Chicken Farm Equipment & Components(Complete Information)

Last Updated on March 4, 2023

The excellent production and economics of a chicken farm largely rely on good farm practices. In this respect, chicken farm equipment plays a very crucial role in the successful poultry business.

Nowadays, chicken farming is flourishing in terms of better management. This is because the majority of the world’s population relies on chicken meat consumption. At the same time, chicken farming supplies employment to a vast number of people.

If you are a beginner and about to start a chicken farm, you need to know about its every aspect. In the poultry sector, many new and valuable advancements are now available. These help farmers a lot in managing the chicken farm and extracting high production.

To carry out farm operations, equipment is very vital in providing the necessary management. This article will focus on all the major components and equipment of chicken farms along with their benefits.

Important Chicken Farm Equipment & Their Importance

No chicken farm can perform well if it doesn’t have all the necessary equipment. I am going to address the major chicken farm components, equipment, and their use in a brief manner.

Housing & Infrastructure

Apart from land investment, a successful farm needs top-notch housing. There are several poultry production systems such as free-range, shed, and cage systems. The poultry world is focusing more on the free-range system in terms of better chicken health and organic profile.

But, to compensate for the large production, shed and cage systems are mostly in practice. In deciding the housing, you must know how many chickens you’re planning to keep. The house or shed must be built in an east-west direction to minimize the sunlight from heating the shed.

For the material, concrete chicken housings withstand the weather better and don’t wear off easily. Another advantage of concrete is that it stays cooler in extremely warm environments. This will ultimately maintain the inside temperature of the shed at an ideal level.

Ventilation Fans

Ventilation is very crucial for the elimination of toxic gases such as ammonia from the chicken house. Make sure to build vents or you can also use exhaust fans for this purpose. Ventilation fans help reduce the temperature in hot weather and maintain humidity levels inside the farm.

Cooling Pads

Cooling pads are used in the case of environmentally controlled chicken farms. They are made of softwood or cardboard but are much more durable in wet conditions. These pads are placed at one end of the farm shed and ventilation fans are placed on the opposite wall.

A cooling pad works by exchanging the heat between its different corrugated layers. There is a water channel running inside attached to a main water supply. The ventilation exhaust fans run in the outside direction and pull the cool air from the cooling pads inside the chicken shed.

Litter & Flooring

Choose a good quality litter and take notes on the correct litter depth. Poultry experts recommend a depth of 3 inches with regular litter turning regularly. This will minimize the potential risk of disease spread in poultry birds.

You can use rice straw, wood dust, or commercially available litter. In choosing so, make sure it has a good absorbing ability and dries off quickly. Failure to turn, change or replace litter material can cause pathogenic organisms to grow and high humidity levels in the house.

Egg Incubators

Chicken breeder farms all over the world use incubators to meet the high chick production demand. Incubators provide an ideal environment for eggs to incubate and hatch at optimum temperature and humidity.

If you’re interested in getting one, make sure to invest in an automatic incubator. Once set, the automatic incubator runs on the defined settings. At the same time, they don’t need any kind of manual readjustments in the longer run.

Chick Brooder

Brooder provides heat and helps to maintain the health of chicks when they arrive at a farm. This equipment is especially important in the case of broiler farming to enhance weight gain. Day-old chicks require different temperatures than adult chickens for brooding purposes.

After the arrival of new chicks, they must be placed at ideal brooding temperatures. Usually, chicken farms place the brooder in the middle with partitions for equal chick distribution. You can get an electric, gas, or coal-powered brooder for your farm.

Laying Nests

If the main aspect of your chicken farm is getting egg production, you must add laying nests in the housing. In the layer farming business, laying nests benefit the farmers by improving egg production.

Wooden laying nests are always a good option because of their comfort. However, using termite susceptible wood can be problematic. You must add the nests depending upon the number of hens as one nest box for every four hens.

Feeders & Drinkers

Poultry science is not only trying to improve productivity but also feeding practices. There are a variety of plastic and metal feeders available to carry out good feeding operations. An ideal feeder consists of a central bucket with a feeding bowl underneath.

The feed is regularly added to the bucket and with time; it is slowly dispensed out into the bowl. The cleaning and sanitation of the feeders must be kept in focus to avoid pathogenic growth. Generally, 50 feeders are enough to support a large-scale chicken farm of 1000 birds.

The second important aspect of feeding management is the efficient use of drinker equipment. Most commercial-scale chicken farms are now shifting towards a nipple drinker system. For small chicken farmers, water bowls are still equally effective.

In comparison to water bowls, nipple drinkers are more effective in many ways. The whole drinker system is dispersed at regular intervals throughout the farm. It is connected to a main water pipeline and helps in less water wasting and litter spoilage.

Egg Washer & Trays

In chicken farms where the cage system and automatic conveyer belts are present, the eggs roll out and are collected. So, the eggs don’t get contaminated by the feces of chickens. But this setup is not very common on small-scale chicken farms.

An egg washer helps in cleaning the eggs from any kind of fecal contamination and germs. The machine uses a special cleaning powder that cleans the eggshell but doesn’t cause harm to the egg. Proper cleaning and tray collection adds value to the eggs before delivery.

Egg Scale & Candling Equipment

To manage farm profitability, correct egg size and fertility are important considerations. Investing in a good egg scale for weighing and grading enables you to incubate only the best-quality eggs.

Egg candling is used for centuries to tell if the egg is fertile or not. It uses a bright light source to see through the egg. The visible structures through the eggshell upon candling can tell the fertility of the egg and whether it can be incubated or not.

Looking for a Chicken Farm? Farms for Sale.

If you’re not into starting from scratch, you can buy a fully developed chicken farm. There are many farms on sale in the US region with excellent infrastructure.

Dirt Poor Farm is at 1470 County Road, Cullman County, Alabama. This farm is for sale with a price tag of 700,000 USD. The total area of Dirt Poor Farm consists of two houses (44×510) and was made in 2018.

Dirt Poor Farm is equipped with all the latest chicken farm equipment and has an annual income of 130,000 USD. There are Chore time feeders with Grower Val Drinkers installed. Along with that, the farm is located at a bio-secure location.

Another nice & clean poultry farm at 1026 Webner Road, Murray County, Georgia is another highly equipped chicken farm. It has 4 broiler houses with a space of 40×500 holding 7 flocks per year.

The farm is well established since 2005 with an additional stack shelter. Nice & Clean Poultry farm costs 1,075,000 USD & has all the upgraded poultry equipment. The total area of the farm is 8 acres with complete biosecurity measures in place.

Pitts has 18 house broiler farm that is spread over 80 acres of land. The total cost of this farm is 5,100,000 USD. In this 40×500 farm, there is a wide mobile home located inside the bio-secure area.

Overall, the farm is very clean and all the buyers and visitors are permitted to enter with proper permission. This farm is established in 2006 with good quality material and chicken farm equipment.

Final Words

Chicken farm equipment plays a huge role in making the industry fulfills global chicken demand. If you’re interested in building a small- or large-scale chicken farm, the above-mentioned equipment is a must.

Make sure to invest in the best quality chicken farm equipment from a reliable seller. You can find numerous companies specialized in delivering such modern technologies. Therefore, such equipment can uplift the production and profitability of your chicken farm.

Poultry farms around the world largely rely on automated technology for efficient operations. The improved and top-notch chicken farm equipment is the base of a successful poultry farm business.