Abstract:
This invention is a system and involved components for staging a series of multi-compartmented, multi-tier poultry cages for loading by a poultry loader that moves transversely to the direction of a plurality of side-by-side poultry receiving and batching bins each containing a floor that is a conveyor belt. The bin conveyor belts are parallel with each other and are longitudinally arranged for individual discharge of batches of poultry onto a conveyor belt of the poultry loader. The loader in turn is longitudinally arranged for individual alignment with both the bin conveyor belts and individual front opening compartments of an empty poultry cage frontally presented to the loader by a cage stager. The loader receives a batch of poultry from a bin and discharges the batch as a group at high loading speed into individual compartments, repeating the process for each bin and each compartment on a tier. The bins and loader as a unit shift to another tier and repeat the loading operation on that tier, then adjusts elevation to another tier, and so on, until all tiers are filled. The stager removes the filed cage, relocates it to another position where it frontally faces in the same direction in which as an empty cage it was placed on the stager, for removal by a fork lift, while in the meantime another cage has been placed on the stager and moved into position for filling, in a continuing process, until all poultry are loaded.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION  
       [0001]    The present application claims the benefit of 35 U.S.C. §111 (b) Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/225,680, filed Aug. 16, 2000 and entitled “Apparatus and Method for Positioning Poultry Cages for Filling and Removal.” 
     
    
     
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    This invention relates to method and apparatus for caging poultry caught at a growing site for live haul transport to processing plants where they are slaughtered and dressed for market.  
           [0003]    The poultry industry today in the United States and in other countries provides a huge amount of the country&#39;s consumable protein, centered on chickens and turkeys. Poultry are raised from chicks to eating size free roaming in a structure called a “house”, a “chicken house” in the case of chickens. Eating size is typically a five to six pound live weight for a “broiler” chicken destined for broiling, frying, grilling, or the like, heavier for chickens for stewing and the like, and often in the forty to fifty pound range for turkeys. When poultry have reached eating size, they are caught, caged and hauled to a poultry processing plant where they are slaughtered and dressed for market. The part of the poultry industry that is responsible for catching, caging and hauling the poultry to a poultry processing plant is called the “live-haul” industry. The term “poultry” or “bird” are used interchangeably and generically refer to chickens, turkeys or other fowl raised for consumption.  
           [0004]    A typical modem chicken processing plant receives, slaughters and dresses from 50,000 to 300,000 chickens per day, and a few as many as 500,000 to 700,000 per day. The processing plant must have caged chickens at the plant ready to be unloaded and slaughtered in order to maintain a continuous operation. The live-haul operators are charged with this responsibility. The live-haul process has to be done efficiently and expeditiously in order both to keep the bird numbers flowing to the processing plant and to minimize bird death from holding the poultry too long in cages where massed body heat of the caged poultry causes them to dehydrate without chance of re-watering (especially in hot weather months).  
           [0005]    The high daily throughput requirements of modem poultry processing plants in the United States has led to the development of improvements designed to facilitate rapid loading and unloading of caught poultry. Before these improvements were developed, caught poultry were deposited into wooden or plastic single compartment coops that opened at the top accessible from a closeable hatch. Coops were individually man-handled onto flatbed trailers and stacked in side-by-side columns to form rows of stacks that were then lashed to the trailer for transport to the processing plant. At the processing plant, these single compartment coops caused a bottleneck, because the chickens had to be withdrawn by hand. As processing plant slaughter line numbers and speed increased to meet growing sales demands, this bottleneck needed to be overcome, and in consequence, the modem steel poultry cage was developed and is universally used in today&#39;s high volume processing plants.  
           [0006]    This cage is a multi-tied, multi-compartmented structure having over-the-center, spring loaded doors at the front of each compartment. The doors facilitate not only loading but unloading. At the processing plant the cage is tilted forward (towards the doors) causing the weight of the caged chickens to press against the doors until the spring load is overcome, snapping open the doors and allowed all the chickens in the cage to be dumped from the cage compartments onto wide conveyor collector belts leading to slaughter lines.  
           [0007]    The modrem steel poultry cage, now a design standard in the United States, is of a size that fits an over-the-road flatbed trailer, which is restricted in width to about eight feet for travel on public roads. Such cages for chickens, have tiers of side-by-side compartments (a row). Each compartment is directly over or under another compartment in a different tier, providing a column of vertically superimposed compartments. Each compartment has a solid fiberglass floor and a front opening, bottom hinged, over-the-center spring loaded solid door that closes a portal or front opening to the compartment. The cage tiers number four, five or six, and have two or three compartments per tier. In a cage having three compartments per tier (called a “three door” cage), the individual compartments run about four feet deep, are about a foot high, and are about 31 inches wide (side to side). In a “two door cage”, the compartments are about 48 inches wide. The compartment width sets the length of the cage, about eight feet, since the length is essentially a combination of compartment widths. Compartment depth sets cage depth. Thus a cage is about eight feet long and four feet deep. A typical compartment holds about 17-20 chickens of five to six pounds for a load of about 100 pounds of chickens per compartment. A five tier “three door” cage (15 compartments) carries about up to about 260-300 chickens at a total of about 1500 pounds of chicken per cage.  
           [0008]    Weighing in at 1500 pounds of chickens when filled, the poultry cages are provided with fork tubes built into them along the length of the cage to allow the entire cage to be lifted with a forklift. Fork spread of forklift trucks and cage rigidity mandate that the fork tube pair incorporated into the cage structure run along the length of the cage at the front and rear base of the cage, putting the tubes about four feet apart corresponding to cage depth. Cross members ties together the fork tubes.  
           [0009]    A typical live haul crew has chicken catchers, a forklift truck driver and a truck driver for each truck towing a flatbed trailer loaded with cages. Operations using the poultry cages start at the processing plant where empty cages are placed with forklift trucks on flatbed trailers with the length of the cage running across the width of the trailer, the single orientation permitted by the run of the fork tubes where the only approach available to the forklift to load the length of the trailer is from the side. Cages are loaded side by side the length of the trailer, then another row of cages is stacked and lashed atop the bottom row.  
           [0010]    A forklift truck accompanies the cages to the chicken house farm where grown chickens ready for slaughter are to be caught in the house and are caged for transport to the processing plant. At the farm, the driver of the forklift truck has certain logistical factors to observe, both in unloading and delivering empty cages to a catching crew, and in fetching filled cages and loading the filled cages on a flatbed trailer for transport to the processing plant. When loading filled cages onto the transport trailer, good practice is to place the cages on the trailer with the cage doors facing all one way, preferably to the front where the doors face the wind, for better efficiency in unloading the cages at the processing plant for dumping. If the forklift driver picks up a filled cage with the doors to the driver&#39;s right, in order to place the doors to the front of the trailer, the driver must approach the trailer from the right side of the trailer (viewed from the rear of the trailer to the front). If the forklift driver picks up a filled cage with the doors to the left, in order to place the doors to the front of the trailer, the driver must approach the trailer from the left side of the trailer.  
           [0011]    At the poultry house farm, the forklift truck perpendicularly approaches the trailer carrying empty cages (now unlashed), spears a cage with the forks inserted into the cage fork tubes, lifts and removes the cage, and carries it into the chicken house. Inside, the forklift takes the cage to a working area and elevates one fork higher than the other to tilt the cage from rear to front (front higher than the back). A worker places a prop under the cage to fix the tilt, the forks are withdrawn, and a worker opens the cage doors. Chicken catchers grab poultry by the legs, several at a time, and push them into the tilted cage through the opened front. The inserted poultry instinctively want to right themselves immediately and move up to the opening of the compartment to escape. The solid and comparatively smooth plastic surface of the compartment floor is a new phenomenon to poultry raised on a rough litter surface, and the poultry have a more difficult time gaining purchase of it with their clawed feet. This difficulty combined with tilt of the smooth floor makes it harder for the self righting poultry to immediately scramble from the cage compartment. (As more birds are loaded in the tilted up cage, the birds gravitate to the back and load more weight to the rear than the front. If the cage is too steeply tilted, the cage will tip over backwards during loading. Experience has shown that a safe cage tilt angle is in the range of from about 11 to about 16 degrees from horizontal.)  
           [0012]    During the time a cage is being filled, the forklift truck returns to the trailer, fetches another empty cage, brings it to the work area, tilts it by raising one fork more than the other, allows a crew member to prop it at the desired angle, withdraws the forks, and drives to the now filled cage, approaching it from a side that will position the cage doors to the left or right of the driver, whichever is the correct orientation for placing the cage on the trailer with the doors to the front of the trailer. The filled cage is forked from the proper side with the forks positioned one side higher than the other to fit the tubes at their relative elevation for the angle at which the cage is propped up. The cage is then lifted, the forks are adjusted to equal elevation thereby to level the cage, and the cage is carried out of the poultry house to the trailer upon which it is placed in proper orientation.  
           [0013]    The speed with which the tilted cage is filled by the workers and the speed with which the tilted filled cage is retrieved and leveled by the forklift is important. The first poultry loaded in a compartment of the tilted cage are impressed by the weight of the later loaded poultry, which are “up-slope” to them in that compartment with the door closed. This “burying” of the poultry in the rear of a compartment continues so long as other compartments are being loaded and until the filled and tilted cage is retrieved and leveled by the forklift. If too long a time is taken to load the cage for retrieval or for the fork lift to pick up and level a cage already loaded, poultry at the rear of the cage risk smothering.  
