Low-Cost Cage and Free-Range Containment

Safeguarding Chickens and reducing Costs

This technology is a special kind of chicken house that can be moved around. During the day, the chickens get to go outside and find their own food like bugs and plants. When it's time to sleep, they go back into the house where it's safe. What's great about this house is that it's not expensive to build, and it's easy to move. This is really helpful for small farmers who may not have a lot of money for fancy chicken houses. It also makes sure the chickens are happy and well looked after. The house is made from simple materials like wood, metal sheets for the roof, and mesh to keep the chickens safe. It's important to keep the house clean and fresh for the chickens' health. The design also makes sure the air inside is good for the chickens. Placing the house on flat ground and protecting it from predators is also key. All these things together make it a really helpful and practical solution for chicken farming.

This technology is TAAT1 validated.

8•9

Scaling readiness: idea maturity 8/9; level of use 9/9

Project adoption1

Technology integrated in the ENSURE- East Africa project.

Project	Beneficiaries	Budget	Duration	Key figures
ENSURE- East Africa Enabling Environments for Sustainable Regional Agriculture Extension	3,000,000 farmers.	13.14 million	2024–2027	149,940 farmer leaders & trained farmers. 9,996 trained. 2 → 3.5 t/ha.

See project details ›

Adults 18 and over: Positive high

The poor: Positive high

Under 18: Positive low

Women: Positive high

Climate adaptability: Highly adaptable

Farmer climate change readiness: Significant improvement

Environmental health: Moderately improves environmental health

Soil quality: Improves soil health and fertility

Water use: Same amount of water used

Problem

The financial constraints faced by many small-scale farmers often prevent them from investing in costly chicken houses, impeding their ability to provide adequate shelter for their poultry.
Due to limited resources and space, chickens are sometimes confined to cramped and uncomfortable living quarters, which can lead to stress and reduced productivity among the flock.
Without proper protection and shelter, chickens are susceptible to attacks from predators and adverse weather conditions, which pose significant risks to their health and well-being.
Farmers are increasingly striving to meet the growing consumer demand for free-range and organic chicken products, necessitating housing solutions that facilitate outdoor access and adhere to organic farming practices.
Keeping chickens in the same location for extended periods can result in the buildup of pests and diseases, posing a threat to the overall health and hygiene of the flock. Rotating chicken habitats can help mitigate these risks by preventing the concentration of pathogens and pests in one area.

Solution

Movable pens provide affordable housing solutions for smallholder farmers, enabling them to engage in commercial poultry production.
The technology accommodates consumer demand for organically produced foods and free-range poultry by allowing outdoor access for birds.
Mobility of pens prevents pest and disease buildup, reduces feed costs, and naturally distributes manure across fields, enhancing overall farm management practices.
Free-range conditions promote healthier chickens with stronger immune systems, reducing the need for antibiotics and supporting organic chicken production.
The technology is accessible and practiced commercially in various countries, particularly in peri-urban areas, facilitating integrated poultry-cropping systems.
Affordable and readily available materials make it feasible for small-scale farmers to implement movable poultry pens.
Proper ventilation, sanitation, and security features in housing design ensure optimal conditions for bird health and productivity.
The technology minimizes environmental impact through efficient waste management, proper ventilation, and strategic placement of poultry houses.

Key points to design your program

This technology promotes low-cost movable poultry housing that combines secure night-time containment with free-range production to improve poultry productivity, reduce production costs, and strengthen farm resilience. It can be integrated into poultry value chain development, food security, climate-smart agriculture, organic agriculture, rural livelihood, and youth and women entrepreneurship programmes. By enabling birds to forage naturally while protecting them from predators, disease, and adverse weather, the technology lowers feed costs, improves animal welfare, enhances manure recycling, and responds to the growing demand for free-range poultry products. It supports SDGs 2 (Zero Hunger), 3 (Good Health and Well-being), 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), 13 (Climate Action), 15 (Life on Land), and 17 (Partnerships for the Goals), while creating accessible business opportunities for women, youth, and smallholder poultry producers.

To successfully integrate this technology, consider the following key actions:

Identify poultry production areas where high housing costs, predation, disease pressure, and limited access to affordable poultry housing constrain productivity and enterprise development.
Establish partnerships with ILRI, ProPAS, national livestock research institutions, veterinary services, extension services, producer organizations, and local artisans to support housing design, technical guidance, and poultry health management.
Assess land availability, free-range resources, market demand, locally available construction materials, and biosecurity requirements to determine the most appropriate production system.
Strengthen technical capacity by training farmers, artisans, and extension agents on movable pen construction, poultry husbandry, flock health, biosecurity, waste management, predator control, and pen rotation.
Promote integrated free-range poultry production systems by facilitating access to practical housing designs, improved poultry breeds, vaccination programmes, supplementary feeding strategies, and locally available construction materials adapted to different production environments.
Support local artisan networks, producer organizations, business incubation initiatives, demonstration farms, and advisory services to strengthen sustainable poultry enterprises and expand community access to affordable housing systems.
Monitor programme performance through indicators such as poultry survival rates, feed cost reduction, housing adoption, manure utilization, poultry productivity, enterprise profitability, technology adoption, and the participation of women and youth.

