Designing and building a poultry house specialisation
From choosing the site to handover: an 8 m open-sided house
Introduction
A poultry house is built once and lived with for twenty years. Too wide, too low, facing the wrong way or sitting in a hollow, it kills chickens every March, whatever the farmer's skill. This specialisation of the NEXTEKCI School (Agnibilékrou, Côte d'Ivoire) teaches how to design and have built an 8 m wide open-sided house, the only one that really breathes under natural ventilation in our climate. You learn to choose the site (wind, water, access, neighbours, slope, soil), to size the length from the flock at 5 broilers per m² in the hot period, the NEXTEKCI advice while manufacturers indicate 8 to 10 per m² in closed houses, to write the plan with its dimensions (foundations, 0.5 m low wall, posts every 4 m, frame, 35% roof, 1.2 m overhang, curtains), to choose the materials available in Côte d'Ivoire by their lifespan, to turn the roof into an ally against heat, to size water and electricity in litres and kVA, to supervise a twelve-week building site with its stage checks, then to renovate or extend an existing house. Every notion is explained with a worked example on an 8 × 40 m house for 1,600 broilers, and every lesson ends with eight questions. Open from free registration; the full text of the lessons is reserved for registered learners.
By the end of this specialisation, you will be able to
- ✓Choose and site a plot according to wind, water, access, neighbours, slope and soil, and size an 8 m wide house for its flock at 5 per m² in the hot period
- ✓Write the plan and the quantity page of an 8 × 40 m house (foundations, low wall, posts, frame, roof, overhang, curtains) and choose each material for twenty years
- ✓Size the roof, the water and the electricity: colour, open ridge, tank in litres, pump, water lines, lighting, back-up generator in kVA
- ✓Run a twelve-week building site with its stage checks up to handover, and know how to correct or extend an existing house
10 lessons · a 5-question quiz after each lesson · an exam (20 questions, 80%) · verifiable specialisation certificate. Specialisation open to every registered student, in any order.
- 1Choosing the site: wind, water, access, neighbours, slope, soil
A poultry house is built once and lived with for twenty years. You can change a feeder, repaint a roof, replace a curtain; you never move an 8 m by 40 m house. The site is therefore the first construction decision, and the only one that cannot be corrected. This lesson teaches you to read a plot of land like a builder: where the wind comes from, where the water is, where the truck will pass, who the neighbours are, where the rain goes, and what the soil can carry. Each point is checked on the spot, with a precise action, in both seasons.
What you will learn- ✓Assess a plot on six criteria: wind, water, access, neighbours, slope and soil, with the checking action for each
- ✓Measure the yield of a well or borehole and compare it with the need of a house of 1,600 broilers in the hot period
- ✓Place an 8 × 40 m house on a plot: orientation, distances, position of the second house
- ✓Fill in a site scoring grid and decide: build, adapt, or look elsewhere
Lesson outline- The site is the plot and everything around it
- The wind: the free engine of the open-sided house
- Water: the condition that cannot be negotiated
- Access, neighbours and room to grow
- Slope and soil: where the rain goes, what carries the load
- The decision grid: build, adapt or look elsewhere
- Going further
Key points- •Six criteria: wind, water, access, neighbours, slope, soil; each is checked by an action on the spot, in both seasons.
- •Long axis east-west; nothing solid within 10-15 m of the long sides; 16 to 20 m between two houses.
- •1,600 broilers at 5 per m² (8 × 40 m) drink 720 L per day at the peak: plan 850 L per day that the well must give in March.
- •Slope of 1 to 3%, never in a hollow; lateritic soil perfect, black clay to dig out, grey wet soil eliminating.
- •Grid out of 12: 10-12 you build, 7-9 you correct first, less than 7 or a 0 on water you look elsewhere.
