Housing Management in Broiler Farming

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.

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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.


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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.

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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.