A complete guide to the design of a poultry farm plan | Review of construction standards

The plan of the chicken farm is different according to the location of each land and also the type of breeding you have, such as broiler or egg-laying chicken. Agriculture Jihad will give you a proposed map of the area where you intend to build a poultry farm at the same time as issuing the necessary permits. The truth is that the issuance of these maps in some parts of the country is not very accurate and is far from current standards. Therefore, it is necessary to design their salon with today’s standards as well as the equipment that is going to be placed in the salon. The main concern regarding the design and plan of the hall is to provide basic ventilation in the poultry farm. Good and sufficient air is one of the main components of breeding success.

In this article, we try to provide useful information about the standards related to the poultry farming plan. At the end, we will answer your questions and doubts.

Why should a plan be designed before building a poultry house?

To put it very briefly, entrepreneurs who are looking to start and build a poultry house should:

• Choose a design
• Land preparation
• Going through administrative procedures
• Obtaining an exploitation license
• Drawing a plan for the construction of a poultry house
• Do it in order.

Since an important part of the construction costs of the poultry hall is related to the poultry building, then this issue is of great importance.

What is a poultry site map?

It is called a site map or location map of different poultry departments. Poultry has different parts, the location of each of them can be different according to the location and coordinates of your land. Among these sections, the following can be mentioned:

• The main breeding halls
• Warehouse
• Labor house
• Packing hall in laying farms

Note that this step may seem very simple, but you should keep in mind that this part is very important since it cannot be changed and remains for years. Therefore, consider the best practical map according to the exact coordinates of your land. In the following, we will mention the important things that you should keep in mind when preparing a chicken farm plan.

Poultry entrance

At the entrance of the poultry farm, provide the necessary space for disinfecting equipment. Consider the required space in farms that have scales or plan to place scales in the future. Usually, the worker’s house is located near the entrance of the farm so that the workers living in the poultry house can monitor the entrance and exit of the hall more. The dimensions of the entrance of the farm are suitable for the entry of the largest truck. Equipment such as disinfection tunnel or disinfection pit is recommended to be placed in this area. In matters related to poultry biosecurity, the entry status of the poultry farm is of particular importance, which is good to consider.

Labor house

The worker’s house is a place of rest and accommodation for the permanent poultry workers. As mentioned, this part is done near the entrance of the farm. Pay special attention to comfort facilities as well as disinfection and washing facilities in the construction of a worker’s house.

Main poultry halls

The most important part in a farm are breeding halls. The orientation of the halls as well as its dimensions is considered a very technical point. To estimate the exact dimensions of the poultry farm, it depends on the size of the land and the capacity you intend to build. According to the permits of the agricultural jihad at the time of writing this article (late May 1403), the area of ​​each square meter is 15 chicken heads. For example, the hall with dimensions of 15 x 65 will have a capacity of about 15,000 pieces. In the following article, we have fully discussed the dimensions proposed for the construction of a chicken farm.

Suitable dimensions for poultry farming

In some places, it is preferred to build a poultry house as a one-piece shed and to cut the halls in half. In these types of halls, we have the so-called head of the hall, which is considered a very useful part in chicken farms. Also, due to the high cost of land in some parts of the country, such as the north of Iran, the prevalence of two-story poultry houses is high. Sometimes they build a chicken house up to three floors. In general, it is recommended to skip the construction of a two-story hall if you have the possibility to build several halls together. Because there are difficulties in the management of such halls, in general, I have reviewed the advantages and disadvantages of two-story poultry halls in another article.

Advantages and disadvantages of two-story poultry houses

There are many questions regarding the orientation of poultry houses. In the past, poultry houses are very different from what we are facing today. If you, who are reading this article, are an experienced person, you remember that in the past, they used to ventilate poultry halls horizontally. They also considered the orientation of the hall in such a way that they could use the maximum light during the day. But this is not the case in today’s halls. Based on valuable studies and experiences in the past decades, today we do not see the construction of halls with transverse ventilation and everyone uses tunnel or longitudinal halls. Also, due to the importance of the light program in the poultry house, the light of the hall is used by lamps with specific brightness and using a dimmer to adjust the intensity of the light. Therefore, today’s halls are so-called closed or isolated halls, whose orientation on the ground may not be as important as in the past. In the latest studies of the world, it is stated that the direction of the hall should preferably be based on the prevailing wind of the area, so that in this way, the natural wind can help the air flow of the poultry hall and improve the performance of the poultry ventilators.

