Poultry farming equipment: 7 Things you need to get started

There are certain poultry farming equipment that you need when setting up a poultry farm. These include feeders and drinkers, bedding or flooring material, beak trimmer, trays, and so on.

In this article, we will do deep dive on all equipment and materials you need when setting up a commercial poultry farm.

However, if you’re a backyard poultry farmer, with a small flock and producing only for your consumption, you can make, recycle or repurpose household items to get your poultry going.

In addition to the following 7 poultry farming equipment types, there are other considerations you need to make when setting up a poultry farm.

Poultry farming equipment

1. Flooring and bedding material

Depending on the poultry housing system you employ in your poultry farm, you will need some flooring or bedding material for your chicken. For instance, in a deep litter system, you can use wood shavings. Poultry flooring and bedding material can include:

• Wood shavings
• Meshing
• Perching

2. Feeders and drinkers

Feeding equipment is fundamental to your poultry farm. Without it, you will not be able to feed your birds efficiently and effectively.

If you’re setting a large poultry farm or have sufficient funds, you can consider automatic feeders and drinkers. However, automatic feeders may be limited by the type of poultry housing system you use.

3. Heating and lighting poultry farming equipment

Heating equipment is a key especially if you are getting started with a young flock.

The heating material and or equipment will depend on a number of factors such as utility costs, availability and reliability.

For example, it is not advisable to rely solely on electric heaters, if you live in an area where power outages are frequent. Some common heating equipment include:

• Electric heaters
• Solar heaters
• Charcoal stoves

4. Poultry weighing scale

A poultry weighing scale is necessary especially if you’re keen on keeping poultry records. Poultry weight is a key metric for calculating feed conversion ratio for your. Moreover, if you want to track the growth of your chicken by time, then you must have a poultry weighing scale.

5. Feed processing and handling

For a small scale farmer, feed processing and handling equipment may not be necessary. However, if you are running a large farm, you might find that it is cost effective to process your own poultry feed.

To begin with, processing your own poultry feed might require a feed miller, mixer and scale. Feed processing and handling equipment:

• Feed mill
• Feed mixer
• Feed weighing scale
• Feed packaging

Additionally, if you are processing large amounts of feed, you will need feed packing equipment so you can store and handle feed efficiently.

A feed weight scale is necessary even if you are not processing your own poultry feed. Since poultry birds have a feeding schedule that prescribes the amount of feed required per bird per day, you definitely need a feed scale for that.

Flock age	Feed amount
Week 1 – 6	60g / bird / day
Week 7 – 17	90g / bird / day
Week 18+	120g / bird / day

From the above feed schedule, if you’ve 1000 birds in a flock that is 8 weeks old, then you need a feed amount equivalent to (90 * 1000)g.

6. Biosecurity and personal protective equipment

It is essential to have biosecurity equipment for your flock’s health and safety. This includes both active and passive measures that you implement to prevent and control disease and other factors that affect poultry health and safety.

First and foremost, you need vaccine administration equipment. Additionally, you need personal protective gear, including a foot dip at the coops’ entrance, depending on your poultry housing system. The necessity of beak trimming may depend on the type of poultry housing you have. Biosecurity equipment and PPE for poultry farming:

• Beak trimmer
• Vaccine / medicine administration equipment
• Personal Protective equipment (PPE)
• Foot dip
• Litter extraction / handling equipment
• Fumigation equipment

When introducing a new flock to an already used coop, you need to thoroughly clean and fumigate the coop. As a result, you need coop cleaning and fumigation equipment for the purpose.

7. Produce handling, processing and packaging

You will definitely be handling and processing poultry produce if you are running a large poultry farm. For instance, you will need egg collection and packaging equipment if you have layers flocks.

Poultry produce processing and packaging equipment include the following:

• Laying boxes
• Egg trays
• Feather plucker
• Produce weighing scale
• Meat packaging

Lastly but not least, at flock harvesting time, and if you are doing this at your farm, you will need slaughter, feather plucking and meat packaging equipment to say the least.

Poultry farming equipment: key takeaways

• There are at least 7 poultry farming equipment necessary when setting up a poultry farm
• The particular poultry farming equipment you need will depend on your farm type and activities therein
• Ensure you have poultry farming equipment that are mandated in your region