Cage Versus Floor Rearing of Broiler Chickens

Abstract

THE concept of rearing poultry in a cage or battery has existed for many years. In the early twenties, Bethke and Kennard (1924) demonstrated that chickens could be reared from hatching to maturity inside a building. The use of batteries or wire floors for growing and fattening birds was documented by Bethke and Kennard (1928), Carver (1931) and Buckner et al. (1933). Many commercial eggs are produced by cage laying hens. However, almost all commerical broilers are produced on the floor with litter. As shown by Reed et al. (1966), one of the reasons that broilers are not grown extensively in cages is the high incidence of breast blisters among birds reared on wire. Other problems are generated by the comparatively short time that each broiler is confined to the cage. These include the handling problems involved in rather frequent moving of birds into and out of the cages, and…