This article will be highly beneficial for every reader to get knowledge regarding Environmental Control Housing In Pakistan.

1. Past, Present and Future of
Environment Control House (ECH)
Dr Muhammad Umair Shah*
DVM (UVAS), M-Phil Scholar (Pathology) {UVAS}
Abstract:
Chicken is a nutritive value product. Poultry industry has been doing work from previous few
years to improve the management of chicken so that increase the production of chick free
from disease. So, they introduce the Environment Control House (ECH). Before ECH, chick
was growing in open shed. In open shed, production of chick was very less but when ECH is
introduced then production increase and required less time. In ECH, there are different
systems such as: Feeding system, Water system, Lighting system, Ventilation, Cooling
system, Temperature & Humidity and Bio-security. Now a day, scientists are doing work for
more improvement of the Environment control house. Due to environment control house,
chicks are producing in short time and earn more profit with better FCR.
*Dr M. Umair Shah +92-305-4112545
drumairshah@yahoo.com

2. Introduction:
Before Environment control house, chick
was produce in the open shed. Open shed
was controlled manually. It was totally
controlled by labor. There was no automatic
feeding and watering system. There was not
also controlled ventilation. In open shed,
naturally management and birds move in
covered and open paddock (No movement
restriction but birds remain in limited area).
In open shed, there was used more labor,
more expensive, low profit and less
production. To improve the production and
get more profit so introduce the environment
control house where birds grow very well
and more in number, and also get more
production with less labor and expensive.
There are different types of production
system in poultry.
i) Extensive
ii) Semi-intensive
iii) Intensive
Extensive system is very old system. In this,
open sheds are used for production. Birds
grow in open area with manual
management. In open shed, manual feeding
system and manual watering system are
present. Birds lived in covered area and give
open area which was the double area of the
covered area. Open shed was very time
consuming and less output production
system. There were many health risk factor
and labor expensive.
After that, improvement done in it and
introduce Semi-intensive system. Semi-
intensive system is a modified form of
extensive system. In this, some machines are
used for control of management of shed but
it was not completely controlled by
machines.
After Semi-intensive system, Intensive
system introduced. One best example of
intensive system is Environment Control
House (ECH) which is categorized into:
i) Cage system
ii) Deep litter system.
In cage system, birds grow in the cage. It is
also called battery system. Four to Six
stories of cage are present and one cage has
capacity of 8 to 10 birds. Easily manage the
bird and very good hygienic measures are
adopted in it. In cage system, commercial
layer and the broiler can grow here. But it is
more benefit for layer. Because broiler
required movement due to having more
weight but layer has ideal weight (low
weight). Production stage of layer in cage
and the brooding and growing stage is
benefit at deep litter system
In deep litter system, birds grow at the floor
because it required less space. We used litter
at floor for padding material i.e rice straw
etc. Litter system help in to avoid bumble
foot. At the end, litter sale and earn money.
Mostly, broiler and breeders grow at deep
litter system and now a day, layer brooding
and growing phase is done at deep litter
system and then convert into the cage
system so that get good quality of eggs and
easily catch the eggs and store into store
room.
ECH is totally controlled by the machines:
Automatic Feeding; Automatic Drinking;

3. Automatic Medication; Automatic
Ventilation; Automatic Light Management;
Automatic cooling system (pad system).
ECH is defined as “A house for
commercial poultry which is completely
controlled and less chance of disease risk.
Shed Dimension:
One important thing for the construction of
shed is “direction” of the shed which depend
upon the area where constructing it. In cool
areas, direction of shed is north to south. In
hot areas, direction of shed is east to west.
ECH width should be 50ft and height is 8ft.
Length of ECH is varying from 400 to 600ft
and it depended upon the number of chicks
which are produce in it.
Location of the shed is also important
because social & economical problem are
present. Site of shed should be good and it
linked with main road and it should be away
from populated areas and other
building/sheds. ECH is constructed at that
place where necessary facilities easily
available. Water quality should be good.
Easy to approach market from shed. Some
other places are present at shed such as: one
feed room, one office, one store room, one
or two room for labor and one generator
room with distribution panel.
Equipment’s of ECH:
There are different equipment’s which are
used in ECH such as distribution panel,
generator, tunnel fans, side wall or exhaust
fans, cooling pads, main doors, windows,
temperature & humidity sensor, lux meter,
velocity meter, feeding system, drinking
system, medication and light bulbs. In
feeding system, first feed store in Silo. After
that go to major hopper then go to small
hopper after that go to feeding lines and
feeder. There are different types of feeding
systems: Augur system, Belt system and
Trough system.
Augur system is mostly used in deep litter
but now a day, it is also used in cage system.
Belt & Trough are mostly used in cage
system. At the end, feed enter into feeder.
Feeders are the pot of feed for chick.
Feeders are different for broiler/layer and
breeders. There are two types of feeders:
Round feeder and Oval shape feeder.
Oval shape feeders are best because more
birds can feed at a time. One feeder has
capacity for 60 birds (broiler/layer). In
breeder, one feeder has capacity for 12-15
birds. At the starting days, we use the plates
for the easy access of feeding for chick.
Feed should be free from any contamination
such as mycotoxin, bacteria etc.
In drinking system, water is store in water
tank then it moves to the water lines into the
shed through water pipes and come into the
nipples. One nipple has capacity for 10-
12nbroiler/layer birds and 8-9 for breeders.
At the starting days (DOC), we use the
manual drinker for the easy access of water.
Fresh water is necessary for the better health
of the chicks. And it should be available
every times because chicks are drink water
two times of the feed.
Light is also another necessary requirement
for chick. In Environment control house,
there is not direct exposure of sun light. So,
we used artificial light to fulfill the light
requirement of the chicks. For broiler, we