Poultry barn

Poultry barn is a part for storing feed inputs and sometimes other things in poultry farming. Its dimensions are different according to the poultry capacity. Some poultry farms prefer to get their feed from ready-made feed factory. Others do feed processing in their farms. If you want to do the feed processing yourself or it is in the future plans, we should consider a good space for processing equipment such as mill, mixer, elevator and pellet machine. Feed processing is one of the actions that usually has a good economic justification in large poultry farms. We know that the largest share of current expenses in a poultry house is provided by the expenses related to its feed. Therefore, if we can do this in our farm, we can save significant costs. Success in this matter requires sufficient knowledge of issues related to nutrition and food processing.

Construction plan for poultry house

So far, we talked about the site map or general map of the poultry house. After that, we will come to the plan of building a poultry house. There are some points regarding the construction plan of the poultry farm, which we refer to in the following cases:

• The length and width of the poultry house should be determined according to its capacity. For example, nowadays most poultry houses are about 14 meters wide and 60 meters long (12500 pieces). The length and width of the poultry house play a significant role in the overall ventilation of the house. In the southern or northern regions of Iran where the weather is hot, we see chicken farms with smaller width and longer length. Because the poultry houses in these areas cannot use non-absorbent systems such as cellulose pads for cooling during the hot days of the year. Therefore, the best thing to do is to increase the flow of air speed as much as possible, which is done in such halls by designing it as a tunnel.
• The height of the poultry house is determined according to the capacity of your hall. Most of the height that is used in the construction of poultry houses today is 2.7 meters of the walls and 3.5 meters in the middle of the year. As we know, in broiler breeding, chickens are kept in litter. Therefore, as much as possible, we try to build halls with a lower height. Because in the discussion of cold and heat, we know that heat is placed at a higher altitude. This causes a lot of energy to be consumed to provide the hot air needed by the chickens. But the shortness of the hall also creates problems in terms of ventilation for the hall. This issue has a great impact on the performance of the inlets in the poultry house. Therefore, the height of the hall should always be optimally considered so that it does not have a negative effect on breeding in the long term.

• It is very important to pay attention to the location of the poultry equipment in preparing the plan of the poultry house. First, the number of equipment such as the number of ventilators, the number of inlet windows, the number of jet heaters, the number of drinking and feeding lines, etc. must be calculated correctly and according to scientific standards. After that, their placement in the poultry house should be based on the right principles so that we can have the highest productivity in the poultry house. For example, the proper height of the inlets can have a direct effect on their overall performance in the hall. Or not keeping the proper distance of the ventilators from the floor of the hall and from other ventilators, causes us to face high speed of air flow in some parts of the hall and stagnant air in the poultry house in some parts of the hall. By the way, the stagnant points will be the place of accumulation of pollution and the spread of common diseases in poultry.

Why should we pay attention to the points of building a poultry house?

Since working with a living creature is a very sensitive work, it is more concrete to observe the points related to the salon and management. Failure to pay attention to the points related to the building and breeding affects the poultry very quickly, and such negligence causes tension, the spread of disease, and finally, an increase in casualties. Also, in today’s poultry farming, due to the release of inputs in livestock and poultry, we must pay special attention to the feed conversion ratio. The guarantor of agricultural profitability in the field of livestock and poultry today is very dependent on the attention of the feed conversion factor.

Reduction of feed conversion ratio

Poultry hall insulation: The meat poultry hall should be sufficiently insulated and have a standard length, width and height.

Poultry hall equipment: The feeding and drinking system in broiler breeding halls should be installed in a suitable amount so that the chickens can eat water and seeds well and grow.

In the suitable hall for keeping broilers, there should be equipment such as heaters, cooling pads, foggers, ventilators and air inlet windows so that the air in the hall is well ventilated and circulated. The ambient temperature should be adjusted according to the season and should be in the standard degree in summer and winter.

Poultry building: The walls and ceilings of the meat poultry hall must be insulated so that cold and heat do not enter the environment. Also, the roof and wall should be strong and without seams (to prevent the deposition of pollution) so as not to threaten the birds inside the hall. The walls and floor of the poultry house should be covered in such a way that it can be disinfected and cleaned easily; For example, high quality concrete or cement can be used to cover the hall floor so that it can be easily cleaned.

Poultry room lighting: In the meat poultry room environment, lighting equipment and suitable lamps should be used to maintain the ambient light well. The wiring inside the hall should be done in a completely professional and safe manner so that there are no risks such as electric shock and fire.