Model Poultry Housing for Kienyeji Chicken

Good shelter is an essential part of good kienyeji chicken farming and management. Your journey to Kienyeji chicken farming will begin with building an appropriate shelter for your flock.  The shelter will provide several functions. On the one hand, it helps protect your birds from the predators such as the hawks, wild dogs and wild cats. It also protects your flock from theft and poor weather which may adversely affect the health of the birds.

Your hens will not only need a good shelter for to protect them for the above hazards. They also need a good laying area inside the shelter and a good perching area.  The laying areas should be places with little disturbances.  It is always recommended that you use locally available materials so as to lower the costs of construction. Some of the most popular materials used in constructing the shelter include the timber off-cuts, old iron sheets, mud, bricks and stones. The walls can be cemented for ease of cleaning but if you are strained financially, you can as well use clay mud that is mixed with cow dung for maximum durability.

There are several materials that you can opt for to build the walls depending on your budget and preferences. These include stones, bricks, iron sheets and timber off-cuts. The off-cuts offer the more desirable option for most small-scale or low income farmers because they are affordable and also highly durable, especially if use the wood preservatives. During our construction of chicken houses for various farmers, we purchased very large off-cuts for between Ksh.50 and Ksh.80. Clay is free but you may pay a fee of between Ksh.500 ($6) to Ksh.1500 ($18) to a lady or group of ladies who will mold the clay into the structure.

Orientation
The poultry house should be constructed in an East-West orientation.  This will significantly reduce or block the sunlight, draught and even rain in the house.  The North-West sides of the house should be aerated with the use of chicken wire. A roll of chicken wire costs Ksh.1500 although some hardware stores sell it for as high as Ksh.2000.  The house should take a rectangular shape. Common house configurations include 40ftX20ft, 30ftX20ft, 30ftx15ft, 30ftx10ft, 25ftx15ft etc. The size of the house will depend on how ambitious your project is and the amount of the resources that you have allocated for the project. Your target number of hens to rear will most likely determine the size of the housing that you plan to build.

The stocking density
The model stocking density should be I bird per square feet in a ground profile or two birds per square feet in a raised profile. Check out our Improved  Kienyeji Chicken Farming Manual to differentiate between the two kinds of housing profiles. For example, a 40ftx20ft house can accommodate as many as 800 birds in a ground profile or 1600 birds in a raised profile. If you are planning to rear a maximum of 200 birds in a ground profile, a 20ftx10ft chicken housing will be adequate.

Management Practice
Construct the house far from the house and fence it using the chain link fencing wire. You can purchase the six feet chain link cables which can keep the chicken from jumping over the fence.  The chain link fencing will keep away other wild birds as well as animals that may wander into the chicken enclosure. It also keeps off unauthorized people from getting into the chicken enclosure thus minimizing the risks of contamination that could potentially wipe off your flock.

The entrance of the chicken house should have a foot path with a disinfectant where one can dip the sole of their feet before entering the enclosure to prevent disease transmission.  In addition, the entrance to the closure should be fitted with a door that is locked with a padlock when the enclosure is not in use.  Keep birds of the same age at any given time. When these mature, you can clear the stock and bring new birds which are about the same age.

Regulation of the conditions inside the poultry house

Proper heat regulation is very important in the tropical African conditions. The top three sevenths of the house should be sealed with a wire mesh and chicken wire in order to eliminate excess heat and help in maintaining optimal temperatures inside.  The bottom four sevenths of the chicken house should be made of solid material such as mud, wooden planks, bricks or iron sheet. Fit curtains which are made of sacks on the top part of the structure which is made of wire mesh. The curtains should be drawn at night when the temperatures drop. By opening and closing the curtains, you can control the ventilation of the house and ensure optimal temperatures inside.