A layer poultry house is specifically designed for laying hens. The layer chicken house will be higher than a broiler house, and will have larger poultry curtaining openings. The reason for the extra height is so that double tier layer cages, triple tier chicken cages or battery cages will fit.
Layer house in Brits
The reason for the larger curtains and side wall spaces is that these chickens or hens will live a long time in the house, and will only be placed when they are at point of lay (about 18 weeks). They will live in the structure for about sixty weeks before they start to lay less and less eggs – after that they will be sold for their meat – “hard chicken’ as meat from older chickens are known as is well liked by the local population in South Africa. The layers will be crowded into layer cages and will need all the air and cooling they can get. In hot climates you will also need poultry fans to help with ventilation. Different types of chicken houses and poultry equipment depending on the types of chicken farming you are doing.
This layer house has a front porch and fancy cooling sliding door. The door of the poultry house allows the farmer the choice of completely closed or open with covered mesh – this is fantastic for hot regions as the airflow through the door helps tremendously with the cooling of the structure – cross ventilation fans that can be moved or swiveled in any direction help with the overall air flow.
Layer cages being installed
The chicken house is insulated with sisalation and has lights installed on a timing system. An electrician will need to be contracted to do the wiring. Lights are very important when raising chickens – whether they are broiler chickens or layer chickens – even broiler/breeder farms make use of lights. Keeping the lights on at certain times will increase the amount of eggs your chickens lay, and will cause broilers to eat more – thereby increasing growth rate. Care needs to be taken with lights and broilers as you do not want your chicken to grow more quickly than the strength in it’s legs. It is a 30m x 7m poultry house and has layer cages inside. It was custom built on the site in Brits and is part a project that will finally have 4 houses, silos, a cross auger system to carry chicken food and a gantry that holds a mono rail to move the eggs to the sorting house. An egg grading machine is planned. (this egg grader will weigh and grade the eggs – fancier machines even wash the eggs, and then the chicken eggs will be packed into cartons or egg boxes. The steel structure took 14 continuous days to build working from 5am – 6pm, weekends included. It is a real beauty and was built on the concrete slab that was laid by the chicken farmer.Laying your own slab can save you a lot of money – it should be re-enforced with steel wire reinforcing, and be at least 150mm thick. The slab should be at least one meter bigger all the way around, than the actual footprint of the steel structure – this allows the rain coming of the roof to land on concrete and not wash the ground away. A plastic groundsheet can be used in place of a concrete slab – a lot cheaper, but not ideal. Although, in a layer house, it is definitely a cost saving option.
It has poultry fans, and lights, water tank, chicken curtains, and layer cages. This is a great example of how a poultry house should be built – the chicken house was built by Chicken Shack Agencies and is the largest Yellow Door House built. It sets the standard for small poultry houses and is probably the best example in South Africa. The layer cages are installed with nipple drinkers and the cages can hold up to 7 chickens at a push. The chicken farm is located in Brits and a map to the farm can be found at Yellow Door Poultry Houses.
