Why chicken farmers need to embrace chicken cage farming

By Mourice Seretta

The main advantages of battery cages for laying hens over alternative husbandry systems are is increased hygiene resulting in a much lower incidence of diseases in which the infectious agent is spread through the droppings,  small group size resulting in a low incidence of social friction and more so, ease of management.

Cages ensure that hens are protected from predators such as foxes, feral cats and birds of prey. Cage hens produce more eggs and cleaner eggs, which is why they are cheaper at the supermarket. There are fewer occurrences of manure-borne diseases, parasites and other exotic diseases.

Cages keep chickens separate from their waste; easier to keep free from diseases and viruses. Production costs for cage systems are lower than cage-free. Cramped cages prevent many natural behaviors such as nesting, perching and dust-bathing

Cages is a new technology in the market used to ease and improve egg production as well as reducing diseases and reducing cannibalism.

This is the reason Mr Reuben Kiluva of Poultrytech Solutions is in Nairobi’s Kiamumbi Estate, along Kamiti Road, off Thika Super Highway to ensure that if you have been struggling with rearing chickens, his services enables you deal with the situation and you start seeing benefits from caging the hens.

Mr Kiluva who has been in the industry since 2014 offers that cages ensure high rearing efficiency and that his cages are not only designed for layers but also for floor saving and cost efficient. He is not only limited to Nairobi clients has he travels across the country to put up chicken cages for his clients, within the shortest time possible but professionally and meticulously.

“My cages are also of easy maintenance and operation,” Mr Kiluva says.

Mr Kiluva further says that many farmers are not aware of the technology of cages.

He says, apart from just selling his cages to farmers he also ensures that chicken famers who are his main clients in this venture are enlightening on how to go around the technology ease.

For instance, Mr Kiluva says in cage farming, the breeding density is large, saving houses and saving land.

He further adds that in the same ground and buildings, the cages can raise three to five times more laying hens than the flat ones, and the laying hens can be mechanized and automated, and the labor efficiency is high.

“Chickens have a small amount of activity in the cage, consume less energy, have less feed intake, and have higher feed returns than flat feed. At the same time, because the trough is placed outside the cage, it is not easy to cause waste of feed.” Mr Reuben adds.

On diseases, Mr Kiluva says that due to the relatively fixed position of the chickens, the affected chickens are easily detected through the feces and changes in feed intake, so that measures can be taken early.

He also highlights that caged hens do with high egg production rate and clean eggshell. The temperature and humidity in the cage house are easy to control and provide a high-yield and stable living condition for the chickens. After the eggs are produced, they are not easily contaminated by feces, and the surface of the eggshell is relatively clean.

Mr Kiluva, can be reached on his social media platform like his facebook account namely Reuben Dudu.

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