Poultry production and production facilities have evolved significantly in recent years.

In some countries, poultry is raised outside in meadows or large sheds. This type of production is quite expensive because it needs a lot of space and resources. On the other hand, modern poultry production uses expensive equipment and housing to accommodate large numbers of birds in a high density with the minimum amount of labor.

Most of these facilities operate on a contract system, with integrators providing birds, feed, management advice and marketing channels, while the producer provides buildings, equipment and labor.

Turkeys and broilers are housed in widespan, one-story rectangular buildings, with the birds moving freely on a floor covered with deep litter (usually wood shavings).

The litter usually remains too dry for fly breeding to occur, except around leaking waterers, or in cases where improper grading allows surface water to run into the house.

In houses for breeder flocks and for commercial egg production, however, accumulations of moist manure frequently result in serious fly problems.

 

 

Production

Breeder flocks of chickens are usually housed in rectangular one-story buildings (holding approximately 8,000 birds), with the flocks changed every 12 to 15 months or so.

Drawing of a section of a poultry breeder house, showing raised slatted floor with manure accumulation beneath.

The middle portion of the house has litter (wood shavings), while the outer third on each side has a raised flooring of wooden slats 2.5cm apart.

The waterers and feeders are on the slatted portions, and a large part of the manure accumulates beneath the slats.

Eggs are collected by hand from nesting boxes along the inside  edge of the slatted areas.

Several houses are grouped together in an operation, with feed stored in upright bins and conveyed by augers to each house.

Laying hens for commercial egg production are housed in banks of cages in several different types of houses.

Cages are stacked three or four high, with each level set back to allow manure to drop beneath all the cages.

If the stacked cages overlap, an angled dropping board (often heavy plastic) is positioned between the cage levels to divert manure away from the birds.

In the narrow house, manure accumulates beneath the cages on the dirt or concrete floor and is removed by hand or with a small tractor and scraper.

In larger houses there are back-to-back tiers of cages running the length of the house, with two to five walkways per house. These houses may be the widespan type or the high-rise type (also called deep-pit).

 

Wide-span Housing

The wide-span house is one-story, with the lowest cages about 1m above the floor, where the manure accumulates.

Diagram of a section of a caged-layer poultry house, showing stacked cages and manure accumulated on the flat floor.

The floor is usually concrete and may be flat, in which case the manure is removed by tractor-mounted scraper.

Often the floor is recessed beneath the cages (shallow pit), and the manure is removed frequently with a mechanical cable-operated scraper or by flushing with large quantities of water pressurized by electric pumps.

With both the scraper and the flush systems, manure is brought to one end of the house and then augured or flushed into a lagoon, or transported for spreading on fields.

The scraper and flush systems must be operated two or three times a week to prevent excessive accumulation of manure, which the equipment cannot move effectively.

 

High-rise Housing

The high-rise house is similar to the wide-span structure, but is two-storied.

Diagram of a high-rise, or deep-pit-type, caged-layer poultry house showing stacked cages on the top story and deep manure accumulation beneath in the first story of the building.

The birds are on the top storey, with wooden walkways between banks of tiered cages, and no floor beneath the cages.

Manure accumulates on the floor (usually dirt; occasionally concrete) of the first storey.

Wet accumulated poultry manure in bottom storey of a high-rise caged-layer poultry house. 

Dry accumulated poultry manure in bottom storey of a high-rise caged-layer poultry house.

The first storey is approx. 2.5m high, and is sometimes set below  ground level, although it should be slightly above the prevailing ground level to provide drainage away from the house.

The manure is allowed to accumulate in this first storey level for months, or even a few years.

Manure removal is by tractor-mounted front-end loaders.

 

Openside Housing

Both wide-span and high-rise houses may be openside, with movable curtains for ventilation control in warm climates, or enclosed with fans for ventilation control in cool climates.

A wide-span house will typically be about 10–15m wide by 100–200m long, and hold 20'000 to 35'000 birds.

A high–rise house will be typically 12m wide by 200–300m long and houses 50–60'000 birds.

In both types of houses, egg collection and feed delivery are handled by automatic conveyer belt systems.

These may also be used in narrow houses, although feeding and egg collection are sometimes done by hand.

In all types of caged-layer houses, water is provided to the birds by various types of drinking cups or nipple-type waterers placed in a variety of positions in or next to the cages.

Occasionally water is provided by an open, flow-through trough, in front of or behind each tier of cages.

Caged laying hens are placed in the houses at 18–20 weeks old. When their egg production becomes low (12–14 months), they are either replaced or molted for a second, shorter egg-laying cycle.

Several houses are usually grouped together in an operation, with the feed stored in upright bins and conveyed to the houses by augers.

 

 

Manure

Manure accumulated under the slats in breeder houses and under the cages in commercial egg houses provides an ideal habitat for fly breeding.

Leakage from waterers and poor drainage help keep manure moist and suitable for fly breeding.

It is often difficult or impossible to achieve sufficient airflow over the manure in the houses to dry it.

Poultry production is increasing and production units are becoming larger.

Laying hens excrete about 5% of their body weight per day. Even with the best manure handling procedures, this presents an enormous potential for fly development.

Frequent flushing and scraping, and disposal of the manure into a lagoon, similar to the systems used for some dairy and pig operations, is effective provided lagoon design and maintenance is satisfactory.

Often, however, flushing or scraping is incomplete and pockets of manure are left for fly breeding in the houses. If lagoons are overloaded, floating mats of solid matter, which support fly breeding, will occur.

In housing systems where the manure is allowed to accumulate for long periods, inadequate manure drying is common. Consequently, fly breeding is frequently a problem.

When accumulated manure is removed from houses, disposal often becomes a problem.

Manure is seldom stored in piles, due to the odors and fly breeding.

Distribution of manure on cropland and pastures in a thin layer will not support fly breeding. However, improper spreading, leaving deep clumps, can result in some fly production in those fields.

There is often insufficient land on which manure can be spread, due to the small acreage of many poultry farms and the limits to the amount of manure that can be used on cropland within a given period of time.