13 min read · 5-question quiz
- 2Sizing: 8 m wide, length according to the flock at 5 per m² in the hot period, height, orientation
Sizing means going from a number of chickens to metres: how wide, how long, how high. Whoever builds “a big house” without calculating ends up either with a half-empty shed he paid for in full, or with an overcrowded box where the chickens die in March. This lesson gives the method: the flock fixes the floor area, the hot-period density fixes the area per bird, the 8 m width fixes the length, and ventilation fixes the heights. Worked example from start to finish for 1,600 broilers, then for your own figures.
What you will learn- ✓Calculate the usable floor area and the length of an 8 m wide house from the flock size, at 5 per m² in the hot period
- ✓Justify the 8 m width, the heights under the eave and at the ridge, and the roof slope, then check the opening ratio
- ✓Choose the orientation and the maximum length, and know when to split into two houses
- ✓Write the dimension sheet of a house, ready to hand to the mason and the carpenter
Lesson outline- Sizing starts from the chicken, not from the plot
- From flock to floor area: the hot-period density
- Why 8 m wide, and not 10 or 12
- Heights and slope: the volume of air that protects
- Orientation, maximum length and multiple houses
- Going further
Key points- •Flock ÷ 5 (hot period, NEXTEKCI advice; manufacturers 8 to 10 in closed houses) = usable area; area ÷ 8 = length: 1,600 broilers → 320 m² → 8 × 40 m.
- •Width 8 m (10 maximum): the air crosses, the equipment fits, the frame stays simple; you lengthen, you do not widen.
- •Eave 2.5 to 3 m (retained 2.8), slope 30 to 35%, ridge 4 to 4.5 m (retained 4.2 = 2.8 + 4 × 0.35), low wall 0.5 m, overhang 1 to 1.25 m, ridge vent 0.3 to 0.5 m.
- •Opening ratio ≥ 40-50%: 2 × 40 × 2.3 = 184 m² for 320 m² of floor, i.e. 57.5%.
- •East-west, 50 m long at most, partial divider beyond 40 m, two houses 16-20 m apart beyond 2,500 broilers.
13 min read · 5-question quiz
- 3The plan: foundations, low wall, posts, frame, roof, overhang, curtains
A plan is not a drawing to look nice: it is the list of everything that must be built, with its measurements, in the order in which it is built. Whoever can read a plan can check the mason; whoever can make one can order the right quantities and refuse the quote that does not match. This lesson describes, element by element and with the dimensions, the 8 × 40 m house we have sized: from the footings under the posts to the curtains, through the low wall, the frame, the roof and its overhang. No drawing here: words, figures and quantities.
What you will learn- ✓Read the three views of a poultry house plan (plan view, cross-section, elevation) and find every dimension on them
- ✓Describe each element of the 8 × 40 m house with its dimensions: foundations, slab, low wall, posts, trusses, purlins, roof, overhang, wire mesh, curtains, doors
- ✓Calculate the main quantities: number of posts and trusses, m³ of concrete, blocks, m² of sheeting, mesh and curtain cloth
- ✓Spot on a quote the element that is missing or the dimension that has changed
Lesson outline- Reading a plan: three views and a scale
- Foundations and slab: what carries and what drains
- The low wall and the posts: the structure that stands up
- The frame, the roof and the overhang
- Mesh, curtains, doors and lobby: closing without suffocating
- The summary: the plan on one page
- Going further
Key points- •Three views (plan, section, elevation), one scale (1/100: 1 cm = 1 m), dimensions read inside: you check with a ruler.
- •Foundations: footings 0.6 × 0.6 × 0.5 m under each post, ground beam 0.2 × 0.2 m, slab 8 cm on 15 cm hardcore, raised 30 cm, walkway 0.8 m; about 42 m³ of concrete excluding posts.
- •Structure: low wall 0.5 m (515 blocks), 28 posts 0.15 × 0.15 × 3.5 m every 4 m, eave beams 84 m, 11 trusses of 8 m, purlins 420 m.
- •Roof: slope 35%, rafters 5.5 m with 1.2 m overhang, 467 m² laid / 515 m² ordered, ridge vent 0.4 m with cap.
