DIY chicken cages

Content

1 Features of cell design and requirements for them
2 What types of cells are there?
3 Pros and cons of keeping chickens in cages
4 We determine the dimensions and draw up cell drawings
5 What do you need for work
6 Manufacturing procedure
7 Conclusion

Previously, poultry farms and large farms were engaged in cage keeping of chickens. Now this method is becoming more popular every day among domestic poultry farmers. Why cage keeping of poultry at home is in demand, and we will now try to find out how to build cages for chickens ourselves.

Features of cell design and requirements for them

Chickens are considered an unpretentious bird; they are easy to keep and breed at home, but for maximum productivity they need comfortable housing. When making cells with your own hands, you need to take into account important nuances and know what requirements apply to them:

An important indicator is the size of the cages for chickens, which determines the egg production and growth of the bird. The number of heads and breed are always taken into account. If we take the same number of heads, then laying hens require less space in a closed space than meat birds.
Each chicken cage must be equipped with a feeder and drinker.
In cages, all walls, ceilings, and floors must be lattice without blind areas. Installation of a solid floor is allowed if flooring is provided.
It is especially important to pay attention to the floor. When making it at home, you need to take a rigid mesh so that it does not bend under the weight of adult chickens.
When making cages, only fine-mesh mesh is used. This requirement is aimed at protecting birds from attacks by small rodents, such as weasels. The maximum cell size of 50x100 mm is allowed only on the front wall of the cage so that the chicken can stick its head to the feeder.
The place where chickens are kept in cages should be dry, draft-free and warm. In winter, a barn is used for these purposes. In summer, the cages can be taken outside, but they need to be placed under a canopy to protect them from rain.

Important! When keeping chickens outside in the summer, it is allowed to equip each cage with its own roof.

If these requirements are taken into account when making cages at home, the poultry farmer can already hope for a positive result.

The video shows cages for keeping chickens:

What types of cells are there?

Factory-made cells are produced according to the established standard. Experienced poultry farmers try to improve homemade designs to their taste. In any case, all cells have a common feature, and they are divided into two types:

Cage with bedding. For this type of construction, a solid floor made of plywood or boards is provided. A layer of straw or sawdust is placed on top.
A cage with a lattice floor, at the end of which there is an egg collector. This type of structure has a sloping floor made of mesh. The end of the floor beyond the boundaries of the front wall smoothly passes into the egg collector. A retractable tray is installed under the mesh to remove litter. The egg laid by the hen rolls down the inclined floor into the egg collector, and the droppings fall through the mesh onto the tray.The inside of such a cage is always clean and dry.

You can make any of these designs yourself. For laying hens, their size is usually calculated at 7–10 heads. For a large number of chickens, you can assemble a battery of several cages stacked on top of each other.

The video provides an overview of the cells:

Pros and cons of keeping chickens in cages

Keeping chickens in cages has many opponents and supporters. There are a lot of opinions on this matter. We will now try to characterize the positive and negative aspects of closed poultry keeping.

Let's start with the negative points:

The enclosed space restricts the chickens' movement. For active birds, such oppression affects a decrease in egg production.
Chickens don't live in sunlight. The lack of vitamin D must be supplemented with nutritional supplements.
The diet is limited to natural feeding in the form of fresh grass, worms and insects. Mineral deficiency must be replenished with the same supplements.
A confined space is susceptible to the rapid development of infection. Sick birds come into close contact with healthy birds, causing rapid infection.

However, there are also positive aspects of keeping chickens in cages:

In cages, chickens are protected from attacks by predators.
Makes it easier to control the bird. A sick chicken can be noticed more quickly and help can be provided in a timely manner.
Wild birds are carriers of infection. Such contact is excluded when chickens are kept in cages.
It is easier to provide optimal conditions in cages to extend the egg production period. Moreover, the process of collecting eggs is simplified. The poultry farmer won’t have to look for them all over the yard.
When kept indoors, food is significantly saved, since the possibility of it being eaten by wild birds is eliminated.
Cage housing allows the poultry farmer to place a large number of chickens in a small area.

To summarize, it can be noted that keeping chickens indoors will benefit the bird only with careful care.

