Frequently Asked Questions.

Starting a chicken farming business requires some preparation.

Follow these steps:

1. First of all, get some information about running a chicken business from any of your nearest chicken farms, institutions, or company like Genesis Kuku House.
2. Then, select a good location for your chicken farm. The house should not be too close to a residential area or a town.
3. Build a good house in the area you have chosen.
4. Buy all the needed chicken equipment once you have built the house.
5. Think about why you are keeping the chickens, is it for meat, eggs, or both?
   • Find out what people want to buy in your area.
   • Find out what the market needs (nearby markets, contractors).
   • Generally, both meat and eggs have good demand in Kenya.
     - For meat - Broilers
     - Eggs - Layers
     - Both for meat and eggs - Improved Kienyeji like Sasso among others.
     - Home consumption and occasional sale - Kienyeji.
6. Buy birds from reliable suppliers or breeders around your area.
7. Feed your birds with high-quality feeds.
8. Ensure your birds have fresh and clean drinking water. Change this daily.
9. Keep good contact with a vet in your area.
10. Keep a record of total costs and income from your business. Keeping records is very important for running a successful chicken farm.

Chicken house design is a crucial first step in building a poultry farm. A good design includes:

1. Proper ventilation and temperature control.
2. Natural or artificial lighting systems.
3. Strategic layout for feeding, watering, and egg collection lines.
4. Structural strength to support multi-tier chicken houses.

We offer customized chicken house planning based on your location, climate, farm size, and cage system type. This ensures smooth installation and efficient long-term operation.

The reasons for providing housing for poultry include the following;

1. To protect chicken from adverse weather conditions.
2. To provide protection from predators.
3. To maximize egg and meat production.
4. To prevent and control spread of diseases.
5. To make it easy to catch birds for slaughter.
6. To reduce the incidence of theft.

1. A poultry house needs a warm, dry, and fresh air environment, with sufficient water, power, and convenient transportation.
2. It should be built on higher ground, away from noise, pollution, and easy to disinfect and isolate.

Is not recommended to share a house with poultry because there are some diseases that affect chicken and can also affect human beings. Some of these diseases have no cure. A disease like Avian Influenza affects poultry and can be easily transferred to human beings and has no cure. When we share houses with chicken, some of the predators like snakes that hunt chicken may easily get into contact with human beings.

No! It is not recommended to house different types of poultry in one house. Some type of poultry like geese and ducks may carry diseases that do not affect them but affect chicken. Even turkeys should not be housed together with chicken because there are diseases that turkey can transfer to chicken and vice versa.

Yes! Chicken houses are different from those of human being. A chicken house should have an East west orientation with ventilation windows on the sides facing south and north. No windows should be on the sides facing both east and west to prevent sun rays getting into the poultry house.

When sun rays get into the poultry house, it results in an increase in temperature inside the poultry house which has negative effects. An increase in temperature inside the poultry house will lead to the following negative effects:

1. Making the chicken eat less feed and therefore produce fewer eggs and also grow slower.
2. Increased temperatures make the eggs not hatch properly.
3. Cause some chicken to step and kill others as they scramble to reach which the rays are.

The size of a chicken house depends on the number of birds and the type of chickens being raised. The area and capacity of the chicken house depend on the degree of mechanization and the management level of the breeders. The chicken house built by the farmer can be determined according to the specific conditions of the site. The span of the open chicken house should not be too large, otherwise, it will be unfavorable for the ventilation and lighting of the chicken house. The span of the chicken house is generally 6-9m. The span of the chicken house with mechanical ventilation can reach 9-12m. The length of the chicken house can be adjusted according to local conditions. Small-scale chicken houses raising 2800-5000 laying hens in chicken cages can be designed to be 7-8m wide and 33-53m long. Large and medium-sized chicken houses keeping 5000-10000 layers can be designed to be 10-12m wide, and 40-65m long.

The span of the chicken house depends on the form of the roof of the chicken house, the type of chicken house and the feeding method. The general span is 6 to 10 meters in open chicken houses and 12 to 15 meters in closed chicken houses.

