Apparatus and method for raising and transporting poultry

An apparatus for raising and transporting poultry or the like and being characterized by a self-contained, portable construction for receiving the poultry upon leaving a brooder and for containing the poultry until reaching maturity and for transporting the poultry therein to a processing plant to thereby eliminate the necessity of repeated manual handling of the poultry, said apparatus comprising:

• a portable enclosure adapted to receive and contain poultry during growth and being of a size and construction suitable for being transported with the poultry therein by a truck, railway car or the like,
• a plurality of substantially horizontally extending endless conveyors movably mounted in said enclosure in a vertically spaced and vertically aligned relationship with respect to each other, and each conveyor having an upper surface serving as a floor for supporting the poultry and receiving droppings therefrom,
• means carried by said enclosure for rotatably interconnecting said conveyors such that said conveyors are adapted to be advanced in unison and the droppings and dead and infirm poultry may be moved to the downstream end of said conveyors for removal,
• a plurality of partitions carried by said enclosure in transverse spaced relation along the length of each of said conveyors, each of said partitions being disposed a predetermined distance above said upper surface of the associated conveyor to separate the poultry into groups along the length of the conveyor and while permitting the passage of dead or infirm poultry thereunder,
• means carried by said enclosure adjacent the downstream end of each of said conveyors for cleaning the surface thereof as the conveyor is advanced to thereby remove the droppings from the conveyor, and
• means for removably mounting said partitions within said enclosure to facilitate the loading and unloading of the poultry.