what breeds do well in cage housing

[jk47]

what kind of hens do well in a caged style set up

 

[chooks4life]

Well, in a nutshell, nothing does well when too restricted and in an overly hygienic or overly unhygienic environment, barring of course individuals with immune diseases etc or those with amazingly tough immune systems. Even cage bred pet birds like budgies etc exhibit self/other destructive traits and anxiety if their cages are too boring, so how well you birds do will depend in part on them and in larger part on you and how you set up their cage.

Keeping animals on the same ground for the long term also leads to greatly increased risk of almost all parasite and disease threats, so having two separate cages is best, which will aid in health care and also enable them some variety and stimulation. Neuroses and negative behavior traits will emerge if they're kept in under-stimulating conditions. Chickens aren't as stupid as many people think, and they need some level of stimulation to truly thrive. For the most bare cage setup, hybrid layers or meat birds would probably do best since they're often bred under such conditions and are correspondingly dull of mind, for the most part. Many Silkies and other bantams are also bred under very restrictive conditions by some breeders and can cope as well, but I assume you're after eggs (?). All breeds have some strains kept under very restricted and non-stimulating conditions and they can cope well under such conditions, since it's all they've known and they've been bred for it, but free-range bred birds can basically lose their minds if suddenly restricted to such a barebones existence.

Whatever cage setup you use, basically any breed would be ok within it, as long as it's set up to give them enough quality of life and provision for health, i.e. room to exercise and some sunlight, some shelter, etc. Even goldfish don't do the best when they're able to see all the walls of their existence without moving from the spot. In zoos they found that L-shaped cages vastly improved animal's depression and destructive behaviors because there was a corner to check around, an area they couldn't see from all other corners, something to wonder about and explore.

Even if you have the world's greatest cage you're going to need a quarantine cage as well. It may be small yet still do its job, but in the event of some serious outbreak of something that is nigh impossible to get rid of, you will do better if you have two equal sized cages, in case some or all of your flock or another new batch of animals seem to have to permanently live separately for whatever reason. There's always some emergency sooner or later that puts many unprepared animal owners in a bad situation because they didn't have a spare cage available. Injury, illness, intolerance, etc are likely to happen sooner or later. Having only one cage will bite you sooner or later.

Sorry for the off-topic aspects of my response, I don't know what sort of setup you have or intend to have so I'm trying to cover a few bases. Best wishes.

 

[jk47]

Thanks you post was really help full so is there anyrhing I should do to the chicks to get them used to a cage system when their old enough and I am looking for egg production preferably brown eggs and any other advise for a cage system

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Of all housing types cages have the potential to be the most beneficial to the health of hens. Cages are the safest, most sanitary, provide the cleanest water, and food. Cages are the easiest to clean and they also harbor the fewest mites, parasites and contagious disease organisms of any housing system. More than any other housing system, cages better protect low ranking hens from their high ranking sisters. There is also less chicken manure contamination of the environment with caged layers.

In this country all the negatives you hear about caged layers are blatant falsehoods, spread by a small cadre of political operatives who for lack of a better word are intent on destroying modern industrial society and returning us to those thrilling days of Fagan and David Copperfield, or else back to chattel slavery. By their own words these political operatives only rational for doing this is the forlorn hope that they can create and spread enough hunger, despair, starvation, misery, discontent, disease, and poverty to foment a revolution. A revolution buy the way that these same political operatives hope that they can control and lead. I challenge anyone to post real evidence from independent sources that proves by the scientific method that laying cages are more harmful than beneficial. The whole issue is only supported by these political operatives specious statements that cages are harmful, and by nothing else.