# US 9,750,231 B2 · Portable basket colony for growing and transport and method of use

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- Number: US 9,750,231 B2
- Document ID: US9750231B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 14/754,923
- Filed: 2015-06-30
- Published: 2015-12-31
- Granted: 2017-09-05
- Earliest claimed: 2013-02-26
- Assignees: Tyson Foods, Inc.
- Applicants: Tyson Foods, Inc.
- Inventors: Doug Foreman; Stephen Brannan; James Ruff; David Lee Mantooth; Theodore Burnett
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US9750231B2

## CPC

- B65G 57/00: Stacking of articles (B65G60/00 takes precedence; feeding, piling or stacking sheets B65H)
- A01K 31/002: {Poultry cages, e.g. transport boxes (Harvesting or transport of poultry A01K45/005)}
- A01K 31/005: {Battery breeding cages, with or without auxiliary features, e.g. feeding, watering, demanuring, heating, ventilation}
- A01K 31/07: Transportable cages (A01K31/08 takes precedence)
- A01K 31/18: Chicken coops or houses {for baby chicks}; Brooders {including auxiliary features, e.g. feeding, watering, demanuring, heating, ventilation (battery breeding cages A01K31/005)}
- A01K 45/005: {Harvesting or transport of poultry}
- B65G 47/08: spacing or grouping the articles during feeding (during transit by conveyor B65G47/28)
- B65G 47/26: arranging the articles, e.g. varying spacing between individual articles
- B65G 61/00: Use of pick-up or transfer devices or of manipulators for stacking or de-stacking articles not otherwise provided for
- B65G 67/02: Loading or unloading land vehicles
- B65G 67/24: Unloading land vehicles
- B66F 9/00: Devices for lifting or lowering bulky or heavy goods for loading or unloading purposes (mobile or transportable lifts in, or associated with, buildings and specially adapted to be shifted from one part of a building or other structure to another part or to another building or structure B66B9/16; cranes B66C)
- B66F 19/00: Hoisting, lifting, hauling or pushing, not otherwise provided for
- B65G: TRANSPORT OR STORAGE DEVICES, e.g. CONVEYORS FOR LOADING OR TIPPING, SHOP CONVEYOR SYSTEMS OR PNEUMATIC TUBE CONVEYORS (packaging B65B; handling thin or filamentary materials, e.g. paper sheets or thread, B65H; cranes B66C; portable mobile or lifting or hauling appliances, e.g. hoists, B66D; devices for lifting or lowering goods for loading or unloading purposes, e.g. fork-lift trucks, B66F9/00; emptying bottles, jars, casks, barrels or similar containers, not otherwise provided for, B67C9/00; delivering or transferring liquids B67D; filling or discharging vessels for liquefied, solidified or compressed gases F17C; pipe-line systems for fluids F17D)
- A01K: ANIMAL HUSBANDRY; AVICULTURE; APICULTURE; PISCICULTURE; FISHING; REARING OR BREEDING ANIMALS, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; NEW BREEDS OF ANIMALS
- B66F: HOISTING, LIFTING, HAULING OR PUSHING, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR, e.g. DEVICES WHICH APPLY A LIFTING OR PUSHING FORCE DIRECTLY TO THE SURFACE OF A LOAD ({invalid lifting devices A61G7/10; } mounting artificial islands on piles or like supports E02B17/00; scaffolding combined with lifting devices E04G1/22; lifting devices for sliding forms E04G11/24; lifting of buildings E04G23/06; shores or struts E04G25/00; lifts or other hoisting devices on ladders E06C7/12; props for mining E21D15/00)

## Abstract

A colony basket and method of using the same for handling poultry from DOC through the growing process and on to a production facility comprising a harvesting system, a loading system, a transport system, an unloading and storing system, hanging system and cleaning system. The system and method performs the steps of harvesting and colonizing live poultry into a singly stackable and transportable colony basket, stacking and loading the trays on a transport, unloading and temporarily storing the poultry for subsequent processing.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method for processing poultry using a colony basket comprising the steps of:
a. gathering at a hatchery together a grouping of birds into a colony basket when the grouping of birds are day old chicks, where said colony basket has at least one vertically upright latitudinal side wall having a vertical slot extending downward into the at least one vertically upright latitudinal side wall;
b. transporting said same grouping of birds in said same colony basket to a growing house having a colony system including a plurality of colony racks and inserting said same colony basket containing said same grouping of birds in one of said plurality of colony racks;
c. extending a channel of a sustenance assembly through the vertical slot with said same colony basket having said same grouping of birds, and retaining said channel and in said vertical slot;
d. transferring said same grouping of birds in said same colony basket to a transport and transporting said same colony basket containing said same grouping of birds to a processing facility;
e. transferring said same grouping of birds in said same colony basket out of the same colony basket for processing;
f. emptying and cleaning said colony basket; and
g. transporting the emptied colony basket to the hatchery.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method for processing poultry using a colony basket system as recited in claim 1, where the colony basket comprises:
a. a perimetrical top rim flange defining an upward facing opening having a first geometry and a perimetrical bottom rim flange defining a downward facing opening where said downward facing opening is closed by a floor and said downward facing opening has a second geometry substantially identical to said first geometry of the top rim flange;
b. vertically upright longitudinal side walls and at least one vertically upright latitudinal side wall perpendicularly extended between said bottom and top rim flanges such that said bottom and top rim flanges are in substantially parallel planes; and
c. where said vertical slot extends from a gap in the top rim flange downward into the latitudinal side wall adapted for receiving and retaining the channel of the sustenance assembly.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The method of processing poultry using a colony basket system as recited in claim 1, further comprising the step of:
a. stacking onto a colony basket stack said same colony basket with a plurality of other baskets forming a plurality of colony baskets, the plurality of colony baskets stacked vertically one on top of the other with bottoms of said colony baskets engaging tops of said colony baskets underneath.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

