For broiler breeding, most farmers now use broiler cages for breeding. The use of broiler chicken cages to raise chickens is more conducive to the management of the chickens by the farmers, and it is also more conducive to the rapid growth of the chickens. However, if the farmers do not use scientific and reasonable breeding methods to raise chickens, it will be difficult for the chickens to grow well. Today, I will give a detailed account of several key breeding points that farmers should pay attention to when using broiler cages to raise chickens.

1. Group the chickens

When the three-dimensional broiler cages are used to raise chickens, they usually use whole sports chicks. When the density of chicks is too large, group them in a timely manner to ensure that the weight of the chicks is even. The first grouping is usually 12-16 days old. The grouping is too early. It is easy to drill through the gaps in the growing cage, and it will cause a waste of space and energy. The second grouping, at 25-28 days of age, this time grouping should place the heavier healthy parts in the lower layer, leaving the weak young. In summer, because the temperature is too high, grouping can be carried out in advance. In winter, the temperature is cold and the temperature difference between the upper and lower cages is large. You can appropriately delay the time of cage division, and put one more in the lower cage to reduce the temperature difference between the upper and lower cages.

2. Control of temperature

When the temperature outside the chicken house is lower, the temperature difference between each layer is greater. Under normal circumstances, brooding are placed on the highest level, because the highest level has a higher temperature, which is conducive to saving heat. On the first day the chicks enter the farm, the temperature should be controlled at 33-34°C, which can also be adjusted according to the state of the chicks. When the temperature is right, the chickens are evenly distributed, lively, and have a strong appetite. When the temperature becomes low, shrink the neck and bow back and concentrate on the heat source. Squeezing each other, their bodies tremble. When the temperature is too high, water consumption increases, appetite decreases, breathing speeds up, and there is water in neck feathers. In the first week, the temperature dropped to 30°C, and then dropped by 2°C every week thereafter. The use of chicken cages to raise chickens has a high density, which is 1 to 2°C lower than the normal temperature. It is necessary to avoid the phenomenon of heat stress in the flock that causes a decrease in feed intake.

3. Disinfect the chicken house

　　 The chicken house should be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected 5 days before the chicks are put into the house. Here, the farmers need to pay attention to avoid using caustic soda and other corrosive disinfectants for disinfection. After the chicks are in the house, the ground is cleaned every day, and the chickens are disinfected every other day.

4. Drinking water for chickens

　　 After the chicks are placed in the house, it is necessary to ensure that they can drink clean and sanitary water within 2 hours. For the first time the chicks drink water, use warm water at 25°C, add 5% glucose and 0.1% vitamin C to the water, and rinse the drinking fountain frequently. Drinking water should not be interrupted throughout the brooding period. From the second day of brooding, add drugs to prevent pullorum in the drinking water.

The above is the summary to the farmers today, in the process of using broiler feeding cages to raise chickens in Uganda, the main points for the management of chicken flocks. I hope that through today's description, farmers can pay more attention to these points in their future breeding work.

Humidity is closely related to evaporation of water in the chicken body when they are raised in poultry equipment cages, body heat emission and cleanliness of the house are very important. 

When the temperature is high and low humidity, the water in the chicken is not dispersed too much, which may lead to dehydration of the chicks. In addition, due to drying, the dust inside the house is flying, and it is easy to induce respiratory diseases.When the temperature is low and high humidity, the house is cold and humid, and the chick is prone to cold, causing the litter to be wet, and the gastrointestinal disease occur. In general,when the temperature is high and high humidity, the heat in the chicks is not easy to be emitted normally, suffocating, appetite is falling, growth is slow, and resistance is weakened. 

The laying house of the laying hens should be kept dry to prevent bacterial growth and infection, but the relative humidity should not be lower than 40%. Suitable relative humidity is 60% -65% before 10 days old and 50%-60% after 10 days old in your poultry farm equipment house.

In the process of developing poultry farming projects in broiler chicken cages, it is hoped that the nutrients contained in each feed that chickens eat are balanced. Otherwise, the flock will suffer from malnutrition, nutrient deficiency or poisoning. Therefore, the feeding formula of the chickens in the automatic broiler cage can be stirred evenly to meet the nutritional needs of the chickens.

There are two methods of feed mechanical mixing and manual mixing. As long as it is used properly, satisfactory results can be obtained.

1. The broiler cage feed is mechanically mixed, using a broiler cage mixer. Commonly used broiler cage mixers are vertical and horizontal.