The length of the chicken house generally depends on the span of the chicken house and the degree of mechanization of management. A chicken house with a span of 6 to 10 meters is generally 30 to 60 meters in length; a chicken house with a larger span, such as 12 meters, is generally 70 to 80 meters in length. A chicken house with a higher degree of mechanization can be longer, but generally should not exceed 100 meters, otherwise the production and installation of mechanical equipment will be more difficult and the materials will not be easy to solve.

If a poultry house exceeds 120 meters in length, it can lead to challenges with ventilation, temperature control, and overall management of the flock. A longer house can make it harder to maintain uniform air flow, temperature, and humidity across the entire space, potentially leading to health problems and reduced bird performance. Additionally, longer houses may require more sophisticated ventilation systems and careful placement of feeders and drinkers to ensure birds have access to resources throughout the house.

The height of the chicken house should be determined according to the feeding method, manure removal method, span and climatic conditions. In areas with small spans, dry farming and not too hot, the chicken coops need not be too high. Generally, the eaves of chicken coops are 2.0-2.5 meters high; for large spans and multi-layer cages, the height of chicken coops is about 3 meters, or The uppermost chicken coop should be 1 to 1.5 meters away from the roof; if it is a high-bed closed chicken house, the height is generally 4.5 to 5 meters (1.8 to 2 meters higher than the average chicken house) due to the lower part of the manure pit.

There are two methods of determining the orientation of the house namely: Use of a campus and use of a long piece of wood. Using a campus may be difficult in the rural areas. To determine the orientation using a piece of wood about 14 feet long; determine the areas where the house will be built, dig a one foot hole in the middle of the area, plant the long piece of wood in the hole, return the soil to make it firm, observe the shadow of the piece of wood between 4 p. and 6.00 and mark the path of the shadow. The shadow ill be pointing in the east. Observe the shadow the following day between 7.00am and 10.00 am and mark the path of the shadow. The shadow would be pointing west. That gives you the orientation of the poultry house.

You can use iron sheets, grass, palm leaves to cover the roof. On the covered part of the wall you can use bricks, sand blocks, iron sheets, wood and mud. The floor can be prepared in different ways including plastering with sand and cement, covering with compacted muram and plastering with mud. Make sure there are neither cracks on the wall nor on the floor. Parasites that suck blood from the chicken such as fleas hide in the cracks during the day and come out in the night to suck blood resulting in reduced level of production.

No! you do not have to sweep a poultry house daily. To avoid sweeping the poultry house daily, put bedding materials on the floor to absorb the feces . Such bedding materials include wood shavings, saw dust, peanut hulls, rice husk, bagasse and even dry grass. These materials are left in the poultry house depending on the type of poultry. For broilers, the bedding material is removed after cropping while for layers, the bedding material may be removed after eight months.

The bedding material removed from the poultry house has allot of value. It can be put into the following uses; fertilizing fish ponds, fertilizing gardens to boost crop yield, it can be sieved and the fine particles mixed with dairy meal and fed to dairy cows, generating biogas for cooking and lighting when producing high quality fertilizer.

The bedding material may contain harmful germs that can affect both human and other animals. When removed from the poultry house, the bedding material should be heaped and covered with a polythene sheet to allow good bacteria to ferment all the residual feed material resulting in an increase in temperature which kills all the germs making the material safe for use.

The house must allow the poultry to be comfortable. Do not overcrowd them. Mature broilers require between 0.68 ft² -1 ft² per bird. Layers require 1.5 ft² - 2 ft² per bird. The space requirement per bird also depends on the environmental temperatures. At higher temperatures more space per bird is necessary. Overcrowding may lead to smothering, pecking, and general un-thriftiness of the flock.

No! Keep sick chicken away from those that are not sick. You can divided the poultry house to create a space called a quarantine where any poultry that shows symptoms of infection is kept. You can also build a special small house where you keep any sick chicken. This is called an isolation / quarantine unit.

