Cage keeping of broilers at home

Beginning poultry farmers are wondering what is better: raising broilers in cages or in a special pen. To make an informed decision, you need to have complete information about the correct keeping of chickens. Broilers are bred for weight gain in a short time, so it is important to create favorable conditions for the chickens so that they develop properly.

Cage housing of broilers

Broilers are undemanding to living conditions, they have some kind of mental symbiosis with humans - they are fed, and they gain weight. The better the conditions of keeping and feeding are, the more actively the chicks grow. However, poultry farmers need to maintain a balance between the desire for weight gain in their pets and their living conditions.

pros

Cage keeping is quite beneficial for many factors, so many farmers are in favor of this method.

• The advantages of keeping a bird in a cage are as follows:
• the possibility of better compliance with hygiene conditions - no need to clean the entire enclosure;
• centralization and saving of food and liquid - it is possible to connect communications to stationary cells;
• compact placement of birds - row, tiered, block;
• better visual inspection of birds with the ability to identify unhealthy individuals and exclude them from the nursery;
• saving energy by pets - broilers gain weight rather than wasting calories on useless movements;
• the ability to regulate livestock by removing “overgrowth” from the cells;
• eliminating contact between residents of neighboring cells and their transmission of infections.

Important! Cellular content allows you to speed up the yield of marketable meat by a week. And compact housing conditions will reduce cleaning costs

Minuses

• The disadvantages of this growing method are also considerable:
• financial costs for organizing the cellular structure - supplying communications costs a lot of money;
• the impossibility of making the food balanced and natural, the chicken will not be able to wander and peck different food - grass or grains;
• lighting, ventilation and maintaining the required temperature in a large room will also cost a pretty penny;
• motor problems in chickens that have reached significant weight - their legs atrophy due to constant exposure to an unsupported mesh floor;
• the worst taste characteristics of the meat of such chickens.

Useful tips

To ensure that broilers feel good and gain weight quickly, experienced poultry farmers give the following recommendations:

1. Conduct farm inspections several times a day, identifying possible problems and rejecting low-quality livestock.
2. Use automation to control heating, ventilation and lighting of the poultry house.
3. Feed only high-quality food from trusted manufacturers, and not from “bucket” sellers from the market.
4. If possible, do not combine broilers and laying hens in adjacent cages - they have different feeding regimes and different functions from each other.
5. Litter can be removed either manually or a conveyor system can be installed to collect excrement for further use as fertilizer.

Breeding broilers is quite an interesting activity for farmers, both beginners and experienced.
Did you know? The word broiler comes from the English to broil, which means to fry on a spit.

These unpretentious birds are very responsive to care, and raising them is a quickly profitable business.

Fattening rules

The standard scheme for raising meat chickens involves the use of three diet options, taking into account age:

1. Designed for young animals during the first 5 days of life.
2. Applied at the next stage, until the chickens reach the age of 1 month.
3. The final one, which will form the basis of the menu for adult broilers, right up to slaughter.

Up to 5 days

Chicks in the first days of life are fed at intervals of 2 hours. They are given:

• hard-boiled, chopped egg mixed with semolina;
• cottage cheese with corn grits.

For 10 broilers you need 1 egg, 50 g of cereal and the same amount of cottage cheese. As a supplement you can feed:

• ground oatmeal with dry milk in a ratio of 4:1;
• ready-made feed for chickens.

Drinkers with fresh water should always be freely available.

For the first 5 days, babies need up to 15 g of feed per head. After 10 days, its quantity is increased to 20 g, and in the next 10 days - to 45 g. Then the volume of feed mixtures increases by 15-20 g every 10 days. As a result, by 2 months the bird consumes 115-120 g. Knowing the nutritional standards and the number of livestock, you can calculate the required amount of feed for the entire chicken coop.

From 6 days to 1 month

At the end of the first week the following is added to the menu:

• mash with yogurt or broth;
• waste from meat and fish.

From the 10th day they give:

• boiled potatoes with grain;
• chopped pumpkin, as well as carrots and zucchini.

Wet mash is prepared immediately before feeding, and birds should eat it within 40-50 minutes. Leftovers should be removed as they sag quickly and can cause digestive upset in chickens.

Fermented milk products in their pure form are very beneficial for chickens. They are given in the morning, after which the drinking bowls are washed and filled with water. To prevent intestinal infections, birds are fed a pale solution of potassium permanganate twice a week.

Starting from one and a half weeks, young broilers are transferred to 6 meals a day and given mineral supplements:

• crushed chalk;
• crushed egg shells.

To stimulate digestion, place coarse sand in separate bowls.

