IPB Students Create Efficient Cages for Farmers

A battery cage of SP Model is an innovative modified form of the battery cage model. The goal is to increase production and profit for laying chicken breeders.

The innovation was created by Panji Mustika Muhammad and three colleagues from the Faculty of Management Economics, Bogor Agricultural University (IPB), Richo Setio Putranto, Lukman Nurhakim and Khafiel Ali Tarmoem. This is a solution for laying chicken breeders.

In laying hens farm, a cage is the most important to prepare. Its function is to provide comfort to the animals and protect them from stress such as sunstroke, rain, strong winds, dust and cold air.

According to the Central Bureau of Statistics (2014), the number of laying chickens in Indonesia increased from 124,636,000 in 2011 to 154,657,000 in 2014. This also increases the number of cages needed to facilitate raising the animals.

"There are three problems of laying chicken breeders: cannibalism in chickens, poor feed management and egg quality. Thus, a cage design is needed to provide comfort in keeping chickens and facilitate the maintenance management," said Panji Mustika Muhammad, the creator of the idea.

The cage construction of laying hen can be divided into two, namely postal and battery cage. The postal cage is usually used for raising chickens in the early growing phase, while the battery cage is commonly for raising chickens during the productive period of layers.

"Here we use a battery enclosure that is modified and specially designed to provide a separator between the feed containers to solve the problem of feeding inefficiency and minimize cannibalism and increase the profits of laying chicken breeders," Panji said.

The SP Model of the battery enclosure uses the same materials of the common battery cages. The main materials of making the cage and separators is bamboo because it is easy to find and cheaper. The SP Models is designed for six chickens, having six boxes and each box is designed for one laying chicken. Each box is designed with the size of 50x30x38 cm and the overall cage length is 3 meters.

After the making the cage was completed, they did a product trial, which includes maintenance, observation of chicken behavior and eggs produced. Lastly, they will do a product demonstration to the public.

"We want to introduce this innovation to the public through the internet. In addition, we can give extension related to the benefits of the products they make. We hope that this product can be patented, until finally we could attend a conference to introduce it," he said. (Mtd)