Nowadays, no matter where chickens are raised, they need to install a decent house for them to live in. Chicken cages are very important main equipment in chicken farms. Different cages are suitable for different environments. At the same time, they are also used to distinguish chicken breeds in different growth periods. There are two kinds of plastic and metal cages. Generally, chicken cages made of metal are common in farms, all of which are galvanized low carbon steel cold drawn wire. So, what should I do with the wiring chicken coop?
- Make cage first
The cage is a support bearing the cage body, which is composed of cross beams and diagonal braces. Beams and diagonal braces are generally made of angle steel or channel steel with a thickness of 2.0~2.5 mm.
- Cage body
The cage body of the chicken cage is made of cold drawn steel wire through spot welding, then galvanized (hot or cold plating) and then assembled, including front net, rear net, top net, bottom net, partition net and cage door. Generally, the front net and the top net are pressed together to form a 90 degree bend, the rear net and the bottom net are pressed together (or separately into a piece), the partition net is a single net piece, and the cage door, as a part of the front net or the top net, can be removed or turned up.
The cage bottom net shall have a certain slope (i.e. egg rolling angle), which is generally 6 ° ~10 °, extending 12~16 cm outside the cage to form an egg collecting trough. The size of the cage is generally 40~45 cm high in the front and about 45 cm deep. Each cage raises 3~5 chickens.
- Auxiliary equipment
In addition to the above cage frame and cage body, the egg guard plate is also an indispensable part of the chicken cage. The egg guard plate is a galvanized thin iron sheet, which is placed at the front and bottom of the cage. The distance between the lower edge and the bottom net is 5.0~5.5 cm. If the distance is too large, the chicken head can stretch out of the cage to carve the eggs in the egg trough. If the distance is too small, the eggs cannot roll off.
The material trough is a long trough pressed by galvanized iron sheet or plastic, which is installed outside the front net. The material trough shall be installed straightly, and the upper edge shall be provided with back eaves to prevent chicken scraping.
The water tank is a long groove made of galvanized iron sheet or plastic, mostly in the shape of V or u, which is installed above the material tank.
The installation of the water tank should be more straight, so that the water depth of each chicken seat is basically the same, and some chicken seats should not have no water, while others have too much water and overflow. In addition to the long water tank, there are nipple type water dispensers and cup type water dispensers.
- Overall installation of chicken cage
When assembling the chicken cage, first install the cage frame, and then use the cage clamp to fixedly connect each cage net to form the cage body. Generally, four small cages form a large cage. Each small cage is about 50cm long and one large cage is 2m long.
What are the common types of chicken cages?
- Full step egg hen cage
The full step layer chicken cage is the first chicken cage popularized during the transition from farmers’ free range to intensive chicken farms in China. It is the most widely used equipment in chicken production. The full step chicken coop has 2 ~ 3 layers, which has the following advantages: ① each layer of coop has a large open area, good ventilation and uniform light; ② The dejecta cleaning operation is relatively simple; ③ Simple structure and easy maintenance; ④ It is convenient for manual operation in case of machine failure or power failure. The disadvantage is that the feeding density is low, which is 10-12 animals /m2. The three-layer full step chicken cage and the two-layer full step artificial insemination of breeders are the most commonly used chicken cage combinations in China.
- Half step chicken coop
In order to further improve the feeding density, based on the full step cage, the upper and lower layers are partially overlapped to form a half step chicken cage. In order to avoid the feces of the upper layer of the chicken falling on the lower layer of the chicken, the upper and lower overlapping parts are provided with fecal baffles, which are installed at a certain angle, and the feces slide into the cesspit. The house feeding density (15-17 /m2) is higher than that of the full ladder, which can generally be increased by 30~30%, but lower than that of the cascade type. Compared with the full step chicken cage, the ventilation effect is slightly poor due to the obstruction of the fecal baffle, but the operation is more convenient and it is easy to observe the status of the chicken flock. At present, the half ladder chicken coops used are mostly four layers, and there are also three or more layers. As the number of layers increases, the height of the cage increases, and it is generally necessary to cooperate with mechanical feeding.
- Laminated chicken coop
The upper and lower layers of the half step chicken coop are completely overlapped to form a laminated chicken coop. A conveyor belt is arranged between the layers to remove the chicken dung. The utility model has the advantages that the house feeding density is high, the area of the chicken farm is greatly reduced, and the production efficiency of the breeders is improved; However, the requirements for chicken house construction, ventilation equipment and fecal cleaning equipment are high. Only a few chicken farms in China adopt this technology.
- Breeding cages include single-layer breeding cages and two-layer artificial insemination breeding cages.
Different from ordinary chicken cages, in order to ensure the normal mating or artificial insemination of male and female chickens, attention should be paid to: ① the size of single cage and the diameter of cage mesh steel wire should adapt to the characteristics of large weight of breeding chickens; ② Generally, only 2 hens are raised in each single cage; ③ The cage door structure should be convenient for catching chickens for artificial fertilization.
- Bred chicken cage
In order to improve the survival rate and evenness of bred chicken, increase the density of house feeding and facilitate management, bred chicken cages are widely used. Generally, there are 3 ~ 4 layers and 6 ~ 8 single cages in the raised chicken cages.
- Brood into a one-stage chicken cage
The chicken cage is widely used in the area where the layer is raised in two-stage system. The characteristics of the chicken cage are that the chicken can be raised from 1 day old to the time before laying (about 100 days old), reducing the emergency and labor intensity of flock transfer. The chicken cage has three layers, and only the middle layer is used in the chicken stage. As the chicken grows up, it gradually disperses to the upper and lower layers. 25 chickens can be raised per square meter.
- Egg laying cage
At present, the egg laying cages produced in China mainly include light egg laying cages for white shell layers and medium egg laying cages for brown shell layers. In addition, a small number of heavy egg laying cages are used for meat breeding chickens.