—Lancaster Fanning, Saturday r May 19,1979
144
Cage broiler research gets off the ground
NEWARK, Del. - About
ten years ago, a number of
U.S. poultry research
stations began to intensify
their research regarding
rearing broilers in cages.
Also some commercial cage
equipment manufacturers,
suppliers of cage ac
cessories, and some of the
broiler companies them
selves collaborated on the
research efforts or tried to
establish suitable economic
systems of cage broiler
production on their own.
After some early studies it
was predicted that in
another ten years perhaps 10
to 25 per cent of the broilers
in the U.S. would be grown in
some sort of a cage or
modified cage system, since
litter and coccidiostats
would not be needed, and it
looked as though labor and
space could be saved.
However, researchers
were quick to discover that
at least two problems would
have to be corrected before
the U.S. broiler industry
would accept the switch to
cages, according to
Delaware Extension poultry
specialist George W.
Chaloupka. Carcass quality
would have to be improved
and additional equipment
costs would have to be
brought down to acceptable
levels.
Researchers have long
used batteries and cages to
grow poultry for nutrition
and disease studies,
Chaloupka notes. The birds
always grew well, and were
usually heavier than floor
reared birds. However,
seldom had these birds been
processed and scored for
quality. Therefore,
researchers hadn’t expected
all the problems they found.
It has long been known
that heavy breeds grown on
wire develop breast blisters.
Results at the University of
IPC
'4
It was once believed meteors purified the air
Delaware show, and others
have verified, that breast
blisters can be reduced to
acceptable levels by using
plastic or rubber mats on
cage bottoms, particularly
with lighter weight broilers.
But researchers at the'
Delaware Agricultural
Experiment Station and
elsewhere have also found
alarming rates of feather
follicle infection, brittle wing
bones, and crooked keels.
They had expected the bone
problems, since spent cage
layers exhibit much bone
breakage in the processing
plant. But the high incidence
of feather follicle infection
and crooked keels was
unexpected. Some of the
causes of carcass
downgrading are correlated
either with body weight or
the strain of bird used.
Where do we stand today
regarding cage broiler
production after at least ten
years of research by many
people? Nearly four billion
broilers will be grown in the
U.S. this year. At least ten
per cent of these, or
400,000,000 will be grown on
Delmarva. Still only small
lots of research broilers are
- being grown in cages in this
country. The number of
people active in this type of
research has apparently
dwindled to a handful. Most
commercial equipment
companies have either
discontinued their studies or
are not commenting on any
results of their work.
In Western Europe and
other areas, particularly
where lighter weight
broilers are desired and
where there is no mandatory
carcass inspection, cages
are being used on a com
mercial basis. However,
close confinement is under. b
attack by humane
there. Yugoslavia, Romania
and Bulgaria aie using cage
units in a portion of their
production The U.SS.R. is
growing broilers in some
sort of a cage system, at
least on 'an experimental
basis.
Today’s cage broiler
researchers are still en
countering the problems of
ten years ago, according to
Chaloupka. They now
generally agree that breast
blisters can be reduced
considerably with platic or
rubber mats. Feather
follicle infection and even
crooked keels may be at
least partially controlled by
using specific strains of
birds. Young or lighter
weight birds definitely have
less downgrading at the
processing plant.
In the area of energy costs,
Chaloupka says, increasing
the number of-birds in a y
given area saves brooding
fuel through body heat
buildup. However, this meat
must also be removed during
high environmental tem
peratures.
Average weights,
liveability, and feed con
versions are apparently not
holding back cages from
commercial usage.
Injectors are mounted on the heavy duty A frame hitch of the
spreader or vacuum tank.
The spreader tank model features a high volume impeller pump,
PTO driven, that moves manure through the 6” valve and manifold
to the 4” hoses and through the injector tubes.
All this is mounted on the front where you can see what you are
doing and leaves the back mounted slinger undisturbed for
spreading on top of the ground when necessary.
O \STR\B UTOB RD 3 ■ Box 84 ’ Mifflinbur & Pa -17844 - Phone: 717-966-2736
Howevei, cage and ac
cessory equipment costs,
particularly for the type of
system being used in Ger
many, are too high to be
considered by industry even
if all the other problems
could be solved.
The Delaware Cooperative
Extension Service and
Agricultural Equipment
Station are cooperating with
workers at the USDA
Poultry Regional Lab in
trying to lessen the bone
breakage problem by
varying floor space, head
room, and light intensity.
Chaloupka says exercise is a
key to stronger bone
development- Seven to eight
week old broilers need cages
close to 15 inches deep. Each
bird needs at least .45 square
feet of area and five foot
candles of light intensity to
be active enough for
muscular and bone
development. Also the total
area for each unit should
probably be increased.
Researchers at Maine
have foun'd deforming keels
beginning at a very early
age, and are examining the '
possibility of strain dif
ferences. Scientists at
Arkansas, the Campbell
Soup Company and several
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others have not given up on
the development of a cage
system that could be used for
at least a portion of our
broiler production.
Researchers at . North
Carolina State University
have been evaluating a cage
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