How to set up an aviary and ensure the well-being and safety of the birds?

Knowing how to set up an aviary with a focus on biosecurity is essential for poultry enterprises. After all, this concerns the prevention of diseases, the promotion of bird welfare and, consequently, the guarantee of good technical performance.

 

In general terms, this care encompasses the entire set of management practices adopted to minimize the entry and transmission of pathogens and their vectors on farms. Therefore, it is essential to maintain safer and highly productive breeding.

 

However, despite involving all the preventive actions used in the daily life of the poultry farm, keep in mind that biosecurity begins when setting up the poultry house. Next, find out the main precautions to structure it correctly.

 

 

Firstly, understanding how to set up an aviary can seem complex when aiming to promote the health and well-being of birds. However, there are biosecurity practices that help guide this activity, in addition, it guarantees disease control and the quality of the products generated. Are they:

 

 

To begin with, ensure the correct size of the aviary. The definition of the size of the shed, feed lines and drinking fountains must consider the number of animals that will be housed. The ideal density for broiler chickens needs to vary from 12 to 16 birds/m².

 

This is important because inadequate space can lead to overcrowding and stress for birds, resulting in health problems and lower production. On the other hand, a very large poultry house can waste resources and energy.

 

Drinkers must have a capacity for 80 birds (pendulum for chickens and pressure for chicks). It is also possible to install an automatic nipple for 12 birds per nipple. The feeders can be trays for 80 chicks, automatic or tubular for 40 chickens.

 

 

In order to optimize the growth rate and feed conversion of birds, it is essential to value their environmental comfort. In other words, the ideal temperatures are 32 °C for the 1st day, 30 °C from the 2nd to the 7th day, 29 °C during the 2nd week, 27 °C in the 3rd week and 24 °C for the 4th week .

 

Additionally, install a reflective covering and insulating material on the roof to reduce the incidence of solar heat. To heat animals, it is possible to find specific electric, wood and gas heater systems.

 

As for ventilation, 300 m³/min (1/2 HP) fans are also available on the market. However, they need to be in a longitudinal or transverse direction, slightly inclined downwards and at mid-height of the right foot.

 

 

An essential point about how to set up an aviary is that it has two roads: one clean and one dirty. The clean one is used for the traffic of employees, materials and feed. The dirty one is used to transport waste, such as manure, dead animals and animals for slaughter.

 

This measure is essential to avoid cross-contamination. This is because separation helps to reduce the entry of pathogens and other disease-causing agents into the environment where the birds live.

 

Furthermore, it is important to have an exclusive entrance for vehicles and people, in order to minimize traffic on site. Also install a fence to delimit the perimeter and prevent the entry of unauthorized people, vehicles and equipment, as well as other animals.

 

 

The farm must be built in isolation from other areas that have birds of different ages. The recommended minimum distance is 300 meters. The same goes for other poultry farms, where the minimum distance must be 3 kilometers.

 

In addition to this care, it is important that the area is well away from urban centers or landfills. Under normal weather conditions, birds can become infected by microorganisms present in wind-driven dust particles.

 

Because of this, the more isolated the farm is, the less likely it is to transmit pathogens. In fact, this reduces the chances of visits from unknown and unauthorized people who could generate contamination.

 

 

The width of the farm influences its thermal conditions and costs. Its definition should be based on the climate of the region. Hot and humid locations should be up to 10m. In hot and dry places, it can be 10 to 14m.

 

To promote natural ventilation, the ceiling height must be proportional to the width of the house. If it is up to 8m, it can be 2.8m high. If it is 8 to 9m wide, that is 3.15m of elevation. From 9 to 10m, there are 3.5 heights. From 10 to 12m, it is 4.2m. From 12 to 14m, it is 4.9m high.

 

The length cannot be greater than 200 meters. The recommended thing to avoid competition is to install internal dividers, separating batches of up to 2 thousand birds. However, they must be made of mesh so as not to impede ventilation, removable and be up to 50 cm high to facilitate the poultry farmer’s handling.

 

 

The floor is a crucial element to protect the interior of the house against humidity and to facilitate its maintenance. It must be made of a material that is easy to clean, waterproof and not smooth. The thickness needs to be 6 to 8 cm.

 

Also, avoid hard floors, as they do not isolate moisture and are difficult to disinfect. The ideal is to opt for concrete with a mix of 1:10 (cement and gravel) or 1:4:8 (cement, sand and gravel), covered with 2cm of 1:4 mortar (cement and sand). Another option is laid bricks.

 

The curtains can be made of braided plastic, canvas or PVC, and are fixed halfway up the wall. They must exceed 30 cm from the curtain, which must have a seal, be double and made of the same material as the curtain. The activation can be via a toothed wheel with a chain or pulley.

 

 

Now that you know the best practices on how to set up an aviary, don’t give up on the best accessories for your property. After all, they also play a crucial role in the well-being and productivity of birds.

 

Many do not realize, but an inadequate choice of components can make the daily handling of animals less efficient and also generate risks, such as damage to the farm and even injuries to the animals.

 

Robustec is one of the largest national manufacturers of solutions for the sector. Aware of how to set up an aviary, ensure the best winches, ratchets and pulleys for feeders, curtains and drinking fountains.

 

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