around the same environment at Federal College of Agriculture, Ibadan having mortality rate 3%, ventilation rate 8.21 m3/s and stock density 2.34 m2/bird and Federal College of Agriculture, Akure mortality rate 5%, ventilation rate 6.45 m3/s and stock density 0.94 m2/bird. The housing unit is about one hundred and ten thousand (₦110,000.00) naira which is considered affordable to peasant farmers. The structure has provided an alternative housing design capable of reducing broiler mortality rate and improved management of broiler in terms of ventilation rate and stock density.