The broiler industry is the most scaled industry in livestock and poultry farming.

Developing a three-dimensional and efficient broiler cage system, with the goal of saving land, grain, energy, high efficiency and ecology, integrating intensive, digital, precise nutrition, biosafety and circular green and other efficient farming technologies, is of great significance to improving my country’s comprehensive broiler production capacity and market competitiveness, and building a modern broiler industry with high production efficiency, resource conservation and environmental friendliness.

This technical system can increase the output per unit area of ​​land by optimizing the configuration of broiler three-dimensional breeding facilities and equipment.

The supporting digital and intelligent chicken house environmental control equipment system can improve the broiler breeding environment and living conditions.

The integration of broiler breeding management technology, grain-saving feed technology, and disease prevention and control technology helps to improve the health level and production performance of broilers.

The integration of manure collection and resource utilization technology realizes the cycle of breeding and raising, energy conservation and emission reduction.

Compared with the traditional online flat breeding model, the breeding capacity of a single chicken house in three-dimensional and efficient broiler breeding can be increased from 10,000 to 20,000 to 30,000 to 60,000. And the breeding capacity of a single person can be increased from 5,000 to a maximum of 100,000.

At present, this technology model has covered more than 70% of large-scale farms in white-feathered broiler production, and it has great potential for promotion and application in the production of yellow-feathered broilers and small white-feathered broilers.

1. Breeding technology using battery cage system for broilers

 Breeding scale and stocking density

The three-dimensional breeding of broilers adopts a one-stage breeding technology of full-in and full-out. The breeding scale of a single house is generally 30,000 to 60,000 chickens, and the breeding scale of a single farm is about 300,000 to 500,000 chickens.

The floor area of ​​each adult chicken is not less than 0.05 square meters, that is, the breeding quantity per square meter of cage bottom area should be less than 20 chickens, to ensure the appropriate space requirements until the market is ready.

The stocking density should be appropriately reduce in high temperature seasons.

 Requirements for house layout and cages

The chicken house building needs to have good sealing and thermal insulation performance, and adopts a closed chicken house design to control the environment in the house and achieve the purpose of energy saving and consumption reduction.

The total length of the standard design chicken house is 80 to 90 meters and the width is 15 to 18 meters.

It is recommended to use prefabricate steel structure and design the chicken house insulation plan according to local climatic conditions. The joints should be sealed and filled to prevent the outside air from penetrating through the joint gaps.

Battery cage system for broiler usually 3 to 5 tiers.

The material is galvanized to prevent rust, the structure is stable, and the service life is more than 15 years.

A 0.9 to 1.5 meter aisle is set between each group of broiler cages. A 0.35 to 0.5 meter ventilation duct must be set between the two rows of a single group of broiler cages. the width of a single cage is 0.7 to 0.9 meters and the length is 1.1 to 1.4 meters

2.  Configure complete broiler farming equipment

Broiler Feeding equipment

The house adopts an automated driving feeding system, equipped with fault emergency stop and alarm devices.

The broiler feeding system should use adjustable feeding funnels and distribution funnels, which can adjust the feeding amount according to the changes in the body shape of broilers in different growth stages, avoid feed waste, reduce dust, and improve feeding uniformity.

The feeding opening of the cage should be adjustable to adapt to the feeding of broilers of different ages, reduce the labor intensity of manual feeding, and reduce the stress response of chickens caused by manual operation.

Each chicken house is equip with an independent feed tower that can store more than 2 days of feed.

Taking a single house with a breeding capacity of 50,000 as an example, the feed intake in the later stage of breeding is 150 grams per chicken per day. The feeding system should ensure that at least 7.5 tons of feed are provided every day, and the capacity of the feed tower should be more than 15 tons.

Broiler Drinking water equipment

Equipped with a sufficient and clean water supply system, the water quality should meet the requirements of pollution-free food livestock and poultry drinking water quality.

The drinking water supply system includes water supply equipment, water meter, filter, automatic doser, drinking water pipe, 360° drinking water nipple, water tank, pressure regulating valve, water pipe height regulator, water line level display, etc.

Doser and filter should be installed at the water inlet of the chicken house to achieve drinking water filtration and automatic drinking water dosing.

The water line should be designed and installed to facilitate disinfection and cleaning to avoid the growth of bacteria and algae. The water line height should be adjustable at any time to ensure that the chickens have a comfortable height for drinking water throughout the breeding cycle.

Broiler Manure cleaning equipment

A conveyor belt manure cleaning system should be used, including longitudinal, transverse and oblique manure cleaning conveyor belts, power and control systems, to achieve efficient and timely cleaning of feces and urine, and prevent feces from being retained in the house.

Each layer of the cage bottom should be equipped with a conveyor belt for layered cleaning, which is transported to the tail end of the chicken house by the longitudinal conveyor belt. The feces on the conveyor belts at the bottom of each layer of the cage are transported to the outside of the house by the transverse and oblique conveyor belts at the tail end to ensure that “feces do not fall to the ground”.

The manure cleaning conveyor belt should be made of new polypropylene material, which has anti-static, anti-aging and anti-deviation functions.

In order to prevent chickens from contacting the manure on the manure cleaning conveyor belt, a top net should be set above each layer of cages.

The manure cleaning frequency should be adjusted in time. It is recommended that the manure be cleaned daily and concentratedly transferred to a special transport vehicle outside the chicken house for transportation.

According to the growth period of broilers, the manure cleaning frequency will gradually increase from once every two days to 2 to 4 times a day.

Timely removal of manure can avoid the accumulation of harmful gases and dust in the house, reduce environmental pollution, and facilitate centralized harmless treatment.

3. Chicken house environment control and management – environmental control equipment

The poultry environmental control equipment used in three-dimensional breeding is generally similar to that of flat breeding, including fans, wet curtains, heating systems (air heating or water heating), ventilation windows, guide plates and environmental control instruments.

However, the breeding density is greatly increased when stacking cages are raised, and the complexity of the equipment is greatly increased.

It is necessary to carefully calculate the number of various equipment required and the installation location according to the specific breeding volume and the weight of the chicken group and the environmental parameters.

It is necessary to carefully calculate the maximum and minimum ventilation volume, wind speed, ventilation resistance, etc. required for raising chickens, and it is also necessary to consider the air inlet position, the temperature of the new air, the ventilation dead corner, and the large temperature difference.

The configured environmental control instrument is preferably a programmable controller with intelligent control function.

Chicken houses are mostly ventilated with negative pressure. Each chicken house needs to be equipped with multiple sets of high-efficiency fans at the rear. It is recommended to use a duct fan to improve ventilation efficiency.

Small ventilation windows are installed on the walls on both sides, with a specification of about 30cm×60cm, which can increase the ventilation volume while ensuring the stability of the air flow in the house.

According to the ventilation needs of different ages, the side air intake volume is adjusted by controlling the angle of the small window.

When using wet curtains for air intake cooling in summer, it is recommended to use wet curtain graded control to prevent the temperature at the wet curtain end from dropping too quickly after the wet curtain is opened.

The opening angle of the wet curtain and the air inlet guide plate of the side wall small window should be adjusted according to the height of the chicken house cages and the height of the ceiling to ensure that the fresh air entering the house enters the top space of the chicken house to form a jet, so that the air inside and outside the house can achieve a better mixing effect, and avoid the fresh air entering the house blowing directly to the cages, causing cold and heat stress in the chickens.