Battery Cage Systems: Sizing and Buying in Ghana

Measure the house before you order the cages

We see it often enough to put it first. A cage set arrives in crates, the crates are opened in the yard, and somebody finally measures the house. By then the rows are a few centimetres too long for the room, or the aisle is too narrow to walk with a crate of eggs in one hand.

The cage system is the house. The frames, the tiers, the feed chain and the manure system set the width, the length and the height, so size them first and build the walls second. If you already have a building, work backwards from its inside measurements. If you have not built yet, the layout in this guide gives you the numbers to take to a builder. Our day-old chicks overview is the place to check which birds fill which house before you commit. Halaal Farms supplies chicks and hatching rather than housing, so the figures here come from how cage systems are normally laid out and from what we see on farms, not from a catalogue we sell from.

Hens per cage and floor per hen: the two numbers that set everything

Two figures decide the rest of the design. The first is how many hens sit in each cage. Conventional cages in tropical systems are commonly built for three to five hens, and a smaller group is easier to see and catch. The second is the floor each hen gets, which is the cage's internal floor area divided by the number of hens in it.

For a reference point, the old EU minimum for conventional cages was 550 square centimetres per hen, with 450 square centimetres of that usable. Many systems sold in Ghana are built around figures in that range, but the right answer depends on the breed, the feeder and the welfare standard your buyer expects. If a buyer or a contract asks for a written standard, ask which one they use before you design the cage.

Once you know the number of hens and the hens per cage, the floor per cage follows. Four hens at 550 square centimetres each need 2,200 square centimetres, or 0.22 square metres, of cage floor. A cage 44 centimetres wide and 50 centimetres deep gives exactly that area.

Working out how many cages you need

The steps are short, and the one people skip is the last one that turns cages into a building.

1. Write down the number of hens you will house, and add a small margin for losses and for any growth you already plan.
2. Divide by the hens per cage and round up. For 240 hens at four per cage, that is 60 cages.
3. Divide the cages by the number of tiers to get the cage positions along the floor. Three tiers give 20 positions.
4. Split the positions into two back-to-back rows of equal length. Two rows of 10 are easy to feed and to clean.
5. Multiply the positions in one row by the 44 centimetre cage width to get the row length.
6. Add about a metre at the ends for the door, the fan wall and the collection point, then add the walls and the aisle to get the house width.

Counting cages on a quote tells you nothing about the building. Counting positions and rows tells you how long the house must be, and that is the figure the builder needs.

Tiers, rows and the aisle: the layout at three flock sizes

The table applies the steps above to three flock sizes, using four hens per cage, three tiers and cages 44 centimetres wide.

The house width stays the same for all three, because the rows stand back to back and share the aisle. Wall, row depth, aisle, row depth, wall comes to about 2.6 metres, with each row 50 centimetres deep and a clear one-metre aisle. The 960-hen house is the same width and longer, and that is the point of a cage layout. It grows along the building, which is cheaper than widening it later. Check the frame drawing before you copy these numbers, because the feed trough and the manure belt may sit within the 50 centimetres or take extra room.

Tiers have a height limit too. Three tiers on a standard frame, with the manure system underneath, put the top cage well above a person's head. Check the roof height before you accept a four-tier design, and check that the fans can move air across the full height of the stack. Our house size guide sets out the floor arithmetic for other systems, which is useful when you compare a cage house with a deep-litter house on the same plot.

Materials: galvanised wire, paint and the gauge question

Cage frames are usually steel, with wire mesh for the floor and the front. The two things to ask about are the coating and the gauge. Hot-dip galvanising gives a thick zinc layer that lasts in damp, salty air, which is what the coastal months bring. Paint works in a dry store, but it chips where the birds rub and rusts at cut ends. Ask whether the frame is hot-dip galvanised or painted, and whether the cut ends and welds are treated.

The gauge, which is the thickness of the wire, sets how much weight a floor carries and how well it resists pecking. A thin floor wire bends under a heavy hen and sags between supports. Ask for the wire gauge and the spacing of the supports, and check both against the size of the hens you will keep.

The floor must also slope enough for eggs to roll to the front, and the manufacturer sets that slope. A flat floor leaves eggs on the wire where a hen can break them, and a floor that is too steep makes the birds slip. Ask the supplier to show the slope on the drawing, not to promise it verbally.