           [0014]    Modem poultry science permits raising about one chicken per 0.6 square foot of area. U.S. chicken houses typically are single story, about 40 feet wide, and from 300 feet long (12,000 square feet) to 500 feet long (20,000 square feet). A typical chicken house of from 12,000 to 20,000 sq. ft. may contain from about 20,000 to 33,000 chickens. Loading a three door five tier cage of 15 compartments each with about 20 five pound chickens (about 300 per cage), means that catching a 20,000 bird house requires about 66 cages (about three trailers) and a 30,000 bird house needs about 100 cages (about four trailers). A catcher typically catches several chickens in each hand and lifts them into an open cage compartment in the loading process. At a nominal five pounds per bird and two or three chickens per hand, each lift deposits up to 15 pounds, sometimes more, until all the chickens are caught and loaded. With nine catchers in a typical crew catching a 20,000 bird house, each catcher cages 5½ to 6 tons of chickens.  
           [0015]    The physically demanding nature of chicken catching, the hugely increasing volume of chickens being processed for consumption, and a shrinking labor pool for this kind of work in the United States has led to efforts to automate and mechanize the catching and cooping process. These efforts, indeed, are international, with efforts in different countries focusing on the particular live haul problems found in those countries. In Europe, chicken raising and consumption has not advanced to the huge scale in the United States, and perhaps for that reason the front-doored steel cage construction in wide use in the United States has not been universally adapted there; instead mechanization there has developed for loading and handling plastic trays or drawers largely of open top construction.  
           [0016]    Examples of U.S. Patents granted to European inventors and directed to catching and/or caging chickens in open top containers include:  
                               TABLE 1                                       4,669,423   Open top trays   Netherlands           4,669,423   Open top trays   Netherlands           4,736,710   Open top trays   Netherlands           5,470,194   Side opening drawers   Netherlands           5,975,029   Open top trays   Netherlands           4,365,591   Open top drawers   U.K.           4,766,850   Side-opening cage   U.K.           5,660,147   Open top drawers   U.K.           5,699,755   Open top drawers   U.K.                      
 
           [0017]    Generally, efforts to mechanize the chicken catching and caging process have fallen into either the catching process alone or that process combined with a process for cooping poultry after capture. There have been numerous designs.  
           [0018]    Examples of patents granted for inventions for the bird catching methods or apparatus only include the following (all to European inventors):  
                               TABLE 2                                       4,508,062   Berry et al.   U.K.           4,513,689   Berry et al.   U.K.           4,900,292   Berry et al.   U.K.           5,259,811   Berry et al.   U.K.           5,361,727   Berry et al.   U.K.           5,863,174   Mola   Italy                      
 
           [0019]    Examples of patents granted for inventions for catching and cooping or just cooping captured poultry (specifically turkey in one particular case) are the following:  
                               TABLE 3                                       3,921,588   Ledwell et al.   U.S.           4,037,565   Ledwell et al.   U.S.           4,467,745   Ledwell et al.   U.S.           4,301,769   Mola   Italy           4,600,351   Nelson   U.S.           5,325,820   Briggs et al.   U.S.           5,385,117   Hollis et al.   U.S.           5,592,902   Horton   U.S.           5,706,765   Horton   U.S.           5,743,217   Jerome   U.S.                      
 
           [0020]    Among the patents listed in Table 3 are examples showing different approaches to staging coop frames or cages for serial loading of successive such coop frames or cages. Other patents directed only to staging successive frames or cages for loading include U.S. Pat. No. 5,476,353 to Mola and U.S. Pat. No. 5,791,854 to Cattaruzzi.  
           [0021]    The foregoing designs have found only limited acceptance in the live haul industry, and the industry continues to demand a viable solution. Important considerations for a mechanized poultry cager include that it has to be transported on public roads to the poultry farm. At the poultry house, it should be able to enter the house and work there within width and height limitations imposed by frame of the house. Grower houses in the Unites States are not uniform in configuration. Some have a center post narrowing the span within which the equipment can travel. House end door heights and widths can be a limiting factor. Rafter heights range are normally about eight feet or more in the more modem houses in the Georgia, Arkansas, Texas and other southern chicken raising states. During the catching process, chicken feeder troughs and watering troughs typically are drawn up to the rafters to get them out of the way. This effectively reduces the overhead clearance for catching and caging equipment.  
           [0022]    A mechanized poultry catching and caging operation that is to be usefully engaged in the United States must work with the modem steel poultry cages now standard in the United States, and must be supported by a constant supply of empty cages for filling, and at the same time, removal of cages already filled. A mechanized poultry cager should allow for maneuverability of cooperating forklift trucks which must bring it empty cages and remove filled cages. It should facilitate rapid cage filling and should be easy and simple to operate in order to maximize the skill levels of the labor pool who will be available to operate it. Machinery for providing a constant supply and removal of cages in addition should be narrow enough to be towed both over public roads and, necessarily, in poultry houses where the mechanized catching and loading operations must be supported. Further, it should integrate with the logistics for forklift operations at the farm site that are described above, allowing forklift placement and removal of cages in proper orientation for correct loading on a flatbed transport trailer.  
           [0023]    U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,660,147 and 5,699,755, cited in Table 1 above, describe one method for handling coops in connection with catching and loading chickens, using a towed working trailer in which a rectangular cage frame is longitudinally placed on the right rear of the trailer, advanced and turned to the front of the trailer for filling, and returned longitudinally to the left rear for removal. The cage frames have open top slidable drawer coops. The coop drawers are slidable in and out from either side of the cage frame, so there is no actual front or rear to the frame and coops. Thus it is unimportant whether the right side or left side of the cage frame is placed longitudinally on the towed working trailer, advanced to the front, and returned to the rear. This cage cycling system does not work for a steel cages with front loading doors such as used in the United States where the orientation of the front loading doors must be taken into account. If the system described in these patents were used with a steel cage having front opening doors, it would be necessary to deposit the cage on the described right rear loading location with the doors oriented to the right side of the trailer in order to turn the doors to face the front, as indicated in these patents, for cage filling. This would result in the cage being returned to the rear offloading position with the doors oriented to the left side of the working trailer. Thus a forklift driver would be constrained to unload the front doored cages from the right side of the transport trailer and to load the filled cages onto the left side of the trailer. This is unsuitable for a general purpose device.  
           [0024]    Some of the above cited patents describe mechanisms for staging and filling steel poultry cages having front opening doors, namely, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,325,820, 5,592,902 and 5,706,765. U.S. Pat. No. 5,325,820, using a side filling process, places two cages on opposite sides of a conveyor aisle such that viewed from the rear of the apparatus, the cage on the left of the aisle has its doors on the right, and the cage on the right of the aisle has its doors on the left. Placement of the cages onto and removal of the cage from this apparatus requires forklift access to both sides of a transport trailer and is accordingly unsuitable for general use. U.S. Pat. No. 5,592,902, using a front filling process, places and removes a front doored cage with the doors to the same side, but cannot stage a second empty cage until after a first empty cage is filled and returned to an off loading position. U.S. Pat. No. 5,706,765, using another side filling process, places and removes a front doored cage with the doors to the same side, but the manner of staging of the cages is unsuitable for front filling, because it requires a forklift to approach the staging platform from the side for offloading a filled cage while one is placed in filling position, thus the staging platform would have to be at least twice as wide as the cage length. Since these cages typically run 8 feet long, the platform would be at least 16 feet wide, too wide for towing over public highways and too wide for a working trailer in many chicken houses. U.S. Pat. No. 5,476,353 to Mola and U.S. Pat. No. 5,791,854 to Cattaruzzi are based on a carousel concept.  
           [0025]    In general, forklift maneuverability for side access to a staging platform is limited in chicken houses; most permit only forklift access longitudinally in the house, and since the catching and caging operations longitudinally precede the cage deposit and retrieval operations in the chicken house, forklift access is usually constrained to an approach from the rear, not the side.  
           [0026]    Among the purposes of this invention is to provide a working platform, preferably a towable working trailer, useful in connection with mechanized poultry catching and front loading equipment that will allow front opening steel poultry cages to be deposited onto the rear of the working trailer with the doors facing one side of the trailer, will reposition the cage to the front of the trailer for front loading, and will return the loaded cage to the rear for offloading with the doors oriented in the same direction as when originally placed on the working conveyor. Further a purpose is to obtain the forgoing, while simultaneously allowing deposit of an empty cage as one cage is filling, with positioning of that empty cage for filling while the filled cage is repositioned for offloading. Still further, it is an objective to accomplish all this yet still permit the working trailer to be trailered over public roads and towed in chicken houses.  
           [0027]    These and other benefits are given by the present invention.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0028]    This invention comprises methods and structure for continuously receiving, batching, and loading poultry into front-doored, multi-compartmented, multi-tiered poultry cages that are serially and continuously staged for loading. The invention includes individual major components and combinations of the major components in cooperating systems. The components comprise a novel poultry batcher and loader and a novel cage stager. The poultry batcher receives poultry in a plurality of bins oriented side by side, and the poultry loader reciprocates in front of the bins to receive poultry batches from the bins and discharge the poultry batches at high loading speed into compartments of the poultry cage. The stager moves empty cages into position for receipt of the poultry, employing novel staging platforms which receive empty cages with their doors facing in one direction (say, to the right as the platform is viewed from the rear), and after the cages are loaded with the poultry, moves the cages to another position on the platform for removal with the doors still oriented in the original direction (to the right, in this example). This facilitates efficiency in fetching empty cages from a trailer for loading with poultry and picking up loaded cages for placement on a trailer for transport to a processing plant.  
