Generally speaking, the degree of mechanization of chicken raising equipment is related to the scale of production of the chicken farm. The larger the scale of the chicken farm, the higher the degree of mechanization of the chicken raising equipment; the smaller the scale, the lower the degree of mechanization of the chicken raising equipment, or even manual labor. Therefore, the main development content of chicken farming equipment mechanization has the following directions:
- Mechanization of brooding and brooding equipment: the main broiler brooding equipment is incubator and broiler
- Mechanization of chicken breeding equipment: including feeding and feeding machinery, water supply system and drinking fountain, chicken cage cleaning, egg collection machinery, manure cleaning machinery, etc.
- Mechanization of feed processing and chicken raising equipment: conventional feed processing machinery and equipment include raw material warehouses, batching warehouses, finished product warehouses, cleaning equipment, conveying equipment, dust removal systems, metering devices, shredders, mixers, and packaging machines.
- Mechanization of chicken transportation equipment: including the transportation of eggs, young chickens, mature chickens and broilers. The eggs and the chicks travel between the hatchery, the chicken farm or the chicken farm and the egg processing plant, and there should be vehicles with variable tuning.
At present, most chicken users use mechanized chicken breeding equipment, and the use of mechanized chicken breeding equipment currently adopts two mechanized breeding methods: flat breeding and cage breeding.
- Flat rearing of chickens
Horizontal rearing is to breed chickens scattered in chicken coops, also known as free-range rearing. The strengths of flat-raising chickens are the simplicity of mechanical chicken-raising equipment. The chickens have a large space for activity, grow well, and have less investment in the construction of the farm, and use less or no full-price feed. However, its disadvantages are low stocking density, large land area, and low labor productivity.
- Chicken cage
Cage farming is to keep chickens in battery layer cages. It can be carried out in the air, so the breeding density is high, the area is small, it is convenient for the breeding staff to handle and investigate the chicken flock, the feed cost is low, the labor output rate is high, it is easy to complete mechanization, and is beneficial to disease prevention. Its chicken farming equipment has invested heavily, has strict environmental requirements for chicken coops, and has a high demand for feed.