GB843521A - Improvements in or relating to poultry cages - Google Patents

Abstract

843,521. Poultry batteries ; animal feeding and drinking appliances. GROSSMITH, N. Feb. 12, 1959 [Feb. 17, 1958], No. 5063/58. Class 5(2). The frame of each tier of a poultry battery, comprising cages arranged back-to-back, consists of central, horizontal members 10 and 18 spaced apart by vertical posts 11, inclined crossspars 12 secured to the posts 11 and to the member 10, and vertical struts 13 secured adjacent the outer ends of the cross-spars. Every alternate strut 13 extends below the cross-spars to form legs for supporting the tier. The upper ends of the members 11 and 13 support a framework 15 on which may be placed a wire netting roof, or the droppings board 17 of the tier above, the latter of which may be as described in Specification 843,522. The tier is separated into cages by wire mesh partitions, and mesh doors to each cage are hinged along their upper edges to the frame members 16. Gaps are left between the wire mesh and some of the frame members to facilitate cleaning the battery. Wire mesh is also extended beneath the cross-spars 12 to form the flooring of the tier, both the spars and netting being extended beyond the cage to form an egg-collecting trough, the eggs being collected against wires 19 fixed to the spars, and flaps 23 being provided for preventing the hens from gaining access to the eggs. Feeding troughs 20, (for example of the kind described in Specification 843,523), and drinking troughs 21 are supported across the exterior of the cage doors, thereby preventing the latter from swinging outwardly. The drinking troughs, which each extend for the full length of the tier, may be in communication at one end with a common supply tank, and at the other communicate with a common, vertical header pipe leading to a drain, the troughs entering the header pipe in staggered formation so that the overflow from one trough does not flow into another. Each feeding trough 20 is of sufficient length to serve two cages, and is held in place by lugs engaging behind rails 22, and by the engagement of its top edge in slots formed between blocks 24 and vertical struts 14 (not shown). The troughs can thereby be moved parallel with the fronts of the cages.