           [0029]    In general, the method for loading poultry in accordance with the invention comprises (a) removing poultry from one of a plurality of bins arranged side by side for receiving poultry while not removing poultry from the others of the bins, (b) directly receiving the removed poultry on a belt conveyor and discharging the removed poultry at high loading speed into an open doorway of a compartment of a transversely facing front-doored multi-compartmented poultry cage, followed by repeating operations (a) and (b) sequentially with respect to the others of the bins.  
           [0030]    In our invention, birds are not merely passed individually from one conveyor to another that in turn feeds the birds more or less serially into a compartment of a poultry cage. Instead, in our invention, the birds are formed into separate batches in a plurality of receiver bins, a conveyor belt is moved in front of one of the batches, the batch is moved onto the loader conveyor, and the loader conveyor, simultaneously moving at high loading speed, propels the entire batch essentially as a group into the cage compartment.  
           [0031]    High loading speed is important in realizing the full advantages of the batching and loading method and apparatus of the invention. As explained in the “Background of the Invention”, when birds are manually placed through a doorway into a cage compartment, they ordinarily immediately try to resist going towards the back of the compartment and seek to escape out the doorway. If a train of birds is being attempted loaded by a conveyor belt into the compartment at less than a high loading speed, the lead birds of the train aren&#39;t propelled all the way to the back of the compartment and seek their escape going counter flow to birds entering the compartment behind them in the train coming off the conveyor. This tends to impede the flow of the birds trailing them into the compartment, clustering or bunching incoming birds toward the front portion of the compartment, slowing completion of delivery of the last of the birds in the train into the compartment and sometimes allowing some of the birds to escape. If the birds aren&#39;t loaded fast enough, the loader becomes a choke point to the catching and loading process, slowing the entire process of catching and caging birds.  
           [0032]    We have discovered that, for a loading conveyor in loading alignment with the portal of a cage compartment, birds are efficiently loaded into a cage compartment in a manner alleviating bird bunching at the front portion of the compartment if the loading conveyor is operated at a speed sufficiently fast to propel the lead birds in a batch of birds all the way to the back of the compartment (with the remainder of the birds in the batch loaded right behind the lead bird just as fast as the lead birds). As used in this description, we therefore use the term “high loading speed” to mean a speed sufficient to propel lead birds in a batch of birds all the way to the back of a cage compartment.  
           [0033]    We have found that a loader belt speed of about 100 feet per minute per pound of bird is about the minimum high loading speed that is effective for efficiently loading broiler weight chickens, in most instances, if the cage is tilted up with compartment floors down sloping (as is typical for manual loading). The expression “per pound of bird” or “per pound of poultry” refers to an average weight of birds being loaded. Preferably the high loading speed is more in the vicinity of about 150-200 feet per minute per pound of bird. Thus, for a nominal broiler weight chicken in the range of about five to about seven pounds, loader belt speed should be at least about 500 feet per minute up to at least about 1050 feet per minute up to about 1400 feet per minute. We have found that a belt speed of about 800 to 900 feet per minute, suitably about 850 feet per minute, is generally acceptable as a default or starting point for a high loading speed for the usual broiler weight bird, subject to adjustment as necessary in the particular situation. If the cage is not tilted up as is conventional, higher loader belt speeds may be appropriate because the birds seeking escape do not have gravity to overcome as they do with a down sloping floor. If the birds are wet, higher speeds may be needed more than if the birds are dry.  
           [0034]    The lower limits of the “high loading speed” of the loader conveyor belt is a speed sufficient to propel the batch of birds into a cage compartment as a bunched mass or group substantially all at once, on their feet, standing, crouching or squatting, propelling the lead bird all the way to the back of the compartment. The upper limit of “high loading speed” is a loading conveyor belt floor speed beyond which the speed is so fast, relative to the speed of the birds when they are received on the loading belt conveyor, that the birds aren&#39;t able to stay upright, that is, the speed of the loading belt conveyor floor topples the birds off their feet and puts them on their side or back. On their back or side, the lead birds deposited at the back of the compartment, especially if the cage is tilted up for loading, aren&#39;t able to push off birds that follow on top of them in mass and so aren&#39;t able right themselves. Unrighted, the lead birds may smother under the mass of birds on top of them in the time it takes to load the entire cage if the cage is tilted up for loading. Inevitably, some birds will loose their feet even at minimum high loading speeds. When we speak of birds being propelled into the compartment on their feet, we mean on the whole the speed is not so fast as consistently to topple the birds in large proportions. Some losses due to toppling will be acceptable as a cost of faster loading efficiencies.  
           [0035]    If the birds are accelerated immediately from standstill to a high loading speed, the birds may be toppled off their feet, depending on the weight of the birds, the speed of the loading belt, slickness of the surface of the conveyor belt (they get dirty in use and sometimes wet) and perhaps other variables. At the lowest limits of a high loading speed it may be possible for the receiving bin conveyor belt floor and the loading conveyor belt floor to operate at substantially the same speeds without toppling the birds, and the invention encompasses that possibility, so long as the loading conveyor belt speed is effective to propel the leading birds in the bunch all the way to the back of the compartment of a cage. However, we prefer to accelerate the birds from standstill to high loading speed in two steps, first from standstill at a receiving bin conveyor belt floor speed slower than minimum high loading speeds and sufficient such that when the birds transfer onto the loading conveyor belt floor that is moving at least at the minimum high loading speed, preferably higher, the incremental leap in acceleration is insufficient to topple the birds, even as the loading belt speed exceeds 1000 feet per minute or more for broiler weight chickens. That is, by incrementally moving the batched birds from standstill to high loading speed in stepped speeds, on being moved onto the faster loading conveyor belt, the birds aren&#39;t toppled off their feet, as they are move likely to have happen if they are accelerated all at once from standstill to a high loading speed. For example, receiver bin conveyor belt floor speeds of suitably about 200-450 feet per second for broiler weight chickens, for example about 350 feet per minute for a loader belt speed of 850 to 900 feet per minute, suitably bring the birds to a speed for transfer onto the loading conveyor belt such that the loader belt speeds can range to in excess of 1000 feet per minute without toppling the birds.  
           [0036]    More particularly describing the methodology of loading the birds, the method comprises the operations of (a) receiving poultry in a plurality of bins, each bin having an independently operable conveyor belt floor having a poultry receiving end and a poultry discharging end, the bins being arranged side by side such that their conveyor belts are substantially parallel, (b) moving transversely, to the direction of the conveyor belts of the bins, a poultry loading conveyor belt floor arranged in the same direction as the belts of the bins, the poultry loading conveyor belt floor having a poultry discharging end, and positioning the poultry loading conveyor belt floor in alignment with the conveyor belt floor of a the bin containing poultry, (c) rotating the bin conveyor belt, with which the poultry loading conveyor belt is aligned, in the direction of the discharge end of such bin conveyor belt while maintaining stationary the conveyor belts of the other of the bins, to selectively discharge the poultry in such bin with which the poultry loading conveyor belt is aligned, (d) receiving the discharged poultry on the poultry loader conveyor belt floor that is in alignment with the bin from which the poultry are discharged, and (e) rotating the loader conveyor belt in the direction of the discharge end of such loader conveyor belt at a high loading speed to discharge the poultry received on the poultry loader conveyor. Then, (f) after the poultry are discharged in operation “(e)” into the compartment, repeating operations “(b)”-“(d)” with respect to another of the bins containing poultry, and (g) rotating the loader conveyor belt at high loading speed to discharge the poultry received on the poultry loader conveyor belt floor into a compartment of the cage different from the facing compartment loaded in operation (e), through a door opening of the different compartment. Operations (f)-(g) are repeated until all cage compartments in a tier of the cage are loaded with poultry.  
           [0037]    The standard poultry cage is multi-tiered, so in this respect the methodology further comprises (h) adjusting the elevation of the bins and the poultry loading conveyor belt to match the elevation of a tier of the cage containing one or more empty compartments, and (i) repeating operations (a)-(e) and if necessary also operations (f) and (g) until all empty cage compartments in such empty compartment tier are loaded with poultry.  
           [0038]    The loading process also includes metering the birds so that a selected amount of birds (a “batch”) are loaded into the compartments of a cage. As mentioned above, a three door cage holds about 20 five pound chickens per cage or about 100 pounds. In a more complete picture of the methodology for loading poultry, it includes, in addition to operations (a)-(g) described above for a single tier of a poultry cage, the further operations of (j) lifting poultry from the floor of a chicken house and placing the lifted poultry into one of the bins while determining the amount of poultry placed into such bin, (k) ceasing placement of poultry into such bin when a predetermined amount of poultry is placed in such bin, and (l) repeating operations (j) and (k) for any empty bins among the plurality of bins.  
           [0039]    Before the poultry can be loaded into the cages, the poultry must be received for batching, and before they are received for batching, they must be picked up off the poultry house floor and lifted to distribute them to batching receivers. Thus, viewed in the broader context of “catching” the poultry to be loaded, the catching and loading methodology can be capsulized as (a) collecting and lifting poultry from the floor of a poultry house, (b) placing the lifted poultry into a plurality of bins, (c) removing poultry in one of the bins while not removing poultry from the others of the bins, (d) receiving the removed poultry directly from the removing means and discharging the removed poultry at a high loading speed into a compartment of a transversely facing opened-door front-doored compartment of a multi-compartmented poultry cage, and (e) repeating operations (c) and (d) sequentially with respect to the others of the bins.  
           [0040]    Broiler weight chickens in a growing house will run a spread of weights, and distribution of amounts of birds (by weight or count) into receiving bins will be only approximate even from bin to bin. Bird catching mechanism efficiency and operator proficiency not only at the bird catching end but also at the end distributing birds into the receiving bins will affect the amount of birds per unit time reaching the receiving bins. The many variables involved do not admit of one set of lift and receiver belt speeds. In practice, we have observed, that for a high loading speed of about 800 to 900 feet per minute for broiler weight chickens, a receiver belt speed of about 300 to 400 feet per minute adequately matches up with a lift conveyor speed of about 200-300 feet per minute and a distributor conveyor speed of about 200-300 feet per second.  
           [0041]    This invention provides means for accomplishing the functions described above that are part of the methodology of this invention for catching, lifting, batching and loading poultry into front-doored, multi-compartment poultry cages.  
           [0042]    Embodying this methodology in a poultry batcher and loader of this invention is (a) a plurality of longitudinal bins arranged side by side for receiving poultry, (b) means for each of the bins for longitudinally removing poultry from one of the bins while not removing poultry from the others of the bins, and (c) means transversely alignable with any of the poultry removal means for the bins for directly longitudinally receiving removed poultry from one of the removing means and longitudinally discharging the removed poultry at a high loading speed into a compartment of a transversely facing open-doored front-doored compartment of a multi-compartmented poultry cage.  
           [0043]    In the broader system view, the poultry loader apparatus of the invention integrates with catching apparatus to comprise, in capsule: (a) means for collecting and lifting poultry from the floor of a poultry house, (b) means for placing the lifted poultry into a plurality of bins arranged side by side, (c) means for each of the bins for removing poultry from one of the bins while not removing poultry from the others of the bins, and (d) means transversely alignable with any of the poultry removal means for the bins for directly receiving removed poultry from one of the removing means and discharging the removed poultry at a high loading speed into a compartment of a transversely facing open-doored front-doored compartment of a multi-compartmented poultry cage.  
           [0044]    Structure embodying the poultry batcher and loader of this invention for batching and loading poultry into the front door openings of a front-doored, multi-compartmented cage includes a support and a plurality of poultry receiving bins carried by the support. Each bin has a longitudinally arranged, independently operable, conveyor belt floor having a poultry receiving end and poultry discharging end. The bins are arranged side by side such that their conveyor belts are substantially parallel. Poultry receiving bin conveyor belt drivers drive each of the poultry receiving bin conveyor belts independently and intermittently. A poultry loader for distributing poultry from the bins comprises a longitudinally arranged conveyor belt floor with a poultry discharging end. A carriage supports the loader conveyor belt longitudinally to the bin conveyor belts. The carriage, which is mounted on the aforementioned support, is moveable transversely to the longitudinal direction of the conveyor belts of the poultry receiving bins so that the loader conveyor belt can be placed in longitudinally alignment with the individual conveyor belts of the poultry receiving bins that contain poultry. A poultry loader conveyor driver drives the poultry loading conveyor belt at high loading speed.  
           [0045]    A bird weight measurer is operatively associated with the poultry receiving bin conveyor belts or structure immediately supporting the belts for measuring the weight of poultry received in one or more of the bins on the belts. A reporter reports the weight measured by the weight measurer. An operator employs the report to determine when a predetermined amount of chickens have been loaded into a receiving bin. When the operator perceives from the reporter that a predetermined amount of poultry has been received in a receiving bin, the operator redirects the flow of birds lifted from the floor of the poultry house to a bin among the other of the bins that is empty of birds. While that empty bin is receiving lifted birds, the poultry loader is moved to one of the filled receiving bins.  
           [0046]    Preferably but not necessarily an electrical contact alignment switch for each poultry receiving bin is contacted and closed when the loader conveyor belt of the poultry batcher is center aligned with the conveyor belt of that bin, to enable manual operation of an operator controlled switch for the drivers for both the conveyor belt floor of that receiving bin and the aligned loader conveyor belt. The driver for the receiving bin belt conveyor operates that conveyor at a speed preferably less than the minimum high loading speed, and the driver for the loading belt conveyor operates that conveyor at a speed at a high loading speed, all as described hereinabove. Use of the enabling alignment switch prevents the operator from powering on the receiving bin and loading conveyor belts when the loading conveyor is not totally aligned with the receiving bin. In lieu of the electric contact alignment switch, an optics system comprising a light source, for example a laser pen or diode and a receptor responsive to the wavelength band of the source and coupled with a switch may be used as a sighting or alignment system. An electrical contact alignment switch is preferable because the operating environment is dirty, and dirt may impair operation of an optical system. In either instance, the belt drivers enabling switch (contact or optical) provides the benefit of avoiding accidental discharge of birds.  
           [0047]    The “alignment switch” is helpful where there are three or more receiving bins: two outside and at least one inside bin. If the switch were to switch on the belt drivers directly, as opposed to enabling their manual operation, then when the loading conveyor is moved from an alignment with an outside receiver bin to alignment with the other outside bin, to fill an empty cage compartment longitudinally aligned with the other outside bin (as for example, where cage compartment aligned with the inside bin is already filled with poultry and the both the inside receiving bin and the other outside receiving bin are filled), then when the loading conveyor is moved across the inside bin, the switch would directly engage the drivers for both the inside bin belt and the loader belt and empty the inside bin, and the loader belt would spew poultry toward an already filled compartment (whose cage door will normally have already been closed) with ricochet of birds everywhere.  
           [0048]    Of course where a two door cage is being loaded, a direct engagement switch may be of benefit.  
           [0049]    The poultry batcher and loader of the invention is vertically moveable in order to load all tiers of a multi-tiered, multi-compartmented poultry cage. For loading a cage that is tilted up to provide down sloping compartment floors, the batcher/loader raising and lowering apparatus is designed to maintain a uniform distance, as the loader moves up and down, between the discharge end of the loader conveyor and the edges of the opened cage doors that vertically recede with each higher tier of a tilted up cage. The structure providing this function for the poultry batcher and loader includes a fixed first or lower support base that has a rear end and a front end and is inclined from the rear end to the front end at a minor acute angle from horizontal that is selected to match the angle at which the cage will be tilted up (or equivalently, is set at a minor acute angle that the elevator, described below, with be set to tilt up the cage to match). A moveable second or upper support base mounts the poultry receiving bins and the poultry loader. A lift assembly is connected to the lower and upper support bases for lifting or lowering the upper support base relative to the lower support base such that the angle of the upper support base is maintained at the angle of the lower support base throughout the course of lifting or lowering. An hydraulically powered scissors lift efficiently provides this function. Other means suitable for lifting the upper support base at the angle of the lower support base throughout the course of lifting or lowering include a cable/chain pulley system or a piston powered straight lift with staggered piston rod heights.  
           [0050]    It is to be understood that while the preferred mode is having the poultry batching and loading apparatus inclined to match the angle of the tilted cage, the cage is not required to be angled, and in that case, of course, the lift structure for the batching and loading apparatus will elevate the batching and loading apparatus straight up and down so that the discharge end of the loading conveyor belt is maintained at a substantially constant distant from the ends of the lowered doors of the un-tilted cage. The loading arrangement of this invention sufficiently propels the birds into the cage compartments that cage tilting is not necessary for operation; however, cage tilting allows a lower high loading speed. Thus in total scope, the invention includes means for lifting the upper support relative to the lower support to maintain the distance relationship between the edges of the cage doors and the discharge end of the loading conveyor, regardless of whether the cage is tilted or not.  
           [0051]    As mentioned above, an important component of the system is a novel stager for staging front-doored multi-compartment cages having fork tubes along length of the cage, for frontal filling of the cages. In broad terms, a stager in accordance with this invention comprises a platform having a front, a rear, two sides each longer than the rear and a centerline. The centerline is an imaginary line running from the platform front to rear and marking the center between the sides of the platform. It does not require, but does not prevent, structure from being located there. There is a place of origin at a first rear portion of the platform to one side of the centerline, for receipt of a cage placed with the cage fork tubes longitudinal to the sides of the platform and the cage doors facing a selected first direction towards or away from the centerline. There is a place of destination at a second rear portion of the stager on the other side of the centerline, and there is a place of cage filling at the front of the platform between the sides. The stager includes means for moving an empty cage put on the platform from the place of origin finally to the place of destination with the doors of the cage remaining facing the same selected direction upon final arrival of the cage at the place of destination.  
           [0052]    Thus viewing the stager from the rear at the centerline, if the place of origin is to the left of the centerline (putting the place of destination on the right of the centerline) and if a cage is deposited at the place of origin with the cage doors facing the centerline, then the cage doors would face to the right. In accordance with the present invention, when the cage arrives loaded at the place of destination, the cage doors will still face the right, away from the centerline. The reverse applies too. If the place of origin is to the right of the centerline and the place of destination is to the left of the centerline, and if the cage doors at the place of origin face the centerline, the doors (viewed from the rear of the stager) will be on the left of the viewer when the empty cage is deposited on the place of origin, and will be on the left of the viewer when the loaded cage arrives at the place of destination. Alternatively, with the place of origin to the left of the centerline, a cage deposited there with the cage doors facing away from the centerline (to the viewer&#39;s left) will arrive loaded in accordance with this invention at the place of destination with the cage doors facing the centerline (to the viewer&#39;s left). The viewer is, of course, the driver of the fork lift who places the cages on the place of origin and who removes the cages from the place of destination.  
           [0053]    Thus, the stager of this invention, in its several forms, always returns loaded cages for removal with the doors facing in the same direction with respect to the driver as the doors faced when the driver deposited the cage on the stager at the place of origin. This reduces the number of operations the driver has to accomplish. The driver does not have to pick up a filled cage and take it to a location to set it down and drive to the other side of the cage and pick it up again and then drive to the trailer to load the filled cage on the trailer in the proper orientation. The driver needs only to fetch an empty cage from a trailer and return the filled cage to the trailer facing the same direction as the empty cage. This allows the driver to load the filled cage faster and so fetch another empty cage quicker for return to the stager and placement at the place of origin.  
           [0054]    Between empty cage departure on the stager from the place of origin and final cage arrival loaded at the place of destination, means rotate the cage in substantially discrete two quarter turns such that at the place of filling, the cage doors face the front of the platform and after leaving the place of filling and upon reaching the place of destination, the cage doors face the original selected direction (the direction they faced when deposited at the place of origin.  
           [0055]    Thus a staging methodology for staging front-doored multi-compartment cages having fork tubes along length of the cage, for frontal filling of the cages, comprises—on a platform having a front, a rear, two sides each longer than the rear, a centerline, a place of origin at a first rear portion of the stager to one side of the centerline, a place of destination at a second rear portion of the stager on the other side of the centerline, and a place of cage filling at a front portion of the platform between the sides—the operations of placing an empty cage at the place of origin with the cage fork tubes longitudinal to the sides of the platform and the cage doors facing a selected direction toward or away from the centerline, moving the cage on the platform from the place of origin finally to the place of destination with the doors of the cage remaining facing the same selected direction upon arrival of the cage at the place of destination, and between departure from the place of origin and arrival at the place of destination, rotating the first cage in substantially two quarter turn increments such that at the place of filling, the cage doors face the front of the platform, and after leaving the place of filling and before reaching the place of destination, the cage doors of the filled cage face the selected direction.  
           [0056]    In one embodiment of the staging invention, for example, the staging method is one in which the selected direction of the cage doors is facing away from the centerline. The cage is first moved directly from the place of origin to the place of destination, thence to the place of filling, and thence back to the place of destination, rotating the cage in the first quarter turn between the place of destination and the place of filling, and rotating the cage in the second quarter turn between the place of filling and the place of destination.  
           [0057]    In this embodiment, therefore, the method comprises—on a platform having a front, a rear, two sides each longer than the rear, a centerline, a place of origin at a first rear portion of the stager to one side of the centerline, a place of destination at a second rear portion of the stager on the other side of the centerline, and a place of cage filling at a front portion of the platform between the sides—placing the cage at the place of origin with the cage fork tubes longitudinal to the sides of the platform and the cage doors facing away from the centerline; thence moving the cage on the platform from the place of origin to the place of destination and thence to the place of filling, rotating the cage substantially a quarter turn after leaving the place of destination and by the time of arrival at the place of filling, such that at the place of filling, the cage doors face the front of the platform. After that the cage is moved on the platform from the place of filling to the place of destination, and the cage is rotated substantially a quarter turn such that on arrival at the place of destination, the cage doors face the same selected direction as when the cage was placed at the place of origin.  
           [0058]    The foregoing sequence of operations applies whether the place of origin is on the right or left of the centerline (from the viewpoint of the fork lift driver).  
           [0059]    Another more preferred embodiment of the staging invention has the advantage of less cage movement on the platform. This allows more cages to be placed, filled and removed from the platform in a unit of time. This staging method is one in which the selected direction of the cage doors of the empty cage is facing towards the centerline. The cage is moved directly from the place of origin to the place of filling, thence to the place of destination, rotating the cage a first quarter turn between the place of origin and the place of filling, and rotating the cage for a second quarter turn between the place of filling and the place of destination.  
           [0060]    In this latter embodiment, therefore, the method comprises—on a platform having a front, a rear, two sides each longer than the rear, a centerline, a place of origin at a first rear portion of the stager to one side of the centerline, a place of destination at a second rear portion of the stager on the other side of the centerline, and a place of cage filling at a front portion of the platform between the sides—placing a first the cage at the place of origin with the cage fork tubes longitudinal to the sides of the platform and the cage doors facing towards the centerline; thence moving the first cage on the platform from the place of origin to the place of filling, rotating the cage substantially a quarter turn such that at the place of filling, the cage doors face the front of the platform; and thence moving the first cage on the platform from the place of filling to the place of destination, rotating the cage substantially a quarter turn such that on arrival at the place of destination, the cage doors face the same direction as when the cage was placed at the place of origin.  
           [0061]    The foregoing sequence of operations applies whether or not the place of origin is on the left or right of the centerline (from the viewpoint of the fork lift driver)  
           [0062]    More particularly describing the latter more preferred embodiment in the form of a unitary platform in accordance with the invention for staging a front-doored compartment multi-compartmented poultry cage having fork tubes extending along the front and back of the cage at the base of the cage transverse to the direction of front door opening, the platform comprises a frame having (an imaginary) longitudinal centerline and longitudinally connected front and rear ends. The frame mounts transversely to the longitudinal centerline at least two wheel axles carrying wheels supporting the frame above ground level. A supporting surface is mounted on the frame. A tray is horizontally pivotally mounted to one side of the frame centerline in a front portion of the frame and is supported on the aforementioned supporting surface. The tray has a front end and a rear end and opposing sides and is pivotable, from a home position in which the sides of the tray are transverse to the frame centerline, to an away position in which the sides of the tray are substantially parallel with the frame centerline. The sides of the tray are an “in” side and an “out” side. The former is the side closer to the frame centerline than the latter side when the tray is in the away position.  
           [0063]    Continuing with the description of this unitary platform embodiment, a first cage mover is supported by the frame in a rear portion of the frame on the same side of the centerline where the tray is in the away position. The first cage mover has a first engager for engaging a poultry cage placed on the rear portion with the cage fork tubes longitudinally aligned substantially parallel to the longitudinal centerline of the frame and the cage doors facing the centerline. The first cage mover also has a first force transmission drive for moving the engaged cage so aligned toward the front end of the frame and onto the tray in the away position. A pivot member is provided on the platform adjacent the frame centerline between the front and rear ends of such frame. A second cage mover is provided on the frame on the side of the centerline opposite the first cage mover. The second cage mover has a second engager for engaging the cage on the tray when the tray is in the home position, and has a second force transmission drive carrying the second engager for moving the engaged cage towards a rear portion of the frame on the opposite side of the centerline, in so doing turning the front end of the tray towards the away position and pivoting the back of the cage on the pivot member to align the cage with its fork tubes substantially parallel to the longitudinal centerline of the frame when the cage is at the rear portion of the frame on the opposite side, and with the cage doors facing away from the centerline.  
           [0064]    This unitary platform embodiment of a cage stager may also and preferably but not necessarily will include an elevator attached to the frame adjacent the front end of the frame and elevatable above the support surface for tilting up the poultry cage to ready it for loading. The cages are normally tilted up rear to front at a minor acute angle. This will be an angle that is effective to make it more difficult for birds to escape from a compartment during loading (as has been conventional with manual loading) but not so steep as to risk the cage from falling backwards as birds are loaded in it and weight the cage to the rear of the cage. An angle in the range from about 11 to about 16 degrees to the horizontal is generally suitable for this purpose, although a lesser or greater angle may be used within the constraints of risking fall over. The elevator provides an elevation in this range that matches the slope of the base support of the cage loader so that uniform distance is provided between the discharge end of the cage loader and the receding edges of the doors at successively higher tiers of the cage, as explained above. The “in-side” of the platform tray has an opening or recess through which the elevator can elevate above the tray when the tray is in the home position. The “out-side” of the tray comprises an flange angled to substantially the same angle from horizontal as the cage is to be tilted up. This flange member provides a backstop to fix the back base of the cage on the tray and prevent it from sliding or skidding off the tray toward to the rear of the platform when the elevator tilts up the front of the cage to ready it for loading.  
           [0065]    For over-the-road transport of the preferred stager mode (in which the cage doors of empty cages are placed on the stager facing in the direction of the stager centerline), it is preferred for reasons of convenience in compactly trailering the stager to the poultry house farm to employ a stager comprised of two parts combinable at the farm site. The two parts are a leading chassis and a trailing chassis.  
           [0066]    The leading chassis comprises a leading chassis frame having a longitudinal centerline and longitudinally connected front and rear ends. The leading chassis frame mounts transversely to the longitudinal centerline at least one wheel axle carrying wheels supporting the leading chassis frame above ground level. Aligning and connecting members are provided at the rear of the leading chassis frame for aligning and connecting the leading chassis to a trailing chassis. A rear platform is on the leading chassis frame rear. A tray is horizontally pivotally mounted and supported on the rear platform on one side of centerline. The tray has a front end and a rear end and has opposing sides and is pivotable from a home position in which the sides of the tray are transverse to the longitudinal centerline of the leading chassis frame, to an away position in which the sides of the tray are substantially parallel to the longitudinal centerline of the leading chassis frame.  
           [0067]    The trailing chassis includes a trailing chassis frame having a longitudinal centerline and longitudinally connected front and rear ends. The front end has mating members for the aligning and connecting members for connecting the trailing chassis in longitudinal alignment with the leading chassis. The trailing chassis frame transversely mounts at least one axle for carrying wheels, the wheels supporting the trailing chassis frame above ground level substantially at the same elevation as the level of the leading chassis. A supporting surface is mounted on the trailing chassis frame. A first cage mover is supported by the trailing chassis frame in a rear portion of the trailing chassis on the same side of the trailing chassis centerline where the tray on the leading chassis is in the away position. The first cage mover has a first engager for engaging a poultry cage placed on the rear portion of the trailing chassis with the cage fork tubes longitudinally aligned substantially parallel to the trailing chassis centerline and the cage doors facing the centerline. A first force transmission movement carries the first engager for moving the engaged cage so aligned toward the front end of the trailing chassis and off the trailing chassis onto the tray in the away position on the leading chassis. A pivot member is located adjacent the trailing chassis centerline between the front and rear ends of the trailing chassis frame. A second cage mover is on the trailing chassis on the side of the trailing chassis centerline opposite the first cage mover. The second cage mover has a second cage engager for engaging the cage on the tray on the leading chassis frame when the tray is in the home position, and has a second force transmission movement carrying the second engager for moving the engaged cage towards a rear portion of the trailing chassis frame on the opposite side of the centerline, in so doing turning the front of the tray towards the away position and pivoting the back of the cage on the pivot member to align the cage with its fork tubes substantially parallel to the longitudinal centerline of the trailing chassis when the cage is at the rear portion of the trailing chassis frame on the opposite side, and with the doors facing away from the centerline.  
           [0068]    This more conveniently transportable two chassis embodiment also may and preferably does have an elevator attached to the leading chassis frame adjacent the front end of such frame and elevatable above the rear platform, in the same manner and for the same purpose as in the unitary platform embodiment. And as in the unitary platform embodiment, the in-side of the tray (on the leading chassis) has an opening through which the elevator can elevate above the tray when the tray is in the home position, the out-side comprising an upstanding retainer member to provide the brace for the back base of the cage when it is tilted up.  
           [0069]    Thus, a method is more particularly provided for staging a front-doored compartment multi-compartmented poultry cage having fork tubes extending along the front and back of the cage at the base of the cage transverse to the direction of front door opening. The method comprises (a) placing a first the cage on one side of a longitudinal frame centerline in a rear portion of a support surface fixed on a frame having longitudinally connected front and rear ends, with the cage fork tubes longitudinally aligned substantially parallel to the longitudinal centerline of the frame and the cage doors facing the centerline, (b) engaging the first cage placed on the rear portion and moving the engaged cage so aligned toward the front end of the frame and onto a tray in an away position of the tray, the tray being horizontally pivotally mounted on the same the one side of the centerline in a front portion of the frame and supported on the surface, the tray having a front end and a rear end and opposing sides and being pivotable from a home position in which the sides of the tray are transverse to the frame centerline, to the away position in which the sides of the tray are substantially parallel with the frame centerline, (c) moving the tray to the home position where the cage doors face the front of the frame, (d) engaging the first cage on the tray in the home position and moving the engaged cage in the direction of the rear of the frame on the opposite side of the centerline from the one side, in so doing turning the front of the tray towards the away position and pivoting the back of the cage on the pivot member to align the cage with its fork tubes substantially parallel to the longitudinal centerline of the frame when the cage is at the rear portion of the frame on the opposite side, and with the doors facing away from the centerline, and (e) removing the first cage from the support surface.  
           [0070]    This method further comprising, after operation (b) with respect to the first cage, placing a second the cage on the one side of the longitudinal frame centerline in the rear portion, with the second cage fork tubes longitudinally aligned substantially parallel to the longitudinal centerline of the frame and the doors of the second cage facing the centerline, and after commencing operation (d) with respect to the first cage, performing operations (b)-(d) on the second cage.  
           [0071]    As is seen from the foregoing, there is provided, in accordance with this invention, a system for loading poultry into a series of front-doored multi-compartmented poultry cages. The system comprises (a) a plurality of poultry receiving bins arranged side by side, (b) means structurally associated with the bins for longitudinally removing poultry in one of the bins while not removing poultry from the others of the bins, (c) means longitudinally arranged relative to the removing means for receiving the removed poultry directly from the removing means and longitudinally discharging the removed poultry at a high loading speed into an open compartment of a transversely facing front-doored compartment of the poultry cage, and (d) means for staging a series of empty the poultry cages on a platform having a front end and a longitudinal centerline, such that the cage doors face in a selected direction towards or away from the centerline when an empty cage is on a rear portion of the platform on one side of the centerline, face the front end of the platform transversely to the centerline at a front portion of the platform for loading with poultry, and face in the same selected direction towards or away from the centerline at a rear portion of the platform on a side of the centerline opposite from the one side for removal of a loaded cage from the platform.  
           [0072]    The system for loading poultry in a series of front-doored multi-compartmented poultry cages is based on a method of the invention that comprises (a) placing a first of a series of empty the poultry cages on a platform having a front end and a longitudinal centerline, initially such that the cage is on one side of the centerline with the cage doors facing the centerline, then (b) moving the cage to a front portion of the platform transversely to the centerline with the doors facing the front of the platform, (c) longitudinally delivering poultry at a high loading speed directly and serially into open compartments of the transversely front door facing poultry cage, (d) after the cage is loaded with poultry, moving the loaded cage on the platform to the opposite side of the centerline from where the empty cage was initially placed so that the doors of the cage face away from the centerline, (e) removing the first cage from the platform, (f) at anytime after operation “(b)”, placing a second of the series of empty poultry cages on the platform, such that the second cage is on the one side of the centerline with the cage doors facing the centerline, and then (g) repeating steps “(b)”-“(e)” with respect to the second cage.  
           [0073]    More particularly, the method using this system comprises (a) placing a first cage on one side of a longitudinal frame centerline in a rear portion of a support surface fixed on a frame having longitudinally connected front and rear ends, with the cage fork tubes longitudinally aligned substantially parallel to the longitudinal centerline of the frame and the cage doors facing the centerline; (b) engaging the first cage placed on the rear portion and moving the engaged cage so aligned toward the front end of the frame and onto a tray in an away position of the tray, the tray being horizontally pivotally mounted on the same the one side of the centerline in a front portion of the frame and supported on the surface, the tray having a front end and a rear end and opposing sides and being pivotable from a home position in which the sides of the tray are transverse to the frame centerline, to the away position in which the sides of the tray are substantially parallel with the frame centerline; (c) moving the tray to the home position where the cage doors face the front of the frame; (d) without regard to operations “(a)”-“(c)”, (d)(1) receiving poultry in a plurality of bins, each bin having a longitudinal independently operable conveyor belt floor having a poultry receiving end and a poultry discharging end, the bins being arranged side by side such that their conveyor belts are substantially parallel, (d)(2) moving transversely to the longitudinal direction of the conveyor belts of the bins a poultry loading conveyor belt floor longitudinally arranged in the same the direction, the poultry loading conveyor belt floor having a poultry discharging end, and positioning the poultry loading conveyor belt floor in longitudinal alignment with the conveyor belt floor of a the bin containing poultry, (d)(3) rotating the bin conveyor belt, with which the poultry loading conveyor belt is longitudinally aligned, in the direction of the discharge end of such bin conveyor belt while maintaining stationary the conveyor belts of the other of the bins, to selectively discharge the poultry in such bin with which the poultry loading conveyor belt is longitudinally aligned, (d)(4) receiving the discharged poultry on the poultry loader conveyor belt floor that is in longitudinal alignment with the bin from which the poultry are discharged; (e) with operations “(a)”-“(c)” and “(d)(1)”-“(d)(4)” completed and with the door of a cage compartment facing the discharge end of the loading conveyor opened, rotating the loader conveyor belt in the direction of the discharge end of such loader conveyor belt to discharge the poultry received on the poultry loader conveyor belt floor into the facing compartment of the first cage, (f) closing the door of the facing compartment; (g) after the poultry are discharged in operation “(e)” into the compartment, moving the poultry loading conveyor belt floor transversely to the longitudinal direction of the conveyor belts of the bins and positioning the poultry loading conveyor belt floor in longitudinal alignment with the conveyor belt floor of another of the bin containing poultry, and repeating operations “(d)(3)”-“(d)(4)” and operation “(e)” with respect to the another bin containing poultry; (h) repeating operation “(g)” until all compartments in a tier are loaded with poultry; (i) adjusting the elevation of the bins and the poultry loading conveyor belt to match the elevation of a tier of the cage containing one or more empty compartments; (j) repeating operations “(a)”-“(f)” and if necessary also operations “(g)” and “(h)” until all empty cage compartments in such empty compartment tier are loaded with poultry; (k) after completion of operation “(j)”, repeating operations “(i)” and “(j)” until all tiers of the cage are loaded with poultry; (l) with the first cage loaded with poultry, engaging the first cage on the tray in the home position and moving the engaged cage in the direction of the rear of the frame on the opposite side of the centerline from the one side, in so doing turning the front of the tray towards the away position and pivoting the back of the cage on the pivot member to align the cage with its fork tubes substantially parallel to the longitudinal centerline of the frame when the cage is at the rear portion of the frame on the opposite side, and with the doors facing away from the centerline; (m) removing the first cage from the support surface; and (n) after operation “(b)” with respect to the first cage, placing a second cage on the one side of the longitudinal frame centerline in the rear portion, with the second cage fork tubes longitudinally aligned substantially parallel to the longitudinal centerline of the frame and the doors of the second cage facing the centerline, and after commencing operation “(l)” with respect to the first cage, performing operations “(b)”-“(m)” on the second cage.  
           [0074]    A different method applies where the stager is placed on a platform facing away from the centerline. In that case, the method of loading poultry in a series of front-doored multi-compartmented poultry cages, comprises (a) placing a first of a series of empty the poultry cages on a platform having a front end and a longitudinal centerline, initially such that the cage is on one side of the centerline with the cage doors facing away from the centerline; thence (b) moving the cage on the platform to the opposite side of the centerline from where the empty cage was initially placed so that the doors of the cage face away from the centerline; thence (c) moving the cage to a front portion of the platform rotating the cage a quarter turn such that the cage is transverse to the centerline and the doors face the front of the platform; (d) longitudinally delivering poultry at high loading speed directly and serially into open compartments of the facing poultry cage; (e) after the cage is loaded with poultry, moving the loaded cage on the platform to the opposite side of the centerline rotating the cage a quarter turn such that the doors of the cage face towards the centerline; (f) removing the first cage from the platform; (g) at anytime after operation “(b)”, placing a second of the series of empty poultry cages on the platform, such that the second cage is on the one side of the centerline with the cage doors facing the away from the centerline; and then (h) repeating steps “(b)”-“(e)” with respect to the second cage.  
           [0075]    These and other features of the invention will be seen from a detailed description of an embodiment of the invention and a description of an alternative staging apparatus and method for that embodiment. 
       
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0076]    [0076]FIG. 1A depicts in dashed line side view the front end of a laterally pivotable and longitudinally extendable poultry lifting conveyor boom having poultry gathering heads at the foremost end of the boom;  
         [0077]    [0077]FIG. 1B depicts in dashed line side view a more rearward portion of the poultry collecting and lifting boom of FIG. 1A with the front of a tractor that mounts the boom visible.  
         [0078]    [0078]FIG. 1C depicts in dashed line side view the remainder of the poultry collecting and lifting boom of FIGS. 1A and 1B, a transfer conveyor pivotally mounted on remainder of the tractor partially seen in FIG. 1B, and in solid line side view, the poultry distributing and loading portion of this invention and the leading chassis portion of the preferred embodiment cage stager of this invention.  
         [0079]    [0079]FIG. 1D shows in side view the trailing chassis portion of the preferred embodiment cage stager of this invention.  
         [0080]    [0080]FIG. 2 shows the leading chassis portion of FIG. 1C coupled to the trailing chassis portion of the preferred embodiment cage stager of this invention seen in FIG. 1D, with poultry cages staged on the cage, one positioned at a position of place of origin and the other positioned at a place of filling.  
         [0081]    [0081]FIG. 3 is a plan view of the coupled leading and trailing chassis of the cage stager of FIG. 2.  
         [0082]    [0082]FIG. 3A is a plan view of the coupled leading and trailing chassis of the cage stager of FIG. 3 showing a poultry cage in the process of movement from a place of origin to a place of filling.  
         [0083]    [0083]FIG. 3B is a plan view taken along the line  3 B of FIG. 2 and shows poultry cages staged on the cage, one positioned at a position of place of origin and the other positioned at a place of filling.  
         [0084]    [0084]FIG. 3C is a plan view of the stager of FIGS.  2 - 3 B showing movement of a lead cage going from the place of filling to the place of destination on the stager.  
         [0085]    [0085]FIG. 3D shows a plan view of the stager of the preceding figures with the lead cage arrived a the place of destination and the trailing cage in the process of transfer from the place of origin to the place of filling.  
         [0086]    [0086]FIG. 4 is a front perspective view of the poultry batcher/loader of this invention.  
         [0087]    [0087]FIG. 5A is a plan view of the poultry batcher/loader of FIG. 4, with an arrow showing the direction of discharge of poultry by the poultry loader.  
         [0088]    [0088]FIG. 5B is a plan view the same as FIG. 5B but showing the poultry loader indexed from the right most position seen in FIG. 5A to the center position seen in FIG. 5B.  
         [0089]    [0089]FIG. 6A is the same view as FIG. 1C additionally showing a cage staged on the stager for loading by the batcher/poultry loader of this invention. The poultry loader is at an elevated position for discharge of poultry show by arrow into the fourth tier of the cage.  
         [0090]    [0090]FIG. 6B is the same view as FIG. 6A showing, in this case, the poultry loader at a lowered position for discharge of poultry show by arrow into the second tier of the cage.  
         [0091]    [0091]FIG. 7A is a schematic plan view of an alternative stager within the scope of this invention for moving cages on a platform to accomplish the end of receiving filed cages on the platform with their doors oriented in the same position as when the cages were deposited empty on the platform. FIG. 7A shows a leading cage in a place of origin.  
         [0092]    [0092]FIG. 7B is the same view as FIG. 7B but showing the leading cage moving to a place of filling.  
         [0093]    [0093]FIG. 7C is the same view as FIGS. 7A and 7B but showing the leading cage in the place of filling and the trailing cage at the place of origin.  
         [0094]    [0094]FIG. 7D is the same view as FIGS.  7 A- 7 C but showing the leading cage moving from the place of filling to the place of destination while the trailing cage remains at the place of origin.  
         [0095]    [0095]FIG. 7E is the same view as FIGS.  7 A- 7 D and shows the leading cage at the place of destination with the trailing cage at the place of origin. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0096]    Referring to the figures, reference numeral  10  in FIGS.  1 A- 1 C indicates generally a chicken catching and lifting system in the prior art (shown in dashed line) with which this invention is integrated to have a complete system for catching and caging chickens for live haul transport to processing plants for slaughter and dressing. Reference numeral  100  in FIGS. 1C, 4,  5 A,  5 B,  6 A and  6 B indicates generally the poultry batcher loader of this invention. Reference numeral  200  in FIGS. 2, 3,  3 A- 3 D indicates generally the cage stager of this invention, also seen partially in other figures. In the description which follows, two digit numbers describe elements of the chicken catching and lifting portion of the system of this invention shown in dashed line, three digit numbers in the 100&#39;s described elements in the poultry batcher loader of this invention, and numerals in the 200&#39;s described elements in the preferred embodiment of the stager depicted in FIGS. 2, 3,  3 A- 3 D. Reference numeral&#39;s in the 300&#39;s are used in describing cages. Reference numerals in the 400&#39;s are used in describing an alternative staging apparatus depicted in FIGS.  7 A- 7 D.  
         [0097]    Poultry are loaded into front-doored multi-compartmented multi-tier poultry cages  300  (see FIGS.  1 C,  3 A- 3 D and  6 A,  6 B) having fork tubes  302  extending along the front  304  and back  306  of the cages at the base  308  of the cages transverse to the direction of opening of the front doors  310  of the cages  300 . Fork tubes  302  are interconnected at the base  308  of cage by cross members  312 . Compartments are indicated by reference numeral  314 .  
         [0098]    A chicken catcher and lifter  10  (FIGS.  1 A- 1 C) in the prior art (shown in dashed line) with which the invention is integrated comprises a laterally pivotable and longitudinally extendible conveyor boom  11  having longitudinally separated front end  12  and rear end  14 . Boom  11  includes a pair of counter rotating poultry gathering heads  16  at front end  12  for gathering poultry from the floor of a poultry house. Boom  11  is supported at the front end  12  on tired wheels  18  steered by a remotely controlled hydraulically powered steering system of which a hydraulic cylinder and control valves are seen at  20 ,  21  respectively. Wheels  18  are steered so that boom  11  can be swept left and right, pivoting on a mast  23  standing from pivot plate  22  (FIG. 1C) mounted on a tractor  24 , which provides motive force to drive not only the wheels of the tractor but hydraulics used to power other apparatus of the invention as herein more fully described. The counter-rotating poultry gathering heads  16  include distally intermeshing resilient rubber or elastomeric plastic fingers  26  attached at their base to a rotating drum  28 . The gathering heads  16  may be raised for clearance and lowered for operation (see FIG. 1A, the two positions being shown in dashed line). An endless conveyor belt  30  is entrained over powered roller  29  and passive end roller  31  with reserve length of the belt  32  circulating off floor under the boom over a take-up roller  34  in a known method so that the boom can be extended or retracted to reach birds without moving tractor  24 . Birds captured by gathering heads  16  are urged between the intermeshing fingers of the gathering heads and step onto the continuously moving conveyor belt, which lifts the poultry received from the gathering heads to the rear end  14  of boom  11 . The boom is enclosed with side walls and a top to channel the birds to the rear  14 .  
         [0099]    At the rear  14  of boom  11 , the birds transfer from the conveyor belt  30  of boom  11  to a vertically and laterally moveable transferring conveyor belt  36 . Tractor  24  pivotingly mounts and supports transferring conveyor  36 . A pivot post  38  supports counterweighted arm  37  which supports piston cylinder  39  from which piston rod  40  extends to a support  41  for an extensible and retractable transfer conveyor belt assembly drive in which conveyor belt  36  is entrained over and driven by a powered roller  42  and passes over a passive roller  44  bounded super-laterally by structure forming side walls  46  for moving birds received from lift conveyor  30  to a discharge end  48  where conveyor belt  36  ends its forward movement over end roller  44 .  
         [0100]    Tractor  24  has a hitch post (position indicated generally at  50  but not seen) onto which leading chassis  200 A of stager  200  is hitched by a forwardly extending tongue  201  for tow. Leading chassis  200 A includes a frame indicated generally by  204  having an imaginary longitudinal centerline (generally and partially indicated by reference numeral  210 A in FIG. 3 intermediate leading chassis sides  203 A and  203 B) and a longitudinally connected front end  205  and rear end  206 . Between front end  205  and rear end  206  are a front portion  207  and a rear portion  208 . The front portion  207  is between front end  205  and the foremost end  209  of rear portion  208 . Rear portion  208  of leading chassis frame  204  mounts (transversely to longitudinal centerline  210 A) at least one wheel axle  212  carrying wheels  216 , preferably, as shown, tandem axles  212 ,  214  carrying tired wheels  216 ,  218 , supporting the rear portion  208  of leading chassis frame  204  above ground level. A rear platform  220  is supported on rear portion  208  leading chassis frame  204  above the tandem axle wheels. As described above, the overhead clearance of a poultry house is limited when catching chickens, and accordingly, the height of platform  220  must be kept as low as possible. The tired wheels  216 ,  218  for the wheels are therefore preferably of the smallest diameter that can reliably carry an extremely heavy vertical load and still advance over the wood shaving or other yielding litter floor typical of most poultry houses (which may become boggy reducing traction even more if water escapes from poultry waters that are raised to the ceiling rafters during catching).  
         [0101]    Alignment members  222 ,  223  and connecting L-shaped latching members  224 ,  225  at the rear  206  of leading chassis frame  204  (see FIG. 1C and 3) respectively matingly align and latchingly connect leading chassis  200 A to trailing chassis  200 B. Trailing chassis  200 B is seen in side view in FIG. 1D. Alignment male members  222 ,  223  insert into recessed females tubing members (not seen) on trailing chassis  200 B. Once the alignment members matingly align leading chassis  200 A to trailing chassis  200 B, L-shaped latching members  224 ,  225  are spread apart to engage vertical tubing frame members of trailing chassis  200 B against the outside of the longitudinal arms (longitudinal being from front to rear parallel to centerline  210 A) of the latching members  224 ,  225  and rearward (towards tractor  24 ) of the transverse arms of latching members  224 ,  225 . A hydraulically powered piston powers the spread of latching members  224 ,  225  and holds them against the vertical tubing of trailing chassis as described. Referring back to forwardly extending tongue  201  of leading chassis  200 A, the connection of leading chassis  200 A to trailing chassis  200 B is further described. In the process of mating alignment members  222 ,  223  with the female tubing of trailing chassis  200 B trailing chassis  200 B is pushed forward to mount the female tubing members onto the male alignment members  222 ,  223 , using a fork lift with its forks lowered on the fork lift mast pressing against the rear  253  of trailing chassis  200 B, or alternatively, the fork lift holds stationary the rear  253  of trailing chassis  200 B and tractor  24  moving in reverse urges alignment members  222 ,  223  into the female tubing members of trailing chassis  200 B, or a combination of both movements is made. It is necessary for rear  206  of leading chassis  200 A and front end  252  of trailing chassis  200 B to be level on completion of coupling of leading chassis  200 A and trailing chassis  200 B. To assure they are level, a hydraulic cylinder  211  has its rear end (facing away from tractor  24 ) attached to a lower support sub-frame or base  240  and the piston rod of the cylinder rod attached to the upper end of lever  213 . The lower end of lever  213  is pivotally connected to tongue  201 . Extension of the piston rod pivots lever  213  to press down on tongue  201 . Pressing down on tongue  201  kicks up the rear end  206  of leading chassis  200 A and assists vertical alignment of mating members  222 ,  223  with the receiving members of trailing chassis  200 B. The retraction of such piston rod into cylinder  211  pulls level  213  toward it and lifts tongue  201  vertically, lowering the rear  206  of leading chassis  200 A, if needed for vertical alignment of the mating alignment members  222 ,  223 .  
         [0102]    Referring to FIGS. 3 and 3A- 3 D, the join line between front leading chassis  200 A and trailing chassis  200 B is indicated at  206 , the rear end of the leading chassis. A tray  226  is horizontally and pivotally mounted and supported on rear platform  220 . The vertical pivoting axis (not shown) for tray  226  is understood on one side of centerline  210 A. Tray  226  has a front end  227 , a rear end  228 , and opposing sides  229 ,  230 . Tray  226  is pivotable to and from a home position  290  as it is shown in FIG. 3, in which the sides  229 ,  230  are transverse to the imaginary centerline  210 A of leading chassis  200 A, from and to an away position  291  shown in FIG. 3A in which the sides  229 ,  230  of the tray are longitudinal to centerline  210 A of the leading chassis  200 A. Power for pivoting tray  226  is from a hydraulic cylinder/piston/piston rod operatively coupled to a lever arm on a tray pivot shaft extending below the deck of leading chassis  200 A. The in-side  229  of tray  226  is closer to leading chassis centerline  210 A than the out-side  230  when tray  226  is in the away position  291 .  
         [0103]    An elevator  234  is attached to the leading chassis frame  204  adjacent the foremost end  209  of rear portion  208  and is elevatable above rear platform  220  under the urging of a hydraulic cylinder/piston/piston rod below the deck of platform  220 . The elevator suitably is a lever actuated below deck by a piston or may be a piston rod itself. In-side  229  of tray  226  has an opening  236  through which elevator  234  can elevate above tray  226  when tray  226  is in home position  290 . Out-side  230  of tray  220  comprises an upstanding retainer member which flares outwards at  231  adjacent front end  227 . Out-side retainer member  230  braces the base  308  of the cage  300  when cage  300  is tilted up by elevator  234  (see FIGS. 2, 6A and  6 B) with tray  226  in home position  290  (FIG. 3).  
         [0104]    Referring to FIG. 1C, forward of platform  220  in front portion  207  of leading chassis  200 A is a first or lower subframe  240  with connected front and rear ends  241 ,  242  mounted on leading chassis frame  204  between frame front end  205  and foremost end  209  of rear portion  208 . Front end  241  is spaced off frame  204  to a minor acute angel relative to frame  204 . A second or upper subframe is indicated at reference numeral  244 . A scissors lift assembly  246  powered by a set of hydraulic pistons  248 ,  249  (see FIG. 4) is connected to upper and lower subframes  240 ,  244  for lifting or lowering upper subframe  244  relative to lower subframe  240  such the angle of upper subframe  244  is maintained at the angle of lower subframe  240  throughout the course of lifting or lowering.  
         [0105]    Referring to FIGS. 1C, 4,  5 A,  5 B,  6 A, and  6 B, reference numeral  100  indicates a poultry batcher and loader of this invention supported on upper subframe  244 . Poultry batcher and loader  100  comprises a plurality of poultry receiving bins  102 ,  103 ,  104 . Each bin  102 ,  103 ,  104  has a longitudinally oriented independently operable conveyor belt floor  105 ,  106 ,  107 . Each conveyor belt  105 ,  106 ,  107  has a poultry receiving end  105   a ,  106   a ,  107   a  for receipt of poultry from the transferring conveyor, and a poultry discharging end  105   b ,  106   b  and  107   b . Bins  102 ,  103 ,  104  are arranged side by side such that conveyor belts  105 ,  106 ,  107  are substantially parallel. Bins  102 ,  103 ,  104  are enclosed at sides  108  and tops  109  except atop the conveyor belt floor at the poultry receiving ends  105   a ,  106   a ,  107   a , with rear walls  110  adjacent the poultry receiving ends  105   a ,  106   a ,  107   a . Each bin  102 ,  103 ,  104  has a moveable curtain  111 , suitably a rubber or elastomeric flap, adjacent the poultry discharging end  105   b ,  106   b  and  107   b . Curtains  111  have slits upwardly from their bottom ends to subdivide the curtain into a plurality of smaller flaps to reduce resistance to the flow of birds as belt  105 ,  106 ,  107  of that curtained bin is rotated to discharge birds from the bin. To each side of a curtain  111  is a rubber or elastomeric flexible forward extension  112  of sides  108  of the bins. The forward extensions  112  provide a side barrier between the bins and the side structure of the loader conveyor when birds are discharged from the bins onto the loader conveyor.  
         [0106]    Reference numeral  113  indicates a space frame atop upper subframe  224 . Frame unit  113 , fenestrated as at  114  to lighten it, carries belt conveyors  105 ,  106 ,  107  and the receiving bin structure described in the previous paragraph. A weight measurer  115 , suitably one or more load cells, is interposed between upper subframe  224  and frame unit  113  (see FIG. 1C), for measuring the weight of poultry received in one or more of the bins. More than one load cell may be integrated to act as single recorder of weight, or individual load cells may be situated for weighing only birds in a particular bin. A load cell is zero&#39;d to the unloaded weight it supports before addition of any birds. The supported weight, in the case of a plurality of integrated load cells weighing the whole of the receiving bin structure, includes also belt drivers  116 ,  117 , and  118 . Individual load cells for discretely measuring the weights of each bin would weigh only the belt driver for the belt of that bin. A belt driver  116 ,  117  or  118  is mounted to roller support  119  in turn supported by space frame  113 , and is a hydraulic motor and its transmission for rotating driver rollers  130 ,  131  and  132 , and is contained within the drive guards seen at  11   6 ,  117  and  118 . Drivers  11   6 ,  117  and  118  drive respectively poultry receiving bin conveyor belts  105 ,  106 ,  107  independently and intermittently. The drivers  116 ,  117  and  118  operate the conveyor belts  105 ,  106 ,  107  at a speed preferably less than the minimum high loading speed. The plurality of integrated load cells measure aggregately the weight of birds loaded into all three of the bins, suitably with a reporter  119 , such as a digital read out, for reporting out the total weight of birds measured by weight measurer  115 . An audible alarm is suitably coupled with the digital readout to sound when a predetermine weight increment has been added to the space frame and the superstructure it supports. For example, in the case of broiler chickens, typically weighing from about five to seven pounds, when about 100 to 105 pounds are received in a bin, the alarm sounds and an operator is accordingly notified that the bin has received an amount of birds for discharge. If the digital readout  119  shows 200-210 pounds, the operator knows two bins are filled. If the digital readout  119  shows 300-315 pounds, the operator knows all three bins are full.  
         [0107]    An operator manipulates transfer conveyor  36  pivoting it laterally (side to side) to deposit birds discