Cage keeping of chickens: description, cage sizes, care features

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Cage equipment for keeping chickens is very often used in a farm where a lot of birds are bred. It is noteworthy that the designs are made both manually and made to order. The main thing here is to comply with the requirements and rules that will make the cage keeping of laying hens safe and convenient.

Dignity

Placing birds in these structures provides several advantages over traditional boxes or perches. Indeed, in this case, the number of chickens will not be difficult to increase, even though the territory is very limited in its area. It is also possible even at home to keep chickens in cages just because it will be very convenient to serve such a bird. The feed will be saved due to the ergonomics in its delivery and the limited mobility of the bird. It will take much less time to collect eggs. Such conditions provide greater security. And if in traditional chicken coops one square meter is allocated for each bird, then here it will accommodate up to 10 laying hens. And this reduces the cost of maintaining the premises.

Caged laying hens make cleaning easier. In cages, the bird is more protected from predators and infections that wild animals can bring with them. The feed is given in separate trays, which means that it will not wake up and be trampled. Also, the bird is inactive, which means that it will not need much food. Breeds of chickens for cage keeping are chosen meat and egg - after all, the weight of such birds in cages will gain much more than when living in nests, even if the same amount of food is spent on them.

Always in this case, install equipment for collecting eggs. This makes it easier to collect them. But, of course, this method has its drawbacks.

Flaws

When planning to organize the cage keeping of chickens, it must be taken into account that the quality of life of such individuals will be extremely low. They will need to be fed with calcium, vitamin complexes. Since the chickens are very close to each other, the risk of an epidemic will increase if the infection does get here. There will be no natural lighting, and a lot of birds will die due to heart attacks - after all, the food is plentiful, and there is practically no movement. The lack of sunlight also leads to a deterioration in the condition of the bird. Lighting expenses required.

If a bird is kept in an aviary, it receives trace elements by eating stones, insects, grass. But she is deprived of this opportunity in a cage. It is important to ensure regular veterinary control, otherwise there is a high risk that the entire livestock will die from an infectious disease.

Cage Requirements

To increase the efficiency of the cage keeping of mini-meat chickens and reduce the risk of problems, compliance with all equipment requirements will help. So, it is important to equip each compartment with its own feeder and drinker. It is necessary to make the walls of steel, it is not necessary to make them solid. You will need to ventilate the room in a timely manner. The diameter of the rods in the nets should not be less than 2.5 mm, otherwise the pallet risks bending under the weight of the chickens.

Cage sizes for cage keeping of chickens should not be less than 0.06 square meters. If the breed is meat and egg, the minimum size is 0.08 square meters.

It is necessary to organize the feeders and drinkers in such a way that it is easy to remove them, at the same time, the fastening should be as reliable as possible. The ceiling and walls of the chamber should be made of steel gratings. This will prevent excessive moisture, while the cage will be ventilated.

In each chamber, with the cellular content of mini-hens, it is allowed to place from two to twelve individuals. As a rule, chambers measuring 0.7 meters deep, 1.9 meters wide and 0.7 meters high are used. That's enough for five birds.

Equipment required

To maintain the normal life of the bird, it is necessary to equip the room with ventilation, heating, and an automatic drinker. To organize the latter, you will need to supply water according to the vacuum type. It is important that the water tanks are hermetically sealed.

In order for the room to be adequately lit, it is necessary to use lampsincandescent or LED bulbs. An energy-saving variety of them is also suitable. But the latter can, when broken, poison the hens with mercury vapor. Incandescent bulbs will consume nine times more energy than LEDs.

It is necessary to purchase equipment for lighting on the basis that when cage keeping chickens, you will need to have a 100-watt lamp for every 2 square meters if incandescent bulbs are used, or 12-watt lamps when using LEDs.

Lighting

The light should be uniform, dark areas should not be allowed when laying hens are caged at home. Light day will last 14-16 hours. To automatically maintain the mode, it makes sense to set an appropriate timer. If there are windows, you need to purchase a light sensor. It will turn off the lamps when there is enough daylight natural light.

What you need to make

Chambers for laying hens are made of metal gratings. They are fixed on a frame made of metal or wood. To mount the camera, you need to take grids and metal corners of 3 mm or more. You will need sheet metal thicker than 1.5 mm - these will be trays. For feeders, you need to take plywood sheets thicker than 2 mm. For a drinking bowl, pipes of 70 mm will be needed. You will also need hinged loops, hooks, nails, self-tapping screws.

It is acceptable to make litter trays not from tin, but from plastic. From the tools you will need welding equipment, a screwdriver, a grinder, a tape measure, a building level. With the main points of the cellular content of chickens at home, you will need to decide before you create cameras. It will be most effective to use video instructions for making such cages.

Saving installation time can be achieved by installing a common sloping floor. It is important to consider that the litter tray can only be shared by two cages, no more. Otherwise, there will be many difficulties in cleaning it in the future.