The vertical mixer is suitable for mixing powdered feed with a water content of less than 14%. If the water content is too high, it is difficult to mix evenly. This kind of broiler cage mixer requires small power and is easy to maintain, but the mixing time is long (generally 10-20 minutes per batch), which is suitable for chicken farmers and small chicken farms.

The horizontal mixer can mix the broiler cage feed evenly in areas with relatively humid climates or when strong viscous ingredients (such as grease) are added to the feed. The machine has a short mixing time, 3-4 minutes per batch, and is mainly used in some feed processing plants. No matter what kind of broiler cage mixer is used, in order to stir evenly, the charging amount must be appropriate. Too much or too little charging cannot be uniform. Generally, 60%-80% of the capacity is suitable for charging. The mixing time is also an important factor related to the mixing quality. The mixing time is too short, but it is not the longer the better. If the mixing is too long, the feed will be mixed evenly and then cause stratification due to excessive mixing.

2. Manual mixing is the main method of feed mixing when raising chickens at home.

When mixing, be careful and patient to prevent some trace ingredients from clumping and agglomerating. Uneven mixing will affect the feeding effect.

When manually mixing chickens in battery cages for broiler, special attention should be paid to some trace components that account for a small proportion in the diet but will seriously affect the feeding effect. Such as salt and various additives. If the mixing is not uniform, the feeding effect will be affected in the light, and the chickens will be poisoned or even die in serious cases.

For such trace components, the broiler cage feed must be fully crushed when mixing, and there should be no agglomeration. The agglomerates may be poisoned after being eaten by the chickens. Secondly, due to the small amount of such ingredients, they cannot be directly added to bulk feed for mixing, but should be pre-mixed.

The method is: take 10%-20% of the concentrate (which is a large proportion of energy feed, such as corn) as a carrier, and stack it in addition, and press the feed of the next shovel on the feed put down by the previous shovel, that is, go all the way to the feed. The feed is placed on the top, and the feed flows around the center point to form a cone, so that various broiler cage feeds have the opportunity to mix. Repeat this 3-4 times to achieve the purpose of mixing evenly, and the premix is ​​ready. This premix is ​​then added to the whole feed and mixed 3-4 times in the same way to achieve the purpose.

The use of broiler chicken cage equipment is the development trend of broiler breeding. More and more chicken farmers have begun to try to adopt the mode of broiler cage breeding, which is currently one of the advanced production methods in the broiler breeding industry. It has the advantages of saving land resources, improving breeding conditions, improving production performance, and reducing disease incidence. However, in order to achieve greater economic benefits, it is necessary to overcome its existing problems and maximize the benefits of broiler cages.

The main technical characteristics of broiler cages are as follows: First, the three-layer overlapping cage technology is adopted. The second is to be equipped with an automatic manure removal conveyor belt to clean manure in time and reduce harmful gases such as ammonia and sulfur dioxide in the house. The third is that the entire cage is made of hot-dip galvanized metal anticorrosive materials, and the bottom of the cage is covered with wear-resistant and corrosion-resistant plastic nets, which can effectively reduce the incidence of breast cysts and leg diseases in broilers. Fourth, the chicken house is fully enclosed, relying on air intakes and exhaust fans on both sides of the house to maintain air quality in the house. The staggered installation of incandescent lamps reasonably realizes artificial lighting, and the use of water heaters, wet curtains, and automatic spray devices to achieve temperature and humidity control in the house.

Experiments show that the technical advantages of commercial broiler cages over online breeding are very significant. Not only can increase the number of breeding, improve production performance, save production costs, and bring significant economic benefits to farmers. It can also save land resources, reduce environmental pollution, improve product quality, and create huge social benefits. In line with the development requirements of "scale, standardization, industrialization, and ecologicalization" of the broiler breeding industry, the widespread promotion and application will help accelerate the process of standardization and transformation of livestock and poultry farms, and effectively promote the upgrading of the livestock industry.

Although cage breeding has significant technical advantages over online breeding, there are still some problems with cage breeding technology, mainly in the following three aspects. One is that the initial investment of cage culture is larger than that of online culture, but because the profit rate of cage culture is much higher than that of online culture, the return is quick. Second, the technical requirements of cage breeding are higher than that of online breeding. Because cage houses are closed and fully automated, technicians must not only master breeding management techniques, but also be familiar with the operation of modern equipment. Third, the ventilation requirements of cage breeding are higher than that of online breeding. Because cage breeding is multi-layer breeding, it is more dense than online breeding, which easily causes poor air circulation in the house. Therefore, the above three points are the problems that farmers who use broiler farming cage equipment to overcome.