During the second stage of fattening, broilers are prepared with combined formulations from the following components:

• corn and soybeans;
• poppy seed and wheat;
• yeast and premix for chickens.;
• meat and bone (fish) and herbal meal;
• crushed shell;

The grain is given crushed. To ensure that the chicks peck the entire food, and not its individual components, the composition should be mixed well.

If birds scatter food around while eating, it is recommended to adjust the height of the feeders. In the first three weeks they are placed directly on the floor (bedding) and then raised.

The edge of the side of the feeder should be at the level of the chicken's back, and the container should be no more than 1/2 full of grain.

From 15 to 30 days of life, chickens undergo active skeletal growth and muscle formation. During this period, broilers are transferred to 4 meals a day, as the volume of food consumed increases. Feeds should be varied and high in calories. A grown-up meat chicken with proper development by the end of the 1st month has a noticeable massive chest, and rounded hips are shaped like hemispheres. At this age, the average weight of a bird is from 1.5 to 2 kg.

Finish fattening

The final stage of fattening lasts from 30 to 45 days. Its goal is to maximize body weight gain. To ensure high weight gain, base mixtures are formed based on:

• 45% corn grain;
• 10% - barley;
• 16% - wheat;
• up to 17% sunflower seed;
• 5% fish or meat and bone meal;
• 5% feed yeast;
• 1% vegetable oil.

By the age of 1.5 months. broilers living in cages weigh 2.5-3 kg. When kept outdoors, they can gain this body weight 10-14 days later. Poultry weighing 2 kg or more is considered ready for slaughter. After 45 days, the intensity of muscle mass building in broilers decreases, so their further maintenance becomes economically unfeasible.

Types of free-range bird keeping

Owners of livestock who prefer a no-walk type of chicken keeping raise poultry on permanent bedding or a mesh floor.

On the litter

On home farms, chickens are kept mainly on deep litter. It absorbs moisture well and gives off heat in winter. When droppings decompose, enzymes containing B vitamins are formed.

Chickens on a bed of sawdust

The litter may consist of wood shavings, straw chaff, peat, or contain several components at once. According to experienced poultry farmers, it is best to use a mixture of sawdust and peat in a 1:1 ratio, as it has good absorbency. Peat absorbs unpleasant odors and dries the chips, thereby inhibiting the formation of mold.

The recommended thickness of the litter is 15–20 cm. When replacing it in spring and autumn, part of the waste material is left and mixed with a new portion of sawdust and peat. In this case, the old shavings containing enzymes will act as a starter. In winter, the litter is turned more often to enrich it with oxygen, and in summer it is sprayed a little with water to maintain the humidity inside at 20%. Otherwise, the fermentation process will slow down.

Excessive waterlogging of the material should not be allowed - fungus quickly develops in damp conditions. In such an environment, helminth eggs and larvae of skin parasites are preserved. Chickens on wet litter freeze and their immunity weakens.

On the mesh floor

Some farmers keep poultry on a mesh floor. This method allows you to save money and reduce labor costs - you do not need to buy sawdust, peat, turn over the litter and monitor its condition. Removing litter is much easier, since it falls under the net, on special pallets.

Chickens on a grid

Setting up a mesh floor is easy. In the chicken coop, a working passage is maintained in the center, and logs are installed on the remaining area at a height of 40–60 cm. Then wooden frames are attached to them, and a galvanized mesh with medium-sized cells is nailed on top. Plastic or iron trays are placed under the structure to collect feces.

Contact of birds with feces is eliminated when floor netting is used. With this method of maintenance, the risk of developing fungal and parasitic diseases is reduced. Drinkers and feeders are located on the side of the passage, nests are installed inside along the partitions.

Selection rules

Raising broilers begins with choosing eggs or purchasing chickens. The final result depends on the correct actions on your part. Let's dwell on the selection rules.

Eggs for incubation

Fertilized eggs are selected and must meet the following criteria:

• free from external defects and contamination;
• be approximately the same size;
• they were laid by healthy chickens within a week before being placed in the incubator.

If you examine an egg through an ovoscope, then a uniform air chamber should be located at the blunt end of the egg. Before storing, they are stored at a temperature not lower than +10°C. Immediately before laying, the eggs are warmed to room temperature to avoid the formation of condensation on the surface when placed in the incubator.

Read more about how to hatch chickens in an incubator at home.

Chickens

When purchasing chickens at the market, consider the following:

• a healthy chicken is always mobile and active;
• the fluff is smooth, soft, free of dirt and blood;
• eyes are shiny, without films or discharge;
• legs are straight;
• the body is proportional, without curvature.

Depending on the breed, chickens can be of different shades: yellow, brown, striped. In autosex breeds, color is a sign of gender. Therefore, when buying chickens of a specific breed, you need to know exactly how to distinguish a chicken of the chosen breed from others.