- •Closure: 230 m² of 2.5 cm mesh, buried rat strip, 200 m² of curtains rolling from the bottom upwards, doors of 1 m and 1.2 m, lobby of 2 × 8 m.
14 min read · 5-question quiz
- 4Materials in Côte d'Ivoire: advantages, drawbacks, lifespan, maintenance
The same 8 × 40 m plan can be built in round timber and sack cloth, or in reinforced concrete, profiled sheeting and woven tarpaulin. Both houses will hold 1,600 broilers on the first day; in five years, one will need rebuilding and the other will barely have begun to age. Choosing a material means choosing a lifespan, a maintenance routine and a behaviour under the heat, rain and termites of Côte d’Ivoire. This lesson reviews what is found on our markets: timber, concrete, sheeting, wire mesh, tarpaulins, and says for each what it is worth, what it fears and how many years it lasts.
What you will learn- ✓Compare the materials available in Côte d’Ivoire (timber, concrete, blocks, sheeting, mesh, tarpaulin) on four criteria: availability, lifespan, behaviour in the climate, maintenance
- ✓Recognise the timber species that last and those that do not, and protect timber against termites and damp
- ✓Choose the thickness and type of sheeting, the mesh size and wire of the netting, the type of tarpaulin, and calculate what the choice changes over twenty years
- ✓Set up the annual maintenance calendar of the house
Lesson outline- Choosing a material: four questions, never just one
- Timber: plentiful, light, but you must choose the species
- Concrete and blocks: what no longer moves
- Sheeting: the roof of almost every house
- Wire mesh, tarpaulins and cloths: closing and breathing
- The choice for the 8 × 40 m and the maintenance calendar
- Going further
Key points- •Four questions for each material: availability, lifespan in our climate, behaviour in sun and rain, maintenance; you reason over twenty years.
- •Timber: iroko, bete, teak for posts and frame (20 years under cover); white woods under the roof only; dry, protected timber, never planted in bare earth.
- •Concrete 350 kg of cement per m³ for structure, 300 for the slab, not too much water, watered 7 days; 15 × 20 × 40 blocks dried 3 weeks; bars covered by 2.5 cm.
- •0.40 mm sheet or alu-zinc profile painted white: 20 to 30 years and a single laying; 0.25 mm sheet: 5 to 8 years and three and a half layings over twenty years.
- •Chain-link mesh 2 mm (10-15 years), white UV-stabilised woven tarpaulin (4-6 years); monthly curtain maintenance, annual inspection in February, paint every five years.
13 min read · 5-question quiz
- 5Roof and heat: colour, insulation, height, open ridge
At 2 p.m. in March, a bare sheet in the sun reaches 60 to 70 °C. It is 2.8 m above the chickens, and it radiates onto them like the plate of an open oven. In an open-sided house, the roof is both enemy number one (it catches the sun) and ally number one (it gives shade and pulls the hot air upwards). This lesson explains how a roof heats a house, and gives the four levers to make it cool the house instead of heating it: colour, insulation, height and the open ridge, with measured temperatures and the quantities to plan.
What you will learn- ✓Explain how the heat of the roof reaches the birds (radiation, trapped hot air) and measure the temperature of a sheet
- ✓Choose the colour and the paint of the roof, and calculate the quantity of paint for 467 m²
- ✓Compare the insulation solutions available (mat under-roof, ventilated false ceiling, double roof) and know when they are worth it
- ✓Size the ridge vent and check that it draws, then combine tree shade, roof sprinkling and fans
Lesson outline- How a roof heats a house
- Colour: the cheapest and most forgotten lever
- Insulation: putting something between the sheet and the birds
- Height and slope: moving the source away
- The open ridge: the chimney of the house
- The complements: trees, sprinkling, fans
- Going further
Key points- •A bare sheet reaches 60 to 70 °C at 2 p.m. and radiates onto the birds; the chicken receives heat through the air, the floor and the radiation of the roof.
- •White: sheet at 40-45 °C instead of 62-68, 2 to 4 °C less below; acrylic 135 L for 467 m² every 4 to 6 years, or lime 210 kg every year in February.