This depends on the type of chicken. Perches are normally provided for layers and indigenous table birds that stay in the poultry house for a long period of time during their production cycle. No perches are necessary for broilers.

Nest boxes should be located in a part of the house where light intensity is low. Some location in the house that is darkish.

Yes you can mix different chicken in the same house but in different rooms/compartment. There are normally three sizes namely, chicks, growers and mature parent flocks. Each of these categories must be on their own. The three categories require different management systems and therefore cannot be mixed in one compartment.

Feed and water must always be put in the chicken house. If you put feed and water outside, this will attract wild birds that will come with diseases to your farm.

You may maintain good environmental conditions in the poultry house by doing the following;

1. Building the house as described above on East West orientation.
2. Not allowing litter material to cake by turning it frequently with a rake or other objects.
3. Proving clean potable water to chicken at all times.
4. Opening and closing the curtains on the windows when it is hot and cold respectively.
5. Avoiding overcrowding.
6. Providing chicken with balance feed rations.
7. Using recommended feeders and waterers to avoid feed and water dropping and spilling on the floor which will result into fermentation and production of bad smell.

Do not fumigate poultry house when chicken are inside. Chicken houses are fumigated before the chickens are moved house. Some of the chemicals used for fumigation may kill the chicken.

The curtaining material should allow exchange of air between the inside and outside environment. Plastic materials are not
recommended. Old feed bags make very good curtains. Plastic materials and tarpaulins are used in mechanically houses.

There are two types of poultry houses depending on the risk of flooding. In areas prone to flooding, slated floor houses are recommended. In slated floor chicken houses, the floor is raised above the ground by at least two feet.

These houses are built under two different conditions and therefore it may not be logical to compare the cost. It also depends on the material used to build the non slated floor house. However, considering the financial of small scale poultry farmers, slated floor chicken houses are slightly more expensive depending on the material used.

Normally, no bedding material is put on slated floors. Feces drop rely through small gaps on the floor to the ground. The feces is collected and used as necessary either to produce biogas or directly applied to crop farms or fish ponds.

It depends on production parameters being considered. For hatching egg production, slated floors are not recommended because chicken do not like mating on slated floors. Where a slated floor is used for production of hatching eggs, a section of the floor must be full to allow easy mating. Although better ventilation may be achieved by using slated floor, it may reduced feed conversion ration if it leads to generation of excess cold that makes chicken eat more feed to generate heat. If the material used is rough, it may result in bubble feet and blistered breasts thus reducing the quality in the case of table birds. Slated floors may also lead to toe pecking in chicks.

Flooding poultry houses can be a serious problem and a major source of diseases. But this can be stopped by constructing storm drains to take water direct water away from the chicken house.

A poultry houses is normally located in a place where it can be easily accessed but away from the main entrance to the home. It is recommended to locate the poultry house at least fifteen feet away from the other houses if there is enough land. The house should also be located such that winds from the house do not pass through other houses.

The further apart poultry houses are the better to minimize cross contamination. If you have enough land, consider at least 60 feet between any two poultry houses. The pattern of wind flow is a major consideration. Locate the houses such that wind does not flow from one house to the other. Locate the houses parallel to the flow of wind otherwise increase the distances between the houses.

There are many ways of stopping wild birds from entering poultry houses. Use chicken wire with 1⁄4-1 inches messes. When you release chicken under semi intensive management, close the doors but leave open small windows on assessed through a duck. Wild birds will not follow the duct to enter the house. Make sure the ducts are closed in the evening because they can be hiding places for some predators. Avoid planting trees close to the poultry houses as wild bird will be attracted by the trees.

Yes, you can build multi floored poultry houses but the following precautions must be taken.

1. The floors must be well done to avoid feces dropping from upper floors.
2. The poultry houses must be strong enough to support the weight of the chicken in the upper floors.
3. Each floor must be accessed through an external stair case.
4. Adequate ventilation must be provided for the birds on the ground floor since air escape through the roof ventilation ridge will not be
   possible.