For breeds where males and females are the same color, there is no way to accurately determine sex. At the time of sale, broiler chickens are 1–4 weeks old.

• Buying chicks has undeniable advantages:
• no need to waste time and resources on incubation;
• you will immediately receive as many chickens as you need;
• You can immediately buy older chickens and avoid difficulties in raising them.

But you cannot be sure of the quality of the purchased chickens: whether they have been vaccinated, whether they have been overcooled and other factors.

Optimal stocking density for broilers

Broiler stocking density

To correctly calculate the density of broilers, it is worth considering several factors:

• local legislation;
• climatic conditions and season of the year;
• type of poultry house;
• expected slaughter weight;
• slaughter age;
• equipment and indoor microclimate;
• requirements for the final product.

Zootechnical standards

To properly raise broiler chickens in cages, you must adhere to the following maintenance and care standards:

The stocking density of broilers is approximately 25 birds per 1 m²; Feeding front - from 2 to 2.5 cm per head. This amounts to between 40 and 70 chickens. One nipple drinker is intended for 10-12 chickens. It is necessary to monitor temperature indicators. For young animals that are no more than a day old, optimal conditions will be from 32 to 34 °C. Note that every day the temperature needs to be reduced by 0.2 °C

Therefore, as soon as the chickens reach a week of age, the maximum comfortable conditions for them will be 16-18 °C. Humidity indicators are also important to consider. They should vary from 50 to 70 percentage

Humidity affects the normal functioning of the chickens' respiratory tract. If its level is elevated and the weather conditions are hot, then the bird loses a lot of fluid. This can lead to dehydration. Daylight hours. For chickens less than 7 days old, 23 hours of daylight is sufficient. Subsequently, this figure becomes smaller - up to 16 hours. However, the length of daylight hours depends on how quickly the pets grow and develop, as well as how much food they consume. Experienced poultry farmers note that nutrition is one of the most important components of the normal growth and development of poultry. In order for the chicken to eat a lot and fully, it is necessary to choose the right daylight hours.

If a poultry farmer has chosen the cellular method of raising pets, then the most common method is considered to be “eating meat”. Its essence is that first the roosters go to slaughter, and a week later - the chickens. This extra time allows the hens to gain as much weight as possible.

Another solution is to slaughter 20% of the farm on day 35, and the rest gain weight within another 7 days. Slaughtering a certain part of the farm in this case will help free up space in the cage so that the rest do not fight for space and food.

The freed space, which needs to be carefully processed, helps the bird avoid problems with bones and ligaments. This often occurs because the chicken is not moving much or is restricted in its movements.

For normal life, chickens need comfortable conditions. However, it's not just about feeding and having a good cage.

It is important that the interior is kept clean at all times.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=thjoxIGNw8I

To prevent infections and viruses from developing, the cage and all instruments are treated with special disinfectant solutions that kill bacteria. Only in such a treated space of the cage can chickens be released and not be afraid for their health and productivity.

Feeding and watering front

Zootechnical standards for cage rearing of broilers include:

1. Feeding front : with a groove system it is 2-2.5 cm per 1 head; using a round feeder involves feeding 40-70 birds.
2. Drinking front : for 1 nipple – 10-12 heads. When using a vacuum drinker - 1 piece for 50 chickens. The groove design is designed with access of 2 cm per head.

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Conditions for keeping broiler chickens

Proper care and a properly formulated diet are the two main points that poultry farmers should focus on when breeding broiler chickens. If it is not planned to leave some of the young animals for further breeding of the breed, then it is not profitable to raise them for more than 2-2.5 months. After all, after they turn 2.5 months, body weight gain decreases, and broilers continue to absorb feed at the same level. Therefore, their further maintenance becomes unprofitable.

In order for chickens to grow healthy and strong, quickly gain weight and not lag behind in development, they should be kept in proper conditions, provided with proper care and feeding.

The main thing in ensuring normal living conditions is the poultry house, which maintains optimal conditions for the comfortable stay of the chickens, and it is also necessary to maintain sanitation in the room. Proper maintenance, care and proper diet must be established from the first day of the young animals’ stay, since failure to comply with these conditions will lead to mass mortality of chicks.

Important to remember! The floor in the chicken coop where broiler chickens are placed should have thick bedding that is not changed until the chickens are slaughtered for meat. As a last resort, remove the top layer and replace it with fresh, clean

But for raising broilers, cage keeping can also be used.

When raising broiler chickens in a poultry house, it is necessary that this room is warm and dry, and the birds are protected from drafts. The floor should not be cold and damp. Dried sawdust is commonly used as thick bedding, but other materials can be used as bedding. The main requirements for them: they must be constantly dry, loose and clean.

Temperature

Maintaining a constant temperature in the room where broiler chickens grow is one of the main conditions for keeping them. If it is cold in the chicken coop, the chicks will flock together and squeak, in which case the food they absorb will be used to warm them. If the house is too hot, the chicks will suffer from overheating, drink more water, and will practically not touch the food.

The optimal temperature in the room where broiler chicks are kept should be about 25⸰C.

In chickens in the first month of life, thermoregulation is imperfect, so the temperature in the room where they are kept should be slightly increased:

• for chickens in the first 5 days of life – about 25⸰С;
• from 6 to 12 days - 23⸰С;
• at the age of 2 weeks - 22⸰С;
• up to three weeks – 21.5⸰С;
• up to 4 weeks – 20.5⸰С;
• in the future, the room temperature can be from 12 to 19⸰С.

Before one month of age, in winter, in the room where the chicks are located, it is imperative to install heating devices, the temperature near which should be 5-7⸰C higher than in the room.

Broiler chicks are usually raised in cages if there is not enough space on the farm. In this case, the cages are even installed in several tiers, and the temperature and humidity in the room are maintained in the same conditions as when chicks are placed on the floor.

Humidity

In the poultry house where broiler chicks are kept, there must be good ventilation, and the air should not be too dry or humid. The optimal humidity in such a poultry house should be about 60-65%.

Is it possible to keep chickens outside?

In warm weather and in good weather, it is quite acceptable to keep cages with chickens outside. To make it easier to transport batteries, the cages can be equipped with wheels on the bottom.

Fresh air and natural light will have the most beneficial effect on productivity. It also prevents rickets in chickens, but they can only be taken outside from 2 weeks of age. Make sure that the birds do not overheat or, on the contrary, freeze.

So, to successfully keep broilers in cages you need:

• maintaining a favorable microclimate in the room where birds are kept;
• compliance with zootechnical standards;
• compliance with acceptable sanitary and hygienic conditions.

Follow these rules and your products will definitely take pride of place on the shelves among environmentally friendly products!

Microclimate and zootechnical standards

Important elements of the microclimate when raising broilers in cages are temperature, humidity, ventilation and compliance with the light regime.

Temperature and humidity

In a chicken coop with cages, it is necessary to maintain a constant temperature, which is controlled using thermostats that automatically maintain the thermal level.

For local heating use:

• infrared lamps;
• electric heaters;
• ultraviolet irradiators;
• gas heaters (require a license, so are more suitable for farms).

The temperature depends on the age of the broilers:

• 33-35° – for chickens from 1 to 7 days;
• 26-29° – 8-21 days;
• 20-22° – from 3 weeks of life.

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Sadchikov Nikolay Alekseevich

Veterinarian ornithologist

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The relative humidity level in the room should be 60-70%. The state of the birds' respiratory system and the perceived temperature depend on it.

With a high level of humidity during the hot season, the temperature is felt higher than the existing one. At low humidity, broilers lose more fluid.

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Ventilation

Boilers that are 21 days or older generate a lot of heat, which produces ammonia and carbon dioxide fumes, which can cause various diseases and lead to reduced feed intake and weight gain. Therefore, if there are a large number of broilers in the chicken coop cages, a forced ventilation system (air supply and removal) is needed to provide fresh air year-round, which also helps reduce high air temperatures in the summer. The organization of forced ventilation is calculated per kilogram of live weight of the bird per hour and amounts to 1.5-2.0 m3 in winter, 4.8-9.6 m3 in summer. The outside air temperature is taken into account.

Light mode

The duration of daylight for broilers is 15-18 hours, and for chickens in the first two weeks of life - around the clock. From the third week until slaughter, alternating periods (intermittent lighting) are practiced: 1 hour of light, 2 hours of darkness.

According to the standards, for 4 sq. m of poultry house requires 100 or more watts of lighting from incandescent lamps or 12 watts of LED lighting.

The light regime for broilers is aimed at stimulating feed consumption.

Growing stages

Broilers are hybrid meat breeds that are characterized by rapid growth and weight gain. When raising broilers, the main goal is to achieve maximum weight gain in the shortest possible time. This approach is very different from raising egg-bearing breeds.

They grow no longer than 50-70 days. With further cultivation, more than 70 days, growth decreases and feed consumption increases.

It is recommended to buy chickens when they are 10 days old; mortality is highest before this age. The chickens are not separated by sex and are raised together. They are fattened for up to 50-70 days, the chickens grow to 2.3-2.5 kg, after which they are slaughtered.

PLEASE NOTE: Part of the livestock, 20-25%, is taken for early slaughter at 35 days, from the largest individuals. They free up space and eliminate competition for feed and food.

