Family Poultry Training Course/Scavenging Chickens Training Handbook - Housing
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Contents |
Housing
Village chickens need to be housed at night.
- Do not allow them to roost in trees
- Count them and inspect them for ailments often
- Collect eggs from one place
- Give them supplementary feed just outside the house at dusk
What kind of a house should I build?
You should plan carefully where you will build the house. It must be a strong house to protect your poultry:
- From the weather
- From predators
- From thieves
- It must allow in plenty of light and air movement
- If it is off the ground this will allow it to be cool and unlikely to flood
- The roof should have good overhang
Where should I build my poultry house?
- It should be built in a shady, dry area
- On flat, raised ground to keep the floor dry
- Close to your own house to prevent stealing
- Put a metal cones around each stilt or leg to prevent rats from climbing up
What size will my house be and what materials should I use?
- This will depend on the size of your flock
- A small house may be sufficient
- For 10 to 15 adult birds it will be 2 large paces (metres) by 2 metres
- It should be tall enough to allow you to enter comfortably (1.8 metres high)
- It is better to make it large so that you can expand your flock size
- It should have space for nest boxes. These can be a basket woven from coconut or bamboo leaves, or made from stones or timber
- Nest boxes should be off the floor
- In a safe place
- Put in dried grass and dry leaves as nesting material
- Change the nesting material regularly
- One nest box for 3-4 hens
- Use as much local materials as possible
- The floor can be made of split bamboo strips 2 cm apart
- The floor should be easy to keep clean
- Put in wooden perches – about 4-5 birds/metre and about 0.5 metres apart
- You can collect the manure from under them and use it on your garden
- There should be a simple drinker for holding clean, fresh water
- It can be made from bamboo or an inverted can or bottle
There are several kinds of simple nest boxes
Next section: Furnishing the House