- •Insulation: mats under the purlins (2-3 °C), ventilated false ceiling (3-5 °C), double roof; always a free ridge and a ventilated void.
- •Height 2.8 m under the eave and 35% slope: 1,120 m³ of air for 1,600 broilers (0.7 m³ each); the hot air slides towards the ridge.
- •Ridge vent 0.4 × 40 m = 16 m² = 5% of the floor area, cap at 0.3 m; smoke test at 1 p.m.; trees, roof sprinkling (1-2 L/m²) and fans as complements.
13 min read · 5-question quiz
- 6Water and electricity: tank, pump, water lines, lighting, back-up generator
A finished house is a house where water flows at the drinkers and the light comes on in the evening, not a house where the roof is on. The chicks often arrive before these two networks are ready, and the first day is spent carrying buckets. This lesson sizes the water and electricity of the 8 × 40 m house for 1,600 broilers: the tank in litres and its height, the pump and its pipe, the water lines and their nipples or bell drinkers, the lighting, and the back-up generator in kVA, with the power balance worked out.
What you will learn- ✓Size the tank (litres, height, position) for two to three days of peak consumption
- ✓Choose the pump (flow, delivery head, power) and the pipe from the water point to the tank
- ✓Lay out the water lines of the house: number of nipples or bell drinkers, diameter, slope, filter, regulator
- ✓Draw up the electrical power balance of the house and derive the lighting and the back-up generator in kVA
Lesson outline- The water of the house: from need to network
- The tank: volume, height, position
- The pump and the pipe from the well to the tank
- The water lines in the house
- Lighting and sockets
- The back-up generator: the power balance in kVA
- Going further
Key points- •Peak need 850 L per day for 1,600 broilers; 48 to 72 h reserve = 2,500 to 3,000 L, two tanks, in the shade, bottom at 2.5-3.5 m (nipples at 0.2-0.3 bar).
- •Pump 1 to 1.5 m³/h at 16 m delivery head (10 m of well + 3.5 m of tower + 2 m of losses), 0.37 to 0.75 kW; 32 mm buried pipe; solar 300 to 600 W possible.
- •Two lines of 38 m: 160 nipples (1 for 10 in the heat) with regulator, winch and drain, or 30 bells (1 for 55); filter, meter, level line, flow 60-90 mL/min.
- •LED lighting 10 W every 3-4 m on two lines: 25 lamps = 250 W; 2.5 mm² cable, panel, earth, timer, emergency lamp.
- •Power balance 3.5 to 4.5 kW → generator of 7 to 8 kVA (2.5 to 3 kVA without fans), 10 m away under shelter, tested every week.
14 min read · 5-question quiz
- 7Supervising a building site: stages, deadlines, checks, handover
The plan is perfect, the materials are chosen, and yet the house delivered has a 90 cm low wall, a closed ridge and a slab that holds water. Between the plan and the house, there is the building site: three months during which a mason, a carpenter and an electrician take decisions every day in your place if you are not there. This lesson teaches you to run a poultry house building site: the stages in order, the deadlines in weeks, the checks to do at each stage before moving to the next, the site logbook, and the handover, which is the moment when you say “yes” or “not yet”.
What you will learn- ✓Organise the actors of the site (client, mason, carpenter, electrician-plumber) and the document that binds them
- ✓Draw up the twelve-week construction calendar of the 8 × 40 m house and fit it to the season
- ✓Carry out, at each stage, the check that authorises the next one, and keep the site logbook
- ✓Conduct the handover: the list of points to check, the reservations, the seven-day empty test
Lesson outline- The site: who does what, and with what paper
- The twelve weeks of the site and the season
- The stage check: what authorises the next step
- The mistakes that derail a site
- The handover: saying yes, or not yet
- Going further
Key points- •Four actors (client, mason, carpenter, electrician-plumber), one contract per trade with plan and quantities stapled, payment in instalments after checks.