A heavy bird more often sits on its legs, problems with ligaments due to lack of movement, crowding, limited space, in cage conditions. Usually the cockerels are removed first, and the hens a week later. The cockerels are larger and grow faster.

There are two growing methods:

1. Seasonal, when chickens are purchased in the spring and slaughtered in the fall.
2. Or year-round, when a new batch of chickens is bought every three months.

Zootechnical standards

Breeding broilers at home in cages is carried out in strict accordance with established standards. Only their observance will allow the birds to grow healthy and weighty.

In general, the technology for raising broilers includes the following nuances:

Day-old chicks are placed only in a warm room. It is advisable that on the first day after hatching the room temperature is within +32+34 degrees

Subsequently, this indicator begins to decrease (0.2 degrees per day), and by the end of the first week the temperature in the barn should not exceed +16+18 degrees. Air humidity also plays an important role, since the health of chickens and the rate of weight gain directly depends on it. It is important that the humidity in the room for chickens and adults does not exceed 50-70%. Attention should also be paid to the feeders, or more precisely, their number. If you use trough models, one container will be enough for two individuals. When using large round feeders, one instance will be enough for 40-70 animals. Young chickens are watered from vacuum drinkers (1 drinker per 50 birds), and for adult chickens it is better to install nipple models

One such drinker will be enough to provide water for 10-20 animals.

One such drinker will be enough to provide water for 10-20 animals.

There are enough ready-made drawings of broiler cages on the Internet with different heights, widths and capacities. Knowing the size of the room in which the birds will live and the approximate number of birds, you can easily make such cages yourself. More detailed installation instructions can be found in the sections below.

Dimensions and room

The cage manufacturing technology itself is simple, but when making cages for broilers, you need to take into account the dimensions of the bird itself and the size of the room in which the livestock will be located (Figure 2).

On private farmsteads, it is enough to simply arrange the cages in the barn. But, if you are planning to raise broilers on an industrial scale, the cages are placed in several tiers and each contains 10-20 birds.

Figure 2. Ready-made drawings of cells with dimensions for making them yourself

The room for installing the cages must also meet certain requirements. Firstly, it must be dry and draft-free. Secondly, it must be warm enough inside, so you need to leave free space for installing heating equipment. In summer, the cages can be taken outside and placed under a light canopy, and at night or when the temperature drops, they can be moved back indoors. With this growing scheme, fresh air and natural sunlight significantly accelerate weight gain.

Lighting and air temperature

Raising large and healthy broilers in closed cages also requires compliance with a certain temperature and light regime. For example, young chickens in the first three weeks of life need lighting around the clock. As the birds grow older, the light is first turned off for 30 minutes, then for an hour, and the duration of lighting continues to be reduced until it reaches the optimal 16 hours (Figure 3).

In addition, as birds grow, the intensity of light changes. Up to ten days of age, the indicator should be 4 W, up to twenty days - 2 W, and after that - only 1 W.

Figure 3. Birds need proper lighting to gain weight.

Temperature is another extremely important indicator when raising broilers for meat. In order for you to be able to maintain a suitable microclimate in your room all year round, you will need to install not only heating devices, but also provide high-quality ventilation. It will help regulate temperature and humidity.

The fact is that in extreme heat, birds begin to drink more and often refuse food, which leads to a decrease in their weight. If the room is too cold, the opposite situation occurs: birds eat much more, but weight gain does not occur, since the birds spend all their useful substances to maintain body temperature. Taking into account this feature, the room where caged batteries or trays with cages are located needs to be kept warm all year round.

In addition, it is advisable to place chickens on the upper tiers of cages, regardless of their number. Warm air usually accumulates at the top and the young animals will feel much more comfortable there than at the bottom.

Equipment for home breeding

In the workshops of poultry farms and large industries, batteries made of cages with chickens are located in 4-6 tiers. In the private sector, 2-3 tiers are quite enough. Cages or equipment for keeping broilers in them can be purchased industrially or made with your own hands if you have the necessary materials.

Cell structure:

1. 
   First of all, a frame made of wooden or metal guides.

2. The main material of the walls and floor is mesh. This is an inexpensive and durable material that will provide the necessary ventilation and light penetration.
3. The bottom is made of fine mesh to prevent injury to the chickens. But the size of the cells is sufficient so that the droppings fall on the underlying tray and do not accumulate on the floor.
4. The front wall is in the form of a longitudinal lattice or mesh with wide cells, through which the chicken can stick its head and normally reach the feeder.
5. A trough feeder is hung on the front wall of the cages for hand feeding.
6. With mechanized, automatic feeding, in the center of the cage there is a feeder in the form of an inverted glass on a plate, the so-called “carousel” or “umbrella”.
7. There is a trough or additional trays above the feeder for chicks up to 20 days old to make it easier for them to reach food.
8. It is recommended to make the side and transverse partitions mesh for better ventilation.
9. Drinking troughs or vacuum, nipple type are hung on the transverse partitions. For chickens under 10 days old, only vacuum ones so that the young ones do not splash water.
10. Door on the front wall for catching and landing birds. For meat, inspection, initial settlement.
11. The trays at the bottom should slide out easily to remove droppings.
12. Large poultry farms use a mechanized belt manure removal system.