4. used light for whole day. But for
commercial layer and breeder, light rang is
different because light is necessary for the
development reproductive system. So, light
required different at different time period.
Ventilation:
Ventilation helped in exchange of gases
inside of shed to outside. Fresh air is come
into the shed and waste gases move toward
outside. For ventilation, we used tunnel fans,
side wall exhaust fans and inlet windows.
There are three types of Ventilation:
i) Minimum Ventilation
ii) Transition Ventilation
iii) Tunnel Ventilation:
Minimum ventilation is done during winter
season. In this, we used side wall exhaust
fan and tunnel fan closed and pad are also
closed. Transition ventilation is done
between summer and winter season. Tunnel
ventilation is done during summer season.
During tunnel ventilation, we used tunnel
fans and cooling pads with inlet open.
Side wall fans (Box fans) are also used when
more gases produced inside the shed and
cause the more suffocation. Inlets are also
used for the come the fresh air into the shed
when tunnels fans are doing work. There are
also side wall windows which used to catch
the birds and also to avoid more gases
production in the shed. Tunnel fans used to
control the temperature, humidity and also
helped in exchange the waste gases. There
should be three doors for house to enter the
house or used during washing the shed.
Cooling system (Pad):
For cooling purpose, we used the pads.
These used in hot season when temperature
of shed is high. Cooling pads are constructed
in shed of different types: U shape, only at
both side wall and opposite to tunnel fan
wall.
U shape pad is best for proper cooling in the
shed as compared to other two types of
cooling pads. Cooling pads can also use
when temperature of the shed will be down
than required normal rang. It covered with
plastic paper when it is not functional so that
pads could not deteriorate.
Biosecurity:
Biosecurity is defined as any management
practices that prevent the spread of disease
into the shed or to avoid the spreading of
pathogen into the shed. Bio-security has two
types:
i) Internal Bio-security
ii) External bio security
External bio-security is defined as to avoid
the entered the new birds in to the older
birds. Because these are the source of the
pathogen and spreading the disease into
already present flock. Internal bio-security is
defined as to avoid the visiting of visitor,
control pests & rodents. It is related with the
personal policies. For this, to avoid the
visitor, visitor of medicine companies and
other person who related with other farm.
Bio-security should be start from main gate
to inside the shed. Now a day, bio-security is
necessary for the improvement of meat
production. Disease is spread by the visitors,
vehicles, rodents, pests, staff members, wild

5. birds and affected birds. Bio-security helped
us in the control of spreading of disease. We
do some practices in bio-security to control
the spread of disease.
For bio-security, we use some disinfectant
such as: Formaldehyde, Formalin &
KMNO4. Due to bio-security, we treat the
vehicles with the formalin spray. And we
should treat the all other things which come
into the shed. We should treat the feed and
water so that it should be free from
pathogen. Because the major sources of
spreading of the pathogen are feed and
water. Formalin spray should be done twice
in a week outside the shed and insecticide
spray at human living areas and on the
plants.
Advantages of ECH:
 In ECH, we can produce more chicks
in less space (30000 broilers in
18000sqft) as compared to open
house in which 18000 birds required
18000sqft space for growing.
 There is less chance of disease due to
biosecurity and disinfectant.
 Gain more weight in low duration.
 FCR is best (1.75) as compared to
open shed (FCR= 4.75).
 In one year, we produced more
flocks as compared to open shed.
 Meat/ eggs quality is good.
 Less labor required as compared to
open shed.
 Cost of medication is less.
 We earn more profit.
 Health status of Birds remains good.
Major issues of ECH:
1. First major issue of ECH is the
ammonia gas production. If
ammonia level is more than 20ppm
is danger for the health of birds. And
it effect on the growth of birds and it
is the major cause of the mortality.
2. Second major issue of ECH is
“monitoring” so that reduce the
manpower and other risk of
management because of during
flock, we are not know how are birds
growing? At the end of flock, we
know the FCR.
Strategies to solve the issues:
1. For ammonia gas, we would improve
the ventilation of the house. Now a
day, ranking is doing in house to
reduce the ammonia gas in house.
For ranking, we are utilizing the
manpower and loss income. If we
improve the ventilation, we reduce
the manpower. And other solution is
litter treatment. We can treat the
litter with some solution through
which reduced the ammonia gas
production. For this, we should treat
the feed, treat the water and treat the
litter.
2. For monitor the shed, we do work on
it. If we monitor from one day to till
production, we improved the
management and get more
production and reduce the
management risks. For monitoring,
we should keep record from Day old
chick (DOC) to production and
monitoring it by cameras. Due to it,
we monitor the all activities at one
place and outside the shed.