DIY chicken cages

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Now, more and more often, the chicken is transferred to cage keeping using homemade chicken cages. This can be explained by many reasons: too numerous livestock of young and adults, too small area of ​​the poultry house, or the parallel keeping of chickens together with other birds or even livestock. Of course, in this case, the chickens should only be closed in structures that can be purchased ready-made in the store. Another option is to make cages for chickens with your own hands, acquiring materials and spending time on making them.

Cages for laying hens

It is worth saying that domestic chickens do not belong to the category of whimsical birds, while they can be used to build an excellent and profitable business, selling eggs and chicken meat. We will learn about whether it is correct to keep chickens in cages and how to make a cage house for birds on our own from improvised means.

Is it beneficial to keep chickens in a cage

You probably know that there are two ways to keep poultry: on the street or in cages (factory from the manufacturer or homemade, made at home). Before starting the study of drawings such as a cage for chickens and the construction of structures found in the photo or video, it is worth figuring out how profitable such equipment is, whether this cage option is suitable for adult laying hens in a particular case.

The advantages of such poultry keeping

• The person has complete control over the entire life cycle of the laying hen.
• This content greatly facilitates veterinary care and regular check-ups.
• It becomes possible to keep a large number of birds in a relatively small area compared to traditional placement in a chicken coop.
• It is believed that with cell cultivation, it is possible to significantly save on feed, since the equipment provides for the presence of feeders.
• Adult chicken transport cages and even battery cages are more convenient for transporting birds.
• The price of a self-made cell is much cheaper than a store one.
• So you can keep any chickens, regardless of their breed.

It is believed that provided that the chickens meat breeds live in a lock, it is easier for a person to adhere to a feeding schedule, which will allow the bird to feed on time, maintaining a normal balanced diet. It is also worth mentioning that in such structures, a greater number of eggs are retained compared to the egg production indicator with free outdoor range. In the latter case, the clutch can be found in the most unexpected places, for example, in dense weeds or near cow dung, and not in a place like a cage for several chickens. It is also important to remember that pets (cats, dogs and others) also love chicken eggs, they will be happy to taste the fresh product.

Disadvantages of cage placement

Speaking about the disadvantages of cell cultivation, it is worth first of all to say that the bird is deprived of natural food when feeding, that is, grass and fresh worms. Naturally, this cannot but affect the health of the laying hen:

• Chickens become sedentary as they no longer need to forage for their own food. In the natural environment, it is hardly possible to see the Little Russian sitting in one place: it is in motion all the time. What is the threat? The egg production rate may worsen, and immunity is also likely to worsen.
• Lack of vitamin D due to insufficient amount of sun exposure. The fact is that the chicken does not walk as much as it would walk, being free-range. Despite the fact that the cage battery has the ability to install ultraviolet lamps, this will not be enough for really hard shells and bright yellow yolk, which is found only in domestic chickens.
• Avitaminosis and lack of minerals and trace elements. As mentioned earlier, in the diet of a chicken living in confinement, there is no fresh grass, worms, bugs, which negatively affects the general health and metabolism of the bird.

Thus, the cage maintenance is more profitable from an economic point of view if you make cages for laying hens with your own hands, but at the same time the quality of life of the bird and the quality of eggs deteriorate.

Opinion of poultry farmers about chicken cages

Most poultry farmers still favor cages for chickens from a different mesh, since their advantages prevail over disadvantages. However, they recommend adhering to some rules that will help significantly reduce the harm to cellular content:

• Try to place the hooded hooded birds in the cages of the chicken coop only during the cold season, that is, in winter and autumn.
• Try to adhere to the given stocking density norms, in other words, do not populate the cage too densely so that drinker and feeder were not a place of pandemonium.
• Try to self-feed your chicken with fresh grass in summer and grass meal in autumn and winter.
• In the cells, it is imperative to provide for the presence litter on the floor because if the birds have bad dreams, they can fall.

If you are still determined that your chickens will live in cages, move on to the section where they will describe the types of cages for chickens with your own hands with a detailed description of how to make them.

