Types of Poultry

Houses
a.According to the requirements of
specific group of birds
1. Brooder house – This houses the chicks for
approximately four weeks when they no longer need heat to
keep them warm and comfortable. The brooders 29 are
constructed of various types: (a) litter-floor pens, (b) slat-
floor, or (c) battery or cage brooders.
1. Litter-floor pens
The birds are kept on suitable litter
material of about 3” to 5” depth. The
word litter is used for fresh litter
material spread on the floor. Usually
paddy husk, saw dust, ground nut
hulls, chopped paddy straw or wood
shavings are used as litter materials.
2. Grower house –
After the brooding stage, the
chicks are transferred to the
growing house to provide
them with a wider floor space.
They are kept here until
they’re about to lay at about
20 weeks of age.
3. Layer house – This is intended for the layers.
This can be either in litter floor, slat-floor pens,
combination of litter and slat-floor, or individual cage
system.
Litter floor Slatted floor Combination of the two
Advantages of caging layers:
a) Higher rate of egg production
b) Avoids competition for feed and water
c) Ease of management
d) Reduced incidence of parasitism
Disadvantages:
a) Expensive
b) Bigger number of dirty and broken eggs
c) Tendency to suffer more stress and also heat
during summer months
d) Difficulty in controlling fleas and mites
 brooding
4. Broiler house – The broiler
house is so constructed to be able
to put the entire flock under one,
i.e. from brooding until the birds
are ready for market. The latest
innovation in housing broilers is
growing them in cages; this grower
simplifies crating or hauling the
broilers to the processing plant.
However, this has the
disadvantage of producing breast
blisters.
b. According to roof style
Poultry houses may be constructed with any of the following roof styles.

1. Shed type 2. Gable or double span

3. Monitor roof 4. Semi-monitor roof
c. According to Floor Type Breast Blisters
1. Litter floor – using rice hull, saw
dust, sand, or any absorbent material.
Advantages:
1. Not very expensive
2. Lesser incidence of breast blisters,
especially broilers SAWDUST WITH CHICKEN MANURE
Disadvantages:
1. Volume of manure may become bulky
that disposal is a problem
2. Higher incidence of parasitism.
2. Slat-floor housing –
floors can be made of bamboo
splits, lumber or wire.
Advantages:
1. Affords better air circulation
Breast Blisters
2. Lessons chances of parasitic
infection
Disadvantage:
1. High incidence of breast
blisters, especially on wire SHARP PARTS
floors.
3. Combination of
litter and slat-floor – in
this type of housing, the slats
may cover only about half the
floor, usually in a strip down the
center of a long house. The slat
portion is raised high enough
above the subfloor to provide a
pit for the accumulation of
manure.

ELEVATED
D. Housing Requirements for Poultry
To provide comfort to the birds, the following requirements must be observed in
housing chickens:
1. Floor space – The space requirement of the different breeds and ages of
birds are as follows:
1. Age in weeks Space Requirement sq. in.
1–2 10
3–4 20
5–6 30
7–8 40
9 – 10 60
For growers and layers, observe the following floor space requirement:
a. Growing stock – 1 sq. ft./bird
b. Layers
c. Broilers
Light breeds 2 sq. ft/bird 1 day – 3wk – 0.3 sq. ft/bird
Medium breeds 2 and half sq. ft/bird 3-5 wks – 0.5 sq.
Heavy breeds 3 sq.ft./bird 5-8 wks -1.0 sq. ft./bird
2. Feeding and watering space – Below are the recommended
feeding and watering space requirements of chickens (cm./bird):
Age Egg type Broiler
Weeks Feeder Waterer Feeder Waterer
0-2 2.5 0.5 2.5 0.5
2-6 4.5 1 4.5 1
6-8 7.5 2 7.5 2
8-20 7.5 2 7.5 2
20-more 8 2.5 8 2.5
Feeder and Waterer
b. Roost height
(a) Growers - 10” to
15” above floor
(b) Hens - 12” to 15”
above floor
c. Nests, 12” wide x 14” long x 14” high – 1 host per 5 – 7
hens.
14’’

14’’

12’’
d. Electric light (if needed) – 50-watt bulb per 200 sq. ft.
floor space
3. Light requirement: - A rule to follow in providing light to birds is expose
the pullets to decreasing or steady day-light from brooding to 20 weeks old and
to increasing day length thereafter until they are culled.
As a guide, the following lighting schedule be adopted:
Age Period of
(weeks) Continous Lighting
0-4 24 days
4-20 13 days
20-24 14 days
24-28 15 days
28-older 16 days
• Laying Cages
The use of laying cages for commercial egg production has been so popular
that it is widely accepted in the Philippines in spite of the cost.
1
a. Size of layer cages: The height of the cages is usually uniform
at about 40 cm (16 in.) at the cage floor slope and about 47 cm (18
in.) at the higher level of the slope. The floor dimension is highly
variable depending on the design chosen by the raiser.

40 cm (16 IN)

47 cm (18 IN)
 The common floor measurements of cage
compartments are:
In Inches In Centimeters
10 x 16 25 x 41
12 x 16 31 x 41
12 x 18 31 x 46
14 x 16 36 x 41
16 x 18 41 x 46
24 x 36 61 x 91 (colony cage)
26 x 48 91 x 122 (colony cage)
 b. Cage systems based on the
number of birds put in one cage
1. Single bird cages – The two smallest dimensions above can be
suited for one bird but because of the high investment in cages, this
system is seldom used today except for research purposes.
2. Multiple-bird cages – When two or more pullets are put
together, usually not more than 8 or 10 birds with 3 to 4 as the most
common.
4. Colony cages – Large laying cages suitable for holding between
20 to 30 pullets.
The most recent on cage design is the
reverse cage. The conventional cage is
with the short section across the front.
The reverse cage has the long
measurement on the front. This allows
the birds a longer feeder space and a
shorter run when the end rolls out.
Some tests have shown that 2 to 3
percent more egg will be produced over
the laying year. Some researchers do
not agree with the findings.
c. Layer cage arrangements:
There are various arrangements
of cages designed to conserve
space in the layer house,
namely:
1. Single-deck – This requires
much space but is practical in
areas with warm climate.
2. Double-deck – Usually an
offset arrangement and is
often called the Stairstep
system.
3. Triple-deck – Offset or vertical. 4. Four-deck – Offset or vertical
5. Flat-deck – Single deck
but aligned close together
without service alleys. This
system is used when total
automation of feeding and
egg picking can be installed.
It is not very popular since
servicing is difficult to do on
top of the cages.
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