The method of processing poultry using a colony basket system as recited in claim 3, further comprising:
a. transferring the colony basket stack, where each colony basket of the colony basket stack has a separate grouping of birds, to a colony system; and
b. transferring the colony basket stack from the colony system to a processing facility.

### Claim 5 (depends on 3)

The method as recited in claim 3, further comprising the step of:
transferring the colony basket stack to a flatbed of a transport and aligning said colony basket over a flatbed raised stand off for resisting lateral and longitudinal movement of the stack.

### Claim 6 (depends on 3)

The method as recited in claim 3, further comprising the step of:
transferring the colony basket stack from the flatbed of a transport to a poultry processing facility.

### Claim 7

A method for processing poultry using a colony basket comprising the steps of:
a. gathering at a hatchery together a grouping of birds into a first colony basket when the grouping of birds are day-old-chicks, where said first colony basket has at least one vertically upright latitudinal side wall having a vertical slot extending downward into the at least one vertically upright latitudinal side wall for receiving a channel, where the vertical slot is narrow and vertically elongated having substantially vertical and substantially parallel sides for retaining the channel and said at least one vertically upright latitudinal side wall having at least one standoff member protruding vertically upward;
b. stacking at least a second colony basket on top of and immediately above the first colony basket and engaging the at least one standoff member with the bottom of the at least second colony basket to resist latitudinal movement of the first colony basket and the second colony basket one with respect to the other;
c. transporting said same grouping of birds in said first and second colony baskets to a growing house having a colony system including a plurality of colony racks and inserting said first and second colony baskets containing said same grouping of birds in one of said plurality of colony racks;
d. feeding and watering the same grouping of birds while the second colony basket is stacked above the first colony basket using the vertical slots through which to channel water;
e. transferring said substantially same grouping of birds in said first and second colony baskets to a transport and transporting said first and second colony baskets containing said same grouping of birds to a processing facility;
f. transferring said same grouping of birds in said first and second colony baskets out of the first and second colony baskets for processing;
g. cleaning and emptying said first and second colony baskets; and
h. transporting the emptied first and second colony baskets to the hatchery.

### Claim 8 (depends on 7)

The method for processing poultry using a colony basket as recited in claim 7, comprising:
extending a watering channel through the vertical slot where said watering channel has a vertically suspended water trough with said first and second colony basket having said same grouping of birds, and retaining said watering channel in said vertical slot.

### Claim 9 (depends on 8)

The method for processing poultry using a colony basket as recited in claim 8, where the colony basket having a perimetrical top rim flange defining an upward facing opening having a first geometry and a perimetrical bottom rim flange defining a downward facing opening where said downward facing opening is closed by a floor and said downward facing opening has a second geometry substantially identical to said first geometry of the top rim flange, said colony basket further comprising,
vertically upright longitudinal side walls where said vertically upright longitudinal side walls and said vertically upright latitudinal side walls perpendicularly extend between said bottom and top rim flanges such that said bottom and top rim flanges are in substantially parallel planes.

### Claim 10 (depends on 9)

The method of processing poultry using a colony basket as recited in claim 9, further comprising:
stacking a plurality of other colony baskets unto and immediately above the second colony basket forming a plurality of colony baskets, the plurality of colony baskets stacked vertically one on top of the other with bottoms of said plurality of other colony baskets engaging the tops of the colony baskets underneath.

### Claim 11 (depends on 10)

The method of processing poultry using a colony basket as recited in claim 10, further comprising:
transferring the colony basket stack to a flatbed of a transport for transporting to and from the hatchery and a colony system.

### Claim 12 (depends on 11)

The method of processing poultry using a colony basket as recited in claim 11, further comprising:
transferring the stacked plurality of colony baskets to the colony system, where each colony basket of the stacked plurality of colony baskets has a separate grouping of birds; and
transferring the stacked plurality of colony baskets from the colony system to a poultry processing system.