Contents

Features of the cellular content of chickens will be largely due to the time of the bird. Feeding chickens will be fundamentally different from that of adults.

If there is automatic lighting, heating, water supply, then care will be as simple as possible. All that is required is to regularly disinfect the chambers, control the general characteristics of the room (lighting, humidity, temperature), and ensure that food is always available. It is important to monitor the outward signs of pet he alth.

Humidity

The appropriate humidity level will be determined by how densely stocked the chickens are. If the density is high, 45% humidity will be enough, and the temperature will be 23 degrees. Every 3 days you will need to wipe the rods, feeders, drinkers, disinfecting. The water is replaced with the same regularity. The litter along with the garbage is taken out every day. Once every 14 days, you will need to take the bird out of the chamber in order to carry out internal disinfection of the chambers with chlorine.

Food

With cellularkeeping chickens, it is better to give preference to compound feed. They are enriched with useful trace elements. In cases where the food is homemade, it is important to dilute the diet with egg shells, clearing it of films. Special complexes with calcium are also suitable.

If the food is topped up, it must be thoroughly mixed every time. Otherwise, it will begin to cake, and the bottom layer will be damaged. Nevertheless, such conditions of detention are considered the easiest, because in the presence of perches it is much more difficult to raise a bird.

In Russia and around the world

When choosing a method of breeding poultry, it should be borne in mind that the cage keeping of chickens throughout the civilized world, in European states, is not used. The thing is that this method of breeding is recognized as traumatic for the bird, inhumane. Such production is cruel, it does not correspond to the ecological ideas of the production of livestock products.

While almost all Russian farms use just such a system. At poultry farms, despite the vast expanses of the country, they try to save space, and the birds are put in cages.

Product quality

Also, keeping poultry not in cages allows you to get better meat. It tastes better, and the demand for such products is higher. In this case, the cost of goods is also higher. The bird must necessarily have space for walking, to be in the fresh air. You can increase the number of laying hens in chicken coops,using a tiered floor system. In cases where the cages are poorly equipped, made without complying with all requirements, the bird will simply receive permanent injuries to the legs, abdomen, and eggs will be produced much less than normal.

Often, the producer avoids such negative consequences by placing chickens in cages only in the winter. At the same time, laying hens are provided with special insulated bedding, fed with fresh herbs and vegetables. As a rule, cage keeping of chickens is used when the livestock is really huge.

Keeping in cells without sunlight leads to the lack of vitamin D in the body of the bird. And this leads to the development of rickets, the bird lays fewer eggs, and their quality is noticeably reduced. At the same time, many different diseases develop in the body.

Food should not include any dyes, drugs. After all, the body of a bird will not be able to digest such components. Professionals believe that high-quality chicken feed contains 15% protein, 5% fat and 6% fiber. The content of additional trace elements is also important.

When chickens are caged, automatic feeding systems are used - food is placed in separate trays near the cells. From there, the birds begin to peck at her. It is important that the water in the drinkers always remains fresh. One individual per day accounts for at least 0.5 liters of water. For this reason, the drinking system must necessarily be thought out. Otherwise, the bird runs the risk of getting sick quickly, andegg quality will be reduced.

Breeds

As a rule, cages contain meat and egg breeds of chickens. Of the egg breeds, most often it is in such conditions that the broken brown, leggorn, and Kuchin breeds are bred. It's all about their excellent adaptive abilities and the fact that in the cells their egg production does not decrease.

Summing up

Thus, caged chickens have many advantages. But it is worth taking into account very significant shortcomings. It is useful to refer to the practice of European states that have recognized this method of poultry breeding as unacceptable.

Also, the purchase of cage equipment for keeping laying hens will require initial capital. But if the entrepreneur has specialized skills, he will be able to make cameras on his own. This will result in significant savings. In cases where a decision has already been made to keep the bird in captivity, it is necessary to take care of the delivery of vitamin and mineral complexes. This is the only way to prevent the development of diseases under such conditions. Otherwise, there is a high risk that the entire livestock will die due to ailments and weakened immune forces of the body. In cases where chickens are constantly immobile, climate acceptability becomes especially important for them.

The simple installation of food and water containers will not work. It will be necessary to purchase automated feeding systems, drinkers. Taking into account all these factors, many farms in Russia still prefer cage breeding of chickens.

During the cold seasons, the room should be well heated. The temperature should never fall below 16 degrees. In summer, the figure is slightly higher - it reaches 18 degrees.

It is important that the light in the room turn on smoothly. It is recommended to diversify the color design of the light. In this case, as experienced bird breeders note, the productivity of chickens increases. It is best to alternate red, yellow and orange lighting. Thanks to this, the birds will calm down, and this will lead to an improvement in their condition. Their he alth will be better. Thanks to the smooth switching on of the light, the conditions are close in their characteristics to natural ones, and this also has a positive effect on the condition of the chickens.