- •Twelve weeks: setting out (0), foundations (1-2), posts (3), low wall and slab (4), curing (5), frame (6-7), roof (8), closures (9), networks (10), empty test (11), handover (12); pouring in the dry season, start in November-December.
- •A stage check before each next stage, because it hides the previous one; simple tools; everything in the signed site logbook.
- •Mistakes: absence, changing the plan midway, paying in advance, green timber and liquid concrete, neglected safety, forgotten surroundings.
- •15-point handover with report: 15/15 without reservation; 12-14 with reservations and deadlines; less than 12 or a defect on height, overhang, ridge vent or water: refused; chicks ordered afterwards.
13 min read · 5-question quiz
- 8Extending or renovating an existing house: what can be corrected, what cannot
Most farmers do not start from a bare plot: they already have a house, inherited, bought or built too fast, and the question is not “how to build” but “what to do with this one”. Some defects are corrected in a week with a paint roller and a saw; others require lifting the roof; others still are never corrected, and the only right decision is to lower the density or build alongside. This lesson teaches you to sort the defects of an existing house into three families, to quantify the works in quantities and days, and to extend without repeating the mistakes of the first house.
What you will learn- ✓Classify the defects of an existing house into three families: easily corrected, corrected with major works, cannot be corrected
- ✓Describe the most frequent correction works (paint, ridge vent, overhang, low wall, curtains, slab, height) with their quantities and duration
- ✓Decide, for a defect that cannot be corrected, between lowering the density, changing the use of the house and building alongside
- ✓Extend along the axis or with a second house, without widening, respecting the 50 m and the 16-20 m
Lesson outline- Start with the diagnosis, not with the works
- Family 1: what is easily corrected, in a few days
- Family 2: what is corrected with major works
- Family 3: what cannot be corrected, and what you do about it
- Extending: along the axis or alongside, never in width
- Going further
Key points- •Diagnosis first (20-point audit + dimension survey), then sorting into three families: easy, major works, structural.
- •Family 1, in a three-week break: white roof (110 L for 372 m²), open ridge with cap, low wall brought down to 0.5 m, light curtains rolled from the bottom, mesh and rat strip, obstacles removed, walkway.
- •Family 2, planned: overhang extended with rafters (56 m² of sheeting for 10 × 30 m), eave raised (4 to 6 weeks), slab (24 m³ for 300 m²), frame redone, water network.
- •Family 3, structural: north-south orientation, width > 10 m, hollow, neighbours too close; decisions: density reduced to 3.5-4 per m² in the heat, change of use, new house alongside.
- •Extend along the axis up to 50 m (+ 10 m = + 400 broilers at 5 per m²) or second house 16-20 m away; never in width.
13 min read · 5-question quiz
- 9Field exercise: measure an existing house and calculate its flock size in the heat
How many chickens can your house hold in March? Most farmers answer with the figure they have always used, or with the neighbour’s. The right answer is measured with a tape, in one hour, and calculated in ten minutes. This exercise has you measure the dimensions of your own house (or of the one you want to buy or rent), fill in a survey sheet, and derive from it the flock it can carry at 5 per m² in the hot period, with the corrections that would change that figure. It is the exercise a technician does before giving an opinion on a house.
What you will learn- ✓Measure with a tape the twelve useful dimensions of an existing poultry house, in the right order and at the right places
- ✓Fill in the survey sheet (table) and compare it with the reference dimensions of the 8 m house
- ✓Calculate the usable area, the hot-period flock at 5 per m² (manufacturers’ benchmark 8 to 10), the opening ratio and the air volume
- ✓Read the result: flock to order, corrections to make, and what each correction would change
Lesson outline- Equipment and preparation (day 0)
- The procedure: twelve dimensions, in order
- The survey sheet
- Reading the sheet: the five calculations
- From survey to decision, and the mistakes of the exercise
- What the exercise gives you for what follows
Key points- •Twelve dimensions surveyed inside, at three points: width, length, lobby, low wall, eave, ridge, overhang, ridge opening, orientation, obstacles, posts, slab; plus smoke and 2 p.m. temperature.