Feed, water and eggs: the systems that come with the cage

A cage is only a box until feed, water and eggs have a route in and out. A continuous feed trough runs along the front of each row, fed from a bin or a chain. Drinkers sit on the cage front, usually as nipples, and each cage needs at least one that every hen can reach. An egg roll collects eggs at the front of the sloped floor, and a belt or tray carries them out of the house.

The trough length per hen is set by the manufacturer and by the breed, so check it against the hens in your row rather than against a generic figure. Our feeders and drinkers guide sets out trough and drinker numbers in detail, and it is worth reading before you sign for the internal layout.

Ask for the feed and water lines in writing, with their length, the number of outlets and whether the chain runs on power. The chain is the part that stops the whole row when one link jams, so ask how quickly a broken link can be replaced, and whether the spare is in Ghana.

Manure and air: the parts that decide the smell

Under a cage system the droppings fall to a belt or a pit, and a belt or scraper clears them out. A belt is quicker to clear and keeps the droppings drier, but it costs more and needs a motor and a clean run. A pit costs less at the start and holds wet manure until you empty it, which means ammonia builds up if the pit is left too long.

Ventilation matters more in a cage house than people expect, because the manure and the birds sit close together and the air has to clear both. Plan the fan positions and the air inlets with the layout, not after it. Our ventilation guide covers the air rates and placement, and the same principles apply to a cage row as to a deep-litter house, with less room for error.

Reading a cage quote line by line

Two quotes for the same house can differ by a lot, and the difference is rarely the frame. Use the table to put each supplier's offer side by side, and do not accept a total until every row has an answer.

Put freight and installation on the same line for every supplier, so you compare a delivered and installed price with a delivered and installed price. Ask the supplier for the name of a farm they have fitted, and visit it before you order. Our day-old chick prices page and frequently asked questions cover the chicks themselves, which is a separate cost from the housing.

New, used or built locally

A new imported system has the clearest drawings and the strongest warranty, but it arrives with freight and may need a local fitter who knows the design. A locally built system can be cheaper and easier to repair, but the welding, the galvanising and the levelling depend entirely on the builder. For that route you need a drawing, and a check at each stage before the next one starts.

Used cages are the cheapest entry and the most risky. Look for rust through the frame, cracked welds, bent floor wire, missing feed or drinker parts, and pieces from two different makers that were never meant to meet. A used set that fits your house with its parts intact is a bargain. A used set that needs a new floor and a new chain is a new system at a used price, and the old frame may not fit the new parts properly.

Installation and the first week

Once the frames are in, the first week shows whether the layout works. Check levels, spacing and tier heights with a spirit level and a tape. Run the feed chain and the manure belt empty, then loaded, watching for jams. Fill the drinkers and check every nipple for drips, and look for any hen on the top tier that cannot reach water.

1. Check the frame is level along each row and square across the house.
2. Run the feed chain empty for an hour, then loaded, and watch the links at the drive and at each turn.
3. Fill the drinker lines and check the pressure at the last nipple in each row.
4. Run the manure belt or scraper, and check the motor and its guard.
5. Run the fans and inlets at full speed with the house empty.
6. Put the birds in a few at a time, and count the hens in each cage on the first day.
7. Walk the house after 24 hours and note any hen that is stuck, trapped or pecking at a joint.

Mistakes we see with cage systems

• Sizing the house from the cage count on the quote, rather than from the positions and rows.
• Choosing four tiers for a house with a low roof, so the top tier is cramped and hard to inspect.
• Buying a painted frame for a damp site, then finding rust at the joints within a season.
• Leaving no room at the end of the row for the fan wall, so air cannot reach the last cages.
• Accepting a quote that leaves the feed chain, the manure system or the freight out of the total.
• Filling the cages before the drinkers and the chain have been tested, so the first birds learn the system the hard way.

If you are still deciding between cages and deep litter, read our comparison of the two systems first. Once the decision is made and you know how many layers you are housing, our layer day-old chicks page explains the batches we supply. You can also order through the order form, or message us on WhatsApp at +233 24 915 1503 with your planned flock size. We will tell you when a batch could be ready to meet the house.

Questions farmers ask