Animal husbandry – Feeding device – Hopper and trough
Patent
1995-04-05
1998-06-16
Swiatek, Robert P.
Animal husbandry
Feeding device
Hopper and trough
119 53, 119 574, A01K 502
Patent
active
057655030
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The invention relates to a feeding device for birds, in particular for breeders with a limited, predetermined daily ration of feed, comprising: an essentially dish-shaped pan with a bottom and an upright peripheral wall; and a drop tube with an open upper end which is adapted to be coupled with a feed supply tube of a feed supply system containing a number of feeding devices, and with an open lower end which is situated above the dish-shaped pan.
Similar devices are known in many embodiments, e.g. from EP-A-0 421 553, and are intended primarily for raising broilers in large-scale breeding farms with birds, such as chickens, walking freely in closed breeding houses. For this kind of use it is important to have sufficient feed available in the feeding devices at any time, so that the birds right from the moment they are put in the breeding house continuously can find feed, and in this way grow to the desired weight in the shortest possible time.
For breeders, i.e. female or male animals which are destined to provide offspring, other standards apply, which can be derived from GB-A-1 022 509. To be sure, the birds also in this case should have unlimited access to feed in the feeding device till the time they are about one to three weeks old, but after that time the feed is strongly rationed to prevent the birds from gaining too much weight; from then on the birds are only fed once a day with an accurately predetermined daily ration of feed for each bird. In the case of rationing, at the moment the feeding starts, the birds have a great need for feed, and it is therefore of the utmost importance that all feeding devices, e.g. as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,230,933, are filled simultaneously to enable each bird to eat its daily ration, but no more than that.
In the prior art feeding devices, e.g. as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,230,933, to which devices feed is supplied with a system comprising a feed supply tube containing feed conveying means, feeding devices being coupled to the feed supply tube at regular intervals, in normal operation it is not possible to always fill all feeding devices simultaneously and to about the same extent, taking into consideration the large volume of feed the drop tube and in particular the pan can contain. This is caused mainly by the limited amount of feed which is to be distributed among the feeding devices, and to a lesser extent by the limited throughput of the feed supply tube and the capacity of the feed supply tube portion between two adjacent feeding devices being coupled to the tube. Starting from an empty or poorly filled feed supply tube of the feed supply system, this has the drawback that in the initial phase and in the course of a feeding operation only a limited number of feeding devices can be filled, and moreover only to a different extent. On the other hand, starting from a fully or almost fully filled feed supply system, the feed conveying means can be allowed to operate only until the daily rations of feed--which now are distributed simultaneously and evenly--have been supplied to each feeding device. Thus, after a feeding some feed remains in the feed supply system, which feed is supplied to the feeding devices during the next feeding. Consequently the situation in which the feed supply system at the beginning of a feeding is empty or almost empty, is inevitably reached periodically, with the associated drawback. The undesired result is an uneven distribution of the feed over the birds present, some birds eating more feed than the daily ration intended for each of them, and other birds capturing less feed than the daily ration of feed intended for each of them. In this way a lot of commotion develops between the birds in the breeding farm, and this situation does not contribute to their health, growth and uniformity.
The object of the invention is to bring the volume of feed to be held in the feeding device into conformity with the quantity of feed to be distributed, and with the capacity of the feed supply system, and in this way effect that all feeding dev
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Roxell N.V.
Shaw Elizabeth
Swiatek Robert P.
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