- •Usable area = width × usable length (without the lobby); hot-period flock = area × 5 (NEXTEKCI advice; manufacturers 8 to 10 in closed houses): 7.6 × 26.5 = 201.4 m² → 1,000 broilers.
- •Opening ratio = (eave − low wall) × 2 × usable length ÷ usable area, to be kept at 40-50%: here 42%, 50% with a 0.5 m low wall.
- •Prudence rule: − 1 bird per m² as long as the ridge is closed or the overhang is less than 1 m: 800 instead of 1,000.
- •The survey decides: how many to order (real state), what to correct first (easy dimensions furthest off), buy or rent (orientation, width, siting, slab).
12 min read · 5-question quiz
- 10Case study: the construction file of an 8 × 40 m house, from plan to handover
Mrs A. has been selling 600 chickens per flock for three years in a rented house, and her buyers are asking for twice as many. She has a plot of 60 m by 90 m eight kilometres from Agnibilékrou, a well, and the decision to build. This case study follows her construction file from the first day to the handover report: the pieces of the file, the figures, the three moments when the site wanted to depart from the plan, and what the empty test revealed. Everything you have learned in this specialisation is in this file, in the order in which it is used.
What you will learn- ✓Put together the complete construction file of an 8 × 40 m house: the ten pieces, in order
- ✓Follow a real building site stage by stage, with the quantities, the checks and the three corrected deviations
- ✓Read an empty test and a handover with reservations, and decide on the chick order
- ✓Draw from the case the rules to apply to your own file
Lesson outline- The situation and the decision
- The ten pieces of the file
- The site, stage by stage, and the three deviations
- The empty test and the reasoning
- The handover and the chick order
- What should have been done before, and what the case teaches
- Going further
Key points- •Ten pieces: site grid, dimension sheet, three-view plan, quantity page, choice of materials, networks, works contracts, calendar, site logbook, handover report.
- •Three deviations corrected because checked in time: low wall of three courses (demolished the same day), solid ridge capping (refused in the logbook), cap at 15 cm (raised to 30 cm at the empty test: from + 2.5 °C to + 0.8 °C).
- •Handover 14/15 with one non-blocking reservation (gutter); the four blocking points (height, overhang, ridge vent, water) compliant; last instalment held until cleared.
- •Well re-measured in March (240 L/h = 1,920 L in 8 h, need 850); chicks booked with the supplier after the report, for three and a half weeks later; first flock at 1,400 out of prudence.
- •What should have been done before: measure the well in March, write the height of the cap in the contract, deliver the blocks to the planned quantity.
15 min read · 5-question quiz
Frequently asked questions
How wide should a poultry house be in Côte d'Ivoire?
The NEXTEKCI School (Agnibilékrou) recommends 8 m of inside width, 10 m at the most. In natural ventilation, the air entering through a long side loses its speed as it crosses: beyond 9 to 10 m, it no longer reaches the centre and the middle strip of the flock suffocates at 2 p.m. At 8 m, the air still crosses, two water lines and three feeder lines fit in, and the frame spans the width without a central post. To house more chickens, you lengthen the house up to 50 m or build a second parallel house 16-20 m away; you never widen.
How many chickens fit in an 8 × 30 m house?
An 8 × 30 m house offers 240 m² of usable floor area. In the hot period, the NEXTEKCI School advises 5 broilers per m², i.e. 1,200 chickens; the manufacturers' guides indicate 8 to 10 per m², but those figures are established for closed, climate-controlled houses, not for an open-sided house at 34 °C in March. In the cool season, the same house can go up to 6 or 7 per m², i.e. 1,400 to 1,700 chickens, if the market and the water follow. You always deduct the lobby and the rooms from the usable area before multiplying, and you take off one bird per m² as long as the ridge is closed or the overhang too short.
How should a poultry house be oriented?