2.0—2.5 Kg

Weight of mature meat chickens in 6 weeks

20 m²

floor space for 100 birds.

IP

Open source / open access

Scaling Readiness describes how complete a technology\’s development is and its ability to be scaled. It produces a score that measures a technology\’s readiness along two axes: the level of maturity of the idea itself, and the level to which the technology has been used so far.

Each axis goes from 0 to 9 where 9 is the “ready-to-scale” status. For each technology profile in the e-catalogs we have documented the scaling readiness status from evidence given by the technology providers. The e-catalogs only showcase technologies for which the scaling readiness score is at least 8 for maturity of the idea and 7 for the level of use.

The graph below represents visually the scaling readiness status for this technology, you can see the label of each level by hovering your mouse cursor on the number.

Scaling readiness score of this technology

Maturity of the idea 8 out of 9

Uncontrolled environment: tested

Level of use 8 out of 9

Common use by intended users, in the real world

Maturity of the idea										Level of use
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9

Project	Beneficiaries	Budget	Duration	Key figures
ENSURE- East Africa Enabling Environments for Sustainable Regional Agriculture Extension	3,000,000 farmers.	13.14 million	2024–2027	149,940 farmer leaders & trained farmers. 9,996 trained. 2 → 3.5 t/ha.

Countries with a green colour: Tested & adopted
Countries with a bright green colour: Adopted
Countries with a yellow colour: Tested
Countries with a blue colour: Testing ongoing

Countries where the technology is being tested or has been tested and adopted
Country	Testing ongoing	Tested	Adopted
Benin	–No ongoing testing	–Not tested	Adopted
Botswana	–No ongoing testing	–Not tested	Adopted
Burundi	–No ongoing testing	–Not tested	Adopted
Central African Republic	–No ongoing testing	–Not tested	Adopted
Côte d’Ivoire	–No ongoing testing	–Not tested	Adopted
Democratic Republic of the Congo	–No ongoing testing	–Not tested	Adopted
Ethiopia	–No ongoing testing	–Not tested	Adopted
Gabon	–No ongoing testing	–Not tested	Adopted
Ghana	–No ongoing testing	–Not tested	Adopted
Guinea	–No ongoing testing	–Not tested	Adopted
Kenya	–No ongoing testing	–Not tested	Adopted
Madagascar	–No ongoing testing	–Not tested	Adopted
Malawi	–No ongoing testing	–Not tested	Adopted
Mozambique	–No ongoing testing	–Not tested	Adopted
Niger	–No ongoing testing	–Not tested	Adopted
Nigeria	–No ongoing testing	–Not tested	Adopted
Rwanda	–No ongoing testing	–Not tested	Adopted
Senegal	–No ongoing testing	–Not tested	Adopted
Sierra Leone	–No ongoing testing	–Not tested	Adopted
Somalia	–No ongoing testing	–Not tested	Adopted
South Sudan	–No ongoing testing	–Not tested	Adopted
Tanzania	–No ongoing testing	–Not tested	Adopted
Uganda	–No ongoing testing	–Not tested	Adopted
Zambia	–No ongoing testing	–Not tested	Adopted
Zimbabwe	–No ongoing testing	–Not tested	Adopted

This technology can be used in the colored agro-ecological zones. Any zones shown in white are not suitable for this technology.

Agro-ecological zones where this technology can be used
AEZ	Subtropic - warm	Subtropic - cool	Tropic - warm	Tropic - cool
Arid
Semiarid
Subhumid
Humid

Source: HarvestChoice/IFPRI 2009

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals that are applicable to this technology.

Goal 2: zero hunger

Goal 3: good health and well-being

Goal 8: decent work and economic growth

Goal 13: climate action

Goal 15: life on land

Goal 17: partnerships for the goals

The technology is like a special house for chickens that can be moved around.
During the day, the chickens can go outside to eat insects and plants.
At night, they sleep inside the house where they're safe.
This special house is not expensive to build and is easy to move.
It's perfect for small farmers who can't afford big, fancy chicken houses.
It helps make sure the chickens are happy and well taken care of.
The house is made of simple materials like wood, roofing sheets, and metal mesh.
It's important to clean and disinfect the house to keep the chickens healthy.
Good ventilation helps the air inside the house stay fresh and clean.
The house should be placed on flat ground and protected from predators.
It's best to face the house east-west to avoid too much sun inside.
The floor of the house lets droppings fall through to the ground, which helps keep it clean.