Cage with mesh floor

Such a do-it-yourself cage for laying hens is a classic rectangular version of a cage for laying hens, which is the easiest to perform. At the same time, there are standard dimensions that must be adhered to when working with diagrams and drawings of cages for chickens. We will give them in the table (the sizes of the cages for chickens are given per 7 heads of young stock, that is how many layers should be in the cages):

As already mentioned, this is the minimum from which you need to build on, speaking about the size of the cage for laying hens. It is worth saying that there should be nothing inside such a cage, except for the chicken itself. Even the drinker and the feeder must be outside the cages, that is, they are attached to the outside as provided by the diagram. In this case, it is recommended to place the drinker above the trough so that food particles do not fall into the water. It is not recommended to make the feeder and drinker too deep when making them.

Cage with litter on the floor

As mentioned earlier, it is recommended to keep layers not on a concrete floor, for example, in a garage or iron bars, but on a special bedding, as the international sanitary rules for any bird: quail, chicken, geese, and so on.How to make chicken cages? If you approach the issue of making cages for chickens responsibly, that is, you provide for the presence of bedding for the entire area, then the height of the structure must be increased by at least 15-20 cm. At the same time, its height will be equal to 65-80 cm in height.

In this case, it is recommended to make a wooden floor. The fact is that the bedding will slip less, which will prevent injury to the bird and the laying hens in the cages will be safe.

Tilt cage

As practice and numerous reviews of farmers show, the most convenient option for arranging a chicken cage is a cage with an inclined floor and an egg collector. You can purchase its industrial version, as well as make a homemade one by calculating the size of cages for chickens. This is convenient, since all eggs laid by the hen will automatically roll under the influence of gravity into special compartments called the egg collector, which must be provided for during the planning stage.

Also, if there is a sloping floor, it is possible to significantly facilitate cleaning in the cages, since all the droppings will independently collect in special mesh cells. Thus, it will be possible to abandon the litter, as the diagram shows, and the design will be greatly simplified.

Preparatory work for the manufacture of a tilt cage

In order to make a cage for laying hens with an inclined floor with your own hands, you first need to draw a drawing of the future house, which is usually made on a solid sheet. When the drawing is ready, you can start looking for the necessary material, for which you will need:

• A bar made of wood about 5 x 5 cm in size, its purpose is to make a frame for a future chicken house.
• Metal profile.
• Drywall.

You need to adhere to a number of requirements:

• The task of the farmer is to build a floor that will not sag after some time. It is recommended to take as a basis a floor with wire reinforcement of the type of mesh with a thickness of at least 4 mm, while the size of one mesh cell should be about 30 x 50 mm.
• The walls should not be blank, but there should be room for mini-holes. They are needed in order to ventilate the cage.
• As for the front wall, that is, that part of the structure where the feeder and drinker will be located, the mesh cell will be slightly larger: 5 x 5 cm.

How to tilt in a cage

If you carefully study the drawings of such structures, it will become clear that making a tilt is not such a difficult task in the presence of a metal profile. For everything to work correctly, it is important to adhere to the rule: no more than 7 young heads are placed in 1 cage, while the minimum cage height for laying hens is at least 75 cm then cages for laying hens with their own hands will become cost-effective.

What slope should be in the cage? How to make a cage for laying hens? The most optimal slope is considered to be about 10 °, while the gap between the waste tray and the floors is about 13 cm.As for the egg collection chute (egg collector), it must be positioned so that the chicken does not have access to it, because such attempts will definitely be.

For a pallet, a galvanized sheet is best suited, since this material will remain unchanged for a long time. The tray should be retractable so that it can be cleaned of chicken droppings at any time.

Advice from poultry farmers: To make it easier to clean the droppings from the galvanized sheet, it is recommended to sprinkle it with sawdust. This method is called Cinderella.

Now you know more about how profitable or unprofitable it is to keep laying hens in cages and not on the street, you also know how you can make cages for laying hens yourself with your own hands from the video. It is necessary to purchase the necessary materials to view the cages for chickens photos, be patient and take up poultry for your own pleasure.