The video shows cages for broilers and layers:

We determine the dimensions and draw up cell drawings

Before you build a cage for chickens, you need to decide on its dimensions, and then draw up a rough drawing. The photo shows a design diagram with an egg collector. This option is considered the most convenient and popular among poultry farmers.

To build such a structure, you need to build a frame. It can be made of metal or wood. The walls, ceiling and floor are made of mesh.

Advice! A wooden frame is easier to make, but wood is less durable than steel. In addition, it is capable of absorbing dampness, dirt, and droppings in which pathogenic microorganisms breed.

The disadvantage of this design is the inconvenience of maintenance. It is bad to put chickens in and out of such a cage.

The following photo shows a detailed drawing of a chicken cage, which shows all its component parts.

Next, you need to accurately calculate the size of the chicken cage, because the productivity, as well as the living comfort of the bird, depends on this. Dimensions are calculated taking into account the breed of chickens and the number of livestock.

When making cages at home for ordinary laying hens, you can adhere to the following calculations:

To keep two or three laying hens, about 0.1–0.3 m is allocated for each head² free space. The approximate dimensions of the structure are 65x50x100 cm.The dimensions are listed in order: height, depth and width.
For five laying hens, 0.1–0.21 m is allocated for each head² area. The dimensions of the housing remain almost the same, only the length increases to 150 cm.
For ten or twelve laying hens, 0.1–0.22 m is allocated² free space. In this case, the dimensions of the cell are 70x100x200 cm. The data is indicated in the same order. The depth can be different, but not less than 70 cm.

Attention! For meat breeds of chickens, the area is increased by 40%.

In general, it is recommended to keep a maximum of 7 birds in one cage. If there are a large number of chickens, it is better to build several smaller structures than one large one. Otherwise, it will be difficult to care for the chickens, since the tray with droppings will be very heavy. In addition, a reinforced frame will be required so that the structure does not bend under the weight of the birds.

What do you need for work

To make chicken cages yourself, you will need to build a frame. A beam with a cross-section of 40x40 mm is suitable for it, but wood is not the best material for this structure. It is optimal to use a galvanized profile. Feeders and the pallet is made of galvanized steel, but it is better to use stainless steel, as it does not oxidize. The floor, walls and ceiling are made of mesh with a cell size of 125x25 or 25x50 mm. The front wall can be made from wire, and you can also use a mesh with a cell size of 50x50 or 50x100 mm.

Manufacturing procedure

Now we will look at the order of the process, which will help a novice poultry farmer decide how to make cages for keeping chickens himself.

So, the assembly of the structure begins with the frame. Blanks are cut from a profile or timber, and a rectangular box is assembled from them. You can strengthen the frame with additional jumpers installed on the floor and walls.If it is intended to manufacture a cell battery, then the frame of the lower row structure is equipped with legs or wheels for transportation.

When the frame is ready, we begin arranging the floor. If you look at the drawing, you can see that it consists of two shelves. The lower part of the floor is intended for installing a tray. This shelf is attached strictly horizontally to the frame. The upper floor is made at an angle 9^O towards the egg collector. Chickens will walk on this shelf, and the slope is needed to roll the eggs. The upper floor should protrude 15 cm beyond the front wall. Here the edge is equipped with a side to form an egg receptacle. A gap of 12 cm is left between the top and bottom shelves to accommodate the tray.

When the floor is ready, fine mesh is attached to the frame for the ceiling, back and side walls. The front frame is sewn up with coarse mesh. This can be done in two ways:

On a narrow cage, the front wall is made to open completely on hinges.
If the width of the structure is more than 1 m, the front wall is permanently attached to the frame, and a doorway is cut in a convenient place. The door is also attached to the wall with hinges.

In single-tier structures, the ceiling grid can also be made removable. Then it will be easier for the poultry farmer to pull the chickens out through the top.

Feeders are bent from sheet steel. They are hung on the front wall so that the chicken can easily reach the food. The pallets are equipped with sides so that droppings do not spill out when they are removed. For drinking bowls, it is better to use a nipple device, since the possibility of spilling excess water is eliminated.

The video talks about making cells with your own hands:

Conclusion

This completes the cell manufacturing process.If chickens are supposed to be taken outside in the summer, each structure is equipped with a waterproof roof made of linoleum or other similar material.

Cage sizes for chickens: photos + drawings