Poultry Production Made Easy: Construct Your Own Broiler House

Profit margins in the agricultural industry are not always what they should be. Producers therefore need to focus on improved methods, equipment and structures to generate bigger profits while keeping capital input to a minimum.

- Koos du Pisanie

Because structures play such an integral role in poultry production, the ARC-Agricultural Engineering designed and developed a small-scale broiler house that will cost the prospective poultry producer between 15 and 25% less to set up than usual.

Design and construction

While developing this structure, the engineers gave special consideration to the cost of building materials as well as the ease of construction. Possible issues with electricity supply were also taken into account and the structure was subsequently designed so that no electrical equipment is needed during construction.

The standard size house is approximately nine metres long and four metres wide (Figure 1 and 2) and can accommodate 500 to 550 broilers up to the age of 42 days.

Floor surface

Rainwater runoff can cause problems and the broiler house should therefore be constructed on a high-lying area to prevent any problems. If possible, the floor must be built up at least 100mm above the lowest point in the vicinity – a 75mm thick concrete floor will suffice in most cases. The length and width of the floor must be 500mm more than the dimensions of the house on all sides, in order to provide sufficient walking space around the house.

Constructing the broiler house