Grandma's Broiler Cage

[Earl57]

I remember when I was a pre-schooler my Grandmother had an upright broiler cage that was about the size of a refrigerator, maybe bigger. I think she had it since WW II, when many people had Victory gardens in their backyards, and kept chickens and such.It had racks, or shelves in it...4, I think.It had heat lamps in the top, to keep the day old chicks warm in the top cage. Every 2 weeks, the birds moved down to the next shelf, eventually leaving the bottom rack at eight weeks, bound for the freezer. Every 2 weeks, she started a new batch of chicks in the top rack. Their feet never touched the ground, she said. The cabinet had wheels or casters so it could be moved around as needed. The litter went in the compost box, eventually on the garden.

I have my own chickens now, along with ducks and turkeys, and most of them free range, but I still remember Grandma's cage and would like to buy or build one similar to hers. I haven't seen one like it in over 50 years. Anyone seen one like this, or know of plans for one such as this?

Bob

 

[naillikwj82]

Do you recall how many birds she did per batch? Doesn't sound too difficult if the batch size were 4 or 5. Did she hatch her own eggs? Barnyard variety birds? That era would have been small fryers at 8 weeks even for Rocks or Del's. The CX weren't available yet.

 

[naillikwj82]

Almost sounds like stacked wire rabbit cages.

 

[Earl57]

I wish I could remember more about them. I was about 5 or 6 years old when I last saw that cage. I do remember the birds were white. There were litter trays under each rack that she lined with newspaper. The whole thing was about 3x3x7' maybe bigger. It seemed huge to me at 5 yrs old. It had canvas sides that could be rolled up for ventilation. There might have been 5 shelves. The birds were kinda crowded in the bottom racks for sure.I thought it was store bought tho it could've been homemade. It worked out really well in her suburban location.And Grandma made the BEST fried chicken....sorry, Mom.