Broiler chickens How to make cages for growing chickens with your own hands according to the drawings at home?

Broiler chickens (meat chickens) are not bred for eggs, since such birds are characterized by fast growth rates, large mass, and their meat has large protein characteristics. If egg-laying hens need to communicate with the natural environment, then broiler chickens are raised directly on the premises. Cages for meat breeds of chickens can be placed in a special building, a barn, a car garage, including living quarters.

This circumstance makes it acceptable to keep birds not only in the village, but also within the boundaries of the city, at home.

Features and Requirements

For the cell, you will need a special room where the structure will be located. The issue of its manufacture must be taken with all seriousness. If it was not possible to create good conditions, then the chicks will develop and grow unsatisfactorily.

If self-made structures are used for the purpose of breeding broilers, then such content has the following advantages.

• Small size in keeping chicks, since the size of the structure for broilers will require a minimum amount of space.
• Ease of maintenance design. Broiler cages are easy to maintain. It is quite easy to clean up garbage and excrement, because the cage is equipped with a tray.
• Ease of construction. You can make a bird cage on your own from window structures.
• The ability to safely keep other pets that are located in the barn. When assembling structures for chickens, it turns out to exclude the likelihood of contact between broilers and the rest of the inhabitants of the premises.
• The procedure for feeding the chicks is made easier.

The main thing in this matter is to correctly organize food in the cage, since food containers are placed outside.

There are some features of cages for meat breeds of chickens.

1. When selecting building materials for the bottom of the structure, it is required to select one with a thickness of at least 2,5 centimeters. Moisture-resistant plywood is best suited. It is characterized by high wear resistance, is not subject to degradation under the influence of dampness and has a long service life.
2. When the walls of the cage are made of rods, a distance must be maintained between two adjacent rods that will not prevent the chicks from gaining access to food.
3. The manufacture of feeders requires special attention. To create them, it is necessary to use a thin tin. It is elastic, not subject to corrosion and has a low weight. It is necessary to calculate that food does not fall out of the feeder.
4. For chickens, the availability of clean and fresh water is extremely important.

Devices for drinking your own production are not suitable, so you should buy a ready-made version. It is advisable to practice a nipple drinker.

In order to fully exploit the entire premises, cages for chickens are made in 2-5 tiers. Such structures are called batteries. Shelves with cages for breeding chickens of meat breed are erected in several rows. In such an option, the owner, without much effort, will take into account the features of the available usable area and make the most of all the advantages.

It is possible to deploy several such racks in one room – you only need to provide the birds with good light (mount lighting devices) and maintain the temperature regime appropriate for the growth of broilers through a heater. The structure of a stationary poultry house will directly depend on the drinkers and feeders that the cages will be equipped with in the future. They can be both hinged and installed inside the cages. Basic requirement for these devices:

• comfort of use;
• their reach for both the owner and the birds.

How to do it yourself?

When creating plans and drawings for the future chicken coop, it is necessary to take into account all the features of the premises, the comfort of servicing the proposed farm and design requests. Together, this will help to obtain economic performance and profitability of the enterprise. The key dimensions are the height of the batteries or racks, their size in width and length. Auxiliary – parameters of feeders, pallets, bottoms and other attributes.

It makes no sense to litter the drawing with many elements, however, empty squares do not need to be applied either.

Below are sample drawings of two models. They show only the basic parameters, but the second one clearly shows the location of all the components of the chicken coop and auxiliary devices. Based on the fact that meat breed chickens are heavy and continuously gaining more and more mass, building materials for cage structures must be selected reliable. The floor covering must have a thickness of at least 20 millimeters. In addition, it is necessary to calculate the diagonal reinforcement of the structure. To create a cage in which 8 birds will be nurtured, you will need the following materials:

• plywood sheets;
• chain-link mesh with cells no larger than 7×7 centimeters;
• footstocks (rails made of wood);
• iron plates;
• nails and screws.

Procedure.

1. Prepare 6 racks, the dimensions of each of which should correspond to 7x7x165 centimeters.
2. Cut 3 foot stocks 10 centimeters in size, 6 foot stocks – 3 centimeters each and 2 slats – 5 centimeters each. They should be 2 inches wide.
3. Make 9 side walls from plywood, cut to size 57,5 × 30,5 centimeters.
4. Attach the finished plywood walls to the frame.
5. From iron sheets to make a pallet with dimensions of 30x66x20 centimeters.
6. The roof can be made of metal or plywood with parameters of 140×70 centimeters.
7. Make and attach the front part of the cage from the chain-link.
8. Arrange in front of the structure of the feeder and devices for drinking.

In the summer months, meat breed chickens can be kept outdoors by building an aviary for them, which has the ability to consist of both one tier and be in several tiers. Cellular structures, consisting of many tiers, make it possible to save space on the territory, and it will become comfortable and easy to look after birds in them. The enclosures are a decent structure with a mesh floor, the dimensions of which for 10 copies should be 2 × 1,2 meters.

The saucer is mounted under the cage, and devices for drinking are installed on its sides.

Required building materials:

• reinforcing plates;
• large plywood sheets;
• steel mesh;
• screws;
• iron plates or pipes under the legs;
• iron sheets;
• iron slats.

Manufacturing procedure.

1. The skeleton is being built from iron sheets.
2. From iron plates or pipes, the legs are made to the required height.
3. All components are joined by means of steel laths.
4. Side walls are created from a mesh with large cells. Through the cells of the grid, chickens should freely reach the feeders and drinkers.
5. From iron sheets, pallets for excrement are created, the structures must be equipped with high sides. A plywood sheet is placed on top of them.
6. Watering devices (automatic drinkers) and feeders can be made from iron sheets, or can be purchased at the store.

Pros of cellular content

Breeding chickens of meat breed in cages is much more expedient than their floor fattening. This is due to the fact that the content in the cells is shorter, therefore, significantly less feed is used. In addition, the advantages of such breeding of chickens include the following.

An increase in live weight due to the fact that the bird has restrictions in movement, and all the energy from its fattening is spent on increasing the mass.

1. Birds do not scatter and swarm in the feed, which makes it possible to reduce the cost of combined feed.
2. The bird is in a closed space, there is no need in this situation to separate a large room. As a result, energy costs are saved, which go to heating, exhaust, light.
3. In cages, it is incomparably easier to take care of birds, water, feed and inspect the livestock.
4. Cell batteries are removed every day, in connection with this, there is no excrement left in the litter, which, when decomposed, releases dangerous hydrogen nitride. This reduces the risk of respiratory diseases and all kinds of infections.
5. You can clean up in a matter of minutes, because for this you only need to pull out and rinse the trays.
6. Tentatively, growing poultry in cages is reduced by 3-5 days, which is especially favorable for industrial fattening.
7. One of the main advantages is that it is possible to mount a cage for a meat breed of chickens on your own, without even having special skills.





Disadvantages of cell breeding

The disadvantages of growing birds in cages include:

• lower taste properties of meat than when raising birds on a free range;
• subsequently, the release of cells will require a laborious disinfection procedure;
• a fattened bird has a large mass, for this reason, the chest is pressed on the mesh flooring, there are difficulties with the paws;
• excrement needs to be cleaned every day;
• costs for balanced feed mixtures will be required;
• in the building where meat chickens are located, there must be optimal lighting, ventilation, temperature level and degree of humidity of the atmosphere;
• costs will be required for the creation and equipping of cells or aggregates of cells (cell batteries).

The largest costs will be necessary only at the initial stage, in the future, when keeping meat chickens, there are almost no negative aspects.

And the fruit will be getting a considerable amount of meat in a short period

Cage Rules

It is not difficult to raise meat breed chickens on your own if you know the basic rules for feeding care and keeping them in cages.

Where to put the cage?

Installation of cages for meat chickens is carried out in dry outbuildings, covered from strong drafts. In fairly warm zones, where there are no fluctuations in temperature, they can also be arranged on the street, inside a not very large paddock of 3 walls or under a canopy, on a hill and at a respectful distance from water bodies. Nevertheless, atmospheric deviations occur even in the desert, in this regard, it is desirable to give preference to barn placement of meat chickens.

At home, it is advisable to install a built dwelling for meat chickens in accordance with the norm – at a level not lower than 700 millimeters from the floors. Chickens are very susceptible to cold, and coolness spreading on the floor or a draft can harm them. Cage for chickens of our own production is made and mounted. Further, it is possible to place and raise chickens in it.

How to place birds?

Along with the rules for mounting the cages themselves, there are also recommendations for the distribution of broilers inside them. When placing day old chicks, the room temperature should be between 32°C and 34°C. Thus, chicks under 3 weeks of age should be placed in the upper levels of the bird cages, as they need the maximum amount of light and heat energy. Babies up to 4 weeks of age are placed on the shelves below, due to the fact that they also require an intensive thermal regime. Simply put, the distribution of birds is carried out by age.

As a rule, do-it-yourself cages are made for the following stocking density of meat breed chickens:

• up to 10 copies;
• 20 copies;
• 30 copies.

There is no reason to start a large number of birds in the conditions of a small plot, even if kept in cages, since they will spend too much money and attention on them. In winter, the number of birds in cages is reduced, because it is extremely unprofitable to increase the calorie content of feed for a large flock.

Homemaking

In a cage for broiler chickens made on our own, specialized equipment is mounted, which can be bought at specialized outlets for farmers or equipped with your own hands.

• Tray for garbage and excrement. It is carried out, as already mentioned, from steel sheets or plywood sheets. Individual poultry farmers make saucers from bars, which are practiced as a frame. A sheet of plywood or a fiberboard is fixed on it and linoleum is laid, which is washed off without much effort.
• Feeders. Feeding for chickens must always be the freshest, and feed equipment clean, as a result of which one part of them is placed in the cage, and the second must be outside. With such an arrangement, the feeders will be very easy to clean, and in order to give food, it will not be necessary to open the cage every time. Some craftsmen make equipment for feeding feed from PVC pipes. To do this, the pipe is sawn in length and thoroughly fixed to the cage structure. The bird, having put its head through the cell, will eat from such a feeder without scattering food.
• Drinkers. The drinking bowl can be made from an ordinary plastic bottle and a connecting tube, which is mounted on the tip of the bottle. Through the nipple, broilers will be comfortable and very easy to drink, and rubbish will stop getting into the drink. Drinkers with a nipple can be connected to a volumetric tank or to a continuous water supply system. When in a cage with a large number of specimens, the water tank must hold at least 5 liters.

It must be washed daily and the presence of water monitored.

Lighting

Uniform light in bird cages is of great importance, since their correct formation, and in addition their weight gain, are directly dependent on this condition. Arrange lighting on the sides of the cages or between them should not be, because in this case the inner area of ​​​​the cage is illuminated unevenly. Which, as a rule, has a great influence on the appetite of birds, and in addition, on the ability to find water or food in the dark.

Using incandescent bulbs to illuminate the cell is not the best option, as they often burn out. If your stands are made in the form of a multi-tiered structure, then replacing them quite often will simply be uncomfortable. An acceptable solution would be diode bulbs dispersed in the cage. They are suitable for both an aviary and a battery cage, because they can run the length of the entire ceiling. For example, for a cage 3 meters long, a lighting device of 2 meters is suitable, which steadily illuminates all areas of the bird house.

However, if you have a need to nurse young animals in certain tiers of the cage or in additional heating of bird housing, it is advisable to use incandescent bulbs for your own purposes:

• conventional;
• with a red flask.

Light bulbs will heat the air in the first version, but in the second, this equipment is deliberately used for heating.

With low power consumption, red light bulbs have the ability to give out decent power and operate as both a source of lighting and a source of thermal energy.

Отопление

The task of heating will certainly need to be solved by those owners of birds who live in the northern regions, since even very massive and insulated walls will not save the chickens from the cold. At the moment, there are a number of effective methods for solving the problem of heating:

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

A lot of farmers choose infrared equipment, because there is much less worries with it. It is not required to place lamps in chicken cages, the lamps are picked up from above, not directly under the ceiling, but slightly lower. A few large IR lamps are enough to heat a normal-sized barn. They are quite cheap and use little electricity.

Of course, in the event of prolonged power outages, you need to have additional equipment for heating, but, as a rule, the power supply is restored quickly.

If we talk about the stove, then this is the second most popular way to heat broiler cages, because birds are almost always located in capital outbuildings to the dwelling. Fuel for stoves in the Russian Federation is quite cheap, as a rule, in the villages they also heat people’s houses.

The stove provides a lot of heat energy, which brings comfort to the birds. However, in order to use the stove, it is necessary to systematically put new batches of firewood or coal into it and always stay on the territory near the poultry house. Basically, they live in villages permanently and do not leave with the whole family, because in addition to broilers, there are other birds or cattle on the farm.

Making a choice in favor of the furnace as a heating element, do not forget that, first of all, it is required to calculate the fire safety of the object. This means that the cells must be at a distance from the stove, that there should not be any fire hazardous objects and components near it.

With regard to electric heaters, they have only one problem – the high price of both the device and electrical energy.

Sometimes a single device may not be enough to heat the entire area where the broiler cages are located, therefore, you will need to buy several more. Such abundant use of electricity will bring you big utility bills and, ultimately, still force you to abandon the electric heater, despite its undeniable advantages.

Nevertheless, one who lives in areas with short and mild winters, without frost and rich precipitation, still needs to pay attention to electric heaters. If the chickens will be placed in aviary or multi-tiered cages in a small building, feel free to use an electric heater.

You will need it only for a short period of time, in the coolest period, so you will not incur impressive cash costs.

You can learn how to make a cage for broilers with your own hands by watching the video.