IMPORTANT: It is more advisable to place the smallest chickens on the top tier of cages, and the largest ones at the bottom. This way you will provide your kids with maximum light and warmth. In addition, birds of the same age get along more easily with each other.

Recommended feeding, heat and lighting standards:

• 
  chickens 0-5 days old need lighting for 23 hours, a temperature of 34 degrees and 15-20g of feed per day;

• at the age of 6-18 days, lighting is 20 hours, temperature is 28 degrees, food is from 25 to 80 g per day;
• fattening begins from 19 days, lighting 18 hours, temperature 25 degrees, feed 100-150 g/day;
• closer to slaughter from the 38th week, lighting is 16-17 hours, the temperature is approaching 20 degrees, feed is given 160-170 g/day.

How to make a broiler cage with your own hands

Cage housing of broilers at home. Below is information that will help you make a simple cage for broiler chickens. Its frame is made of wooden beams or metal profiles. The structure is covered with lattice. A retractable galvanized tray is located under the floor. The cage contains a feeder and a drinker. This cage option can accommodate 100 broilers.

Design features and use of the cage with a larger population:

1. At the end of fattening, there are up to 10 birds per square of floor.
2. The number of tiers in the battery is up to four.
3. Frame covered with galvanized mesh (wood wears out faster).
4. Feeding from trough-shaped feeders with manual distribution of feed mixtures. The equipment is mounted outside.
5. Using umbrella-type feeders for mechanized feeding. Inventory is placed in a cage.
6. Drinking from nipple drinkers.
7. Typically manual removal of droppings collected on pallets. The frequency of cleaning poultry waste products from 8 days of age is three times a week, starting from 30 days of age - every day;
8. The size of the floor cells, eliminating the possibility of the limbs of day-old young animals falling through. The range of factory equipment includes cages with floors made of plastic. They are less likely to injure broiler paws.

Some poultry farmers line the sides of the cage with plywood, and equip the front with a longitudinal grille, providing broilers access to the feeders.

Basic rules for raising broilers at home

Home rearing of broilers differs from industrial farming in the amount of care you take for your pets - you can use different methods of feeding, keeping, and caring for different breeds or ages.

Accommodation

There is an opinion that raising birds in cages is quite simple. This is not at all true - this method of keeping requires the fulfillment of many conditions so that the chicken feels comfortable and gains weight steadily.

In cold weather, the cages are placed in an insulated shed with sufficient lighting. It is also possible to use the basement, where all the necessary communications are carried out.

In summer, poultry houses can be placed under a stationary canopy or an awning made of agrofabric - rapidly growing broilers are not afraid of fresh night air and daytime heat. The location of the cells can be protected from environmental influences (insects, animals) with a net and treated with insecticides around the perimeter.

Important! Often “food competition” occurs in cages, when stronger individuals do not allow others to approach the feeder, simply covering it with their size. These birds are removed from the cage and killed first.

Feeding

Food for birds must be constantly available. Feeders need to be arranged so that each individual can get enough when it wants it, and not when it manages to push its way to the food.

The diet for babies includes boiled eggs, chopped greens, and millet. As chickens grow older, they receive wheat, shell rock, bone meal and vitamin supplements in addition to their food. When the broiler approaches commercial standards, it is fed with roughage that promotes weight gain - sunflower grains, corn, wheat, and mixed feed.

You can add greens from both garden crops and field herbs, and a mixture of vegetables - pumpkin, beets, cabbage, carrots - to dry feed mixtures. Broilers will happily eat not only the pulp, but also the peel of vegetables.

Find out more about how to properly feed broilers at home and how to prepare feed for broilers with your own hands.

Benefits of Cage Content

The use of special designs for broiler chickens has many advantages over simply keeping poultry

The first thing that is important is saving space in the chicken coop. Convenience for the farmer helps improve the quality of poultry care and allows you to minimize the resources spent on its provision

Advantages of using a cage for raising broilers at home:

1. Reducing feed consumption. The dimensions, shape and type of structure, as well as the location of the drinking bowl and feeder, allow you to avoid scattering food on the floor.
2. Limited space and high stocking density allow the bird to gain weight faster.
3. Reducing the likelihood of keeping livestock being infected with infectious diseases due to limited movement, the presence of permanent neighbors and high-quality daily cleaning of the structure from droppings and debris.
4. Saving time spent on care. A homemade broiler cage can easily be equipped with automated water and food supply devices.

Such designs also have disadvantages. But still, they are many times superior to simple floor keeping of broiler chickens. Difficulties may arise due to errors in the manufacturing process of the structure and exceeding the bird stocking density.

Poultry can be at risk from mesh floors and a lack of quality bedding, which can contribute to increased injuries among birds kept on the farm, as well as the development of diseases such as arthritis and chicken lameness. But such problems can be prevented if you take care of the floor material and its quality at the stage of manufacturing the structure.

conclusions

1. Broiler chickens are remarkable and easy to keep because they quickly gain muscle mass with minimal investment of time and money.
2. It is necessary to choose feed based on your own resources and balance.
3. Newborn chicks under one month of age should be kept in separate boxes with constant heating.
4. , lack of crowding and constant cleanliness in chicken coops can guarantee the health and quality of broiler meat Read more about broiler diseases here.

Breeding Cobb hybrid chickens 500

Special technology

Obtaining hatching eggs of the Cobb 500 hybrid is possible only using special technology developed in the Czech Republic and Poland.

Reasons why it is impossible to breed this type of chicken in the traditional way: Cobb 500 does not inherit the qualities obtained from mixed breeds.

Cobb 500 eggs and young animals are imported to Russia for sale to small and large farms. The cost of day-old chicks on the market is 100 rubles. Per head. The price of hatching eggs is much lower - up to 40 rubles per egg.

Considering that young animals have a high viability of up to 97%, it is more profitable to purchase hatching eggs.

Incubation mode of hybrid Cobb 500 by day

Eggs are laid in the incubator horizontally or vertically with the sharp end down. The incubation process lasts 21 days.

The temperature in the incubator is maintained within 37-38 degrees. Humidity on days 1-10 is 30%, on days 11-21 it gradually increases to 70%.

Eggs must be turned and cooled according to schedule.

For the first 2-3 days, the chicks are fed with chopped boiled eggs, cottage cheese, crushed millet, and mash with milk. After 3 days, chopped dandelion grass and thistle are added to the food. Next, according to the scheme, pre-start - starting - finishing feed.

Early Cobb 500 broiler chicks must be vaccinated against infectious diseases.

Design Features

The cage will require a separate room where it will be concentrated. The cell manufacturing process must be taken seriously. If adequate conditions are not created, the chicks will grow and develop poorly.

If you use homemade structures to keep broilers, then such maintenance has the following advantages:

• compactness in keeping chicks, since the design dimensions for broilers require a minimum of space;
• ease of maintenance of the structure. Broiler cages are easy to maintain. It is very easy to remove garbage and droppings, since the cage is equipped with a tray;
• ease of construction. It is possible to make a broiler cage with your own hands, even from window frames;
• safe maintenance of other pets that are in the barn. When installing structures for chickens, it is possible to exclude the possibility of contact of birds with other inhabitants of the room;
• The process of feeding chicks is simplified. The main thing here is to properly organize feeding in the cage, since containers with food are located outside.

Important! The house for the chicks should be easy to maintain. To save space, you can make a cage battery for broilers

Their installation is carried out in several tiers. To breed 150,000 individuals, it is necessary to use batteries with dimensions of 25x120 m.

Each structure is equipped with manure removal elevators, a feed and water supply system. If you keep chicks in a private yard, then the cage batteries are removed manually

So it is important to consider how to simplify the process of removing litter, feeding broilers and drinking them

There are certain features of cages for broilers:

When choosing a material for the bottom part of the structure, you must choose one whose thickness is at least 2.5 cm. Moisture-resistant plywood is best suited. It is characterized by increased strength, is not subject to deformation under the influence of moisture and has a long service life. If the walls of the cage are made of rods, then a distance must be maintained between two adjacent rods that will not interfere with the chicks’ access to food. The design of feeders requires special attention. To make them, you need to use thin sheet metal. It is plastic, not affected by rust and is lightweight

You just need to think about it so that the food does not spill out of the feeder. Having fresh and clean water is very important for birds. Self-made drinking bowls are not suitable, so you can purchase a ready-made version

It is best to use an automatic nipple drinker.

How are they different from ordinary ones?

There is no particular difference between the cages built for broilers and small chicks. The only thing to consider is the size of the structure. For small chicks, you need to arrange a cage, taking into account that no more than 25 individuals can fit on 1 m2, but 10-15 adults.

Heating

The heating problem will definitely have to be solved by those farmers who live in the northern regions, because even the thickest and most insulated walls will not save broilers from frost. Today there are several effective ways to solve the heating problem:

• large infrared lamps;
• bake;
• electric heater.

One of the heating methods is infrared lamps

We present a comparative table of all the pros and cons of these heating elements.

Many farmers prefer infrared equipment, since it is the least hassle. There is no need to place lamps inside broiler cages; they are hung at the top, not under the ceiling itself, but slightly lower. Several large infrared lamps are sufficient to heat a standard-sized shed. They are not expensive and consume little electricity. Of course, in the event of prolonged power outages, it is necessary to stock up on additional heating equipment, but usually the supply of electricity is quickly restored.

You can install a potbelly stove in a room with broiler cages

As for the stove, this is the second most popular method of supplying heat to broiler cages, since birds are usually placed in permanent outbuildings to the house. Fuel for stoves in Russia is not expensive; it is usually used to heat human homes in villages. A lot of heat comes from the stove, which makes the birds comfortable. However, in order to use the stove, you need to constantly add new portions of coal or firewood to it and it must always be on the site, next to the poultry house. Usually they live in villages permanently and do not travel with the whole family, since the farm, in addition to broilers, also includes other birds or animals.

Remember, operating the stove is a fire hazard.

As for electric heaters, they have only one problem - the high cost of both the device and the electricity. Sometimes one device may not be enough to heat the entire room where the broiler cages are installed, and then you will have to purchase several more. This excessive use of electricity will result in huge utility bills and will eventually force you to abandon the electric heating element, despite its obvious advantages.

Heating a broiler cage with an infrared lamp

However, those who live in regions with mild and short winters, without frost and heavy rainfall, should still pay attention to electric heaters. If broilers will be kept in tiered or aviary cages in a small room, use an electric heater

You will only need it for a short time, during the coldest period, so you will not incur significant financial losses.

Pros and cons of keeping meat chickens in cages

Cage keeping of broilers is considered more profitable; this is how meat chickens are raised on large poultry farms. Advantages:

1. Cages take up little space, especially if you install them on several floors.
2. Birds gain weight faster because they cannot actively move. At the same time, the fattening time is reduced by 5–7 days.
3. While in cages, chickens do not scatter food on the floor, as happens when kept outdoors.
4. The inside is always clean - droppings fall through the mesh into trays located under the cage. It is convenient for the farmer to do the cleaning; it does not take much time.
5. An outbreak of an infectious disease is easier to prevent, since chickens do not come into contact with the entire flock, but only with a few individuals.
6. The time spent on cleaning, distributing food and inspecting birds is reduced.

Rules of care

Unlike free-range chickens, caged birds do not have the opportunity to move to a cooler or brighter area. Creating the most comfortable conditions for chickens depends entirely on the farmer. Purchase temperature and humidity sensors and carefully monitor their readings and the microclimate in the room.

Homestead cage

In private farming, small batteries with two or three tiers, made industrially or with their own hands, are more often used. There are many options for such cells.

Turnkey option with installed feeders and microcup drinkers.

Today, there are enough offers on the market of domestic producers in the sector of cages for raising broilers. They are designed for different levels of mechanization of the process (manual or automatic feed distribution and manure removal) and for different numbers of birds.

Which cage should you choose?

The question often arises: which cell is better to build, large or small? Everyone finds the answer to it themselves, based on their needs and capabilities. To do this, you need to carry out calculations and take into account some nuances.

The dimensions of the cage should be consistent with common sense and maximum benefit. From these positions, three-tier ones are preferable to single-tier ones. Since they can produce more output per unit area. Using several individual cells is also not cost-effective, since due to the presence of sides there is an overuse of material.

The width of the cage should allow it to be taken outside at least for disinfection. And the height ensures easy and accessible maintenance of the upper tiers. The weight of the chickens also matters.

That is, the size of the cell is not strictly regulated. It all depends on how many birds you want to put in it.

Effect of light on broiler growth

LED lighting in a broiler cage
When designing a cage, its illumination must also be taken into account. This greatly affects the growth of broilers. Three characteristics of illumination are taken into account:

• intensity;
• photoperiod;
• range.

Intensity. When there is too much or too much of it, the chickens do not gain weight. That is, the light intensity of broilers must be sufficient. Moreover, for small chickens the maximum is (about 25 lux), and for adults - 5 lux.

Photoperiod. By alternating and changing the light supply, you can reduce morbidity and speed up weight gain. 24-hour illumination is not recommended for broilers. In the dark, the bird's appetite improves.

Range. For example, yellow color reduces feed consumption, while red color calms chickens.

Chickens are also not indifferent to the light source. They don't like fluorescent lamps. They flicker. The person does not notice this, but the chicken reacts to this by losing weight.