The long axis runs east-west: the two 8 m gables face the sunrise and the sunset, the open long sides face north and south. In this way the sun, almost vertical in Côte d'Ivoire, never hits the long sides where the birds live; a north-south house receives the 3 p.m. sun on 30 or 40 m of wall and gains 3 to 5 °C every afternoon. If the prevailing wind blows east-west and contradicts the sun, the sun wins: you keep east-west and circulation fans make up for it. The NEXTEKCI School advises checking on site with a compass (90°-270°, tolerance 15 to 20°) and a ribbon stake for two weeks.
How high should an open-sided poultry house be?
Between 2.5 and 3 m under the eave and 4 to 4.5 m at the ridge with a roof slope of 30 to 35%. The NEXTEKCI School retains 2.8 m and 4.2 m for an 8 m house: the sheeting, which reaches 60 to 70 °C, stays far enough from the chickens' backs not to grill them, and the air volume (about 0.7 m³ per bird) absorbs the heat given off by the flock. Too low, at 2 m, the roof radiates like a grill; too high, the curtains are hard to handle and the rain gets in. The ridge stays open over 0.3 to 0.5 m, protected by a cap, to let the hot air out.
Which materials should be used to build a poultry house in Côte d'Ivoire?
The choice that lasts twenty years is mixed: reinforced concrete where the soil and termites attack (footings, ground beam, posts, slab), blocks for the 0.5 m low wall, dry protected hardwood (iroko, bete, teak) or steel profiles for the frame that stays dry, 0.40 mm sheet or alu-zinc profile painted white for the roof, galvanised chain-link mesh with 2.5 cm openings for the sides, and light UV-stabilised woven tarpaulin for the curtains. White woods get eaten in two to four years in contact with the ground, and a 0.25 mm sheet rusts through in five to eight years: the NEXTEKCI School teaches you to reason on lifespan rather than on the day's purchase.
How much water should be planned for 1,600 chickens?
You calculate at the peak, at the end of the flock and in the hot period: 1,600 broilers eat about 288 kg of feed per day and drink up to 2.5 times what they eat, i.e. 720 litres, plus 100 to 150 litres for washing and staff: about 850 litres per day. The NEXTEKCI School requires a 48 to 72 hour reserve, i.e. 2,500 to 3,000 litres in two tanks placed in the shade, bottom at 2.5-3.5 m high to feed nipples at 0.2-0.3 bar. The well or borehole must supply these 850 litres every day in March, which is checked by measuring its recharge over one hour at the end of the dry season, never in the rainy season.
How long does it take to build an 8 × 40 m house?
Ten to twelve weeks with a team of four to six people, in the dry season: setting out, excavations and foundations (weeks 0 to 2), posts (3), low wall and slab (4), concrete curing (5), frame (6-7), roof and ridge vent (8), mesh, curtains and doors (9), water and electricity (10), seven-day empty test (11) and handover (12). The NEXTEKCI School advises starting in November or December to pour foundations and slab outside the rains, to be watertight by the end of February and to take delivery in April; a site started in the rainy season takes more like fifteen weeks. The chicks are ordered only after the handover report.
Can a badly built poultry house be corrected?
Often, yes. A bare roof is painted white, a closed ridge is opened with a cap, a 1 m low wall is brought down to 0.5 m, curtains are replaced: these corrections fit into a three-week sanitary break and bring the temperature down by 2 to 4 °C at 2 p.m. A too-short overhang is extended, a too-low eave is raised and an earth floor receives a slab, with major works. On the other hand, a north-south orientation, a width of 12 m or more and a siting in a hollow cannot be corrected: the NEXTEKCI School then teaches how to lower the density, change the use of the house or build an 8 m house alongside.
In conclusion
By the end of this specialisation, you know how to put together the complete file of a poultry house, from the site grid to the handover report, and you know how to read an existing house with a tape to calculate its real flock size in the hot period. The final exam awards the 'Designing and building a poultry house' specialisation certificate, issued privately by NEXTEKCI. The Academy videos and Maria, the online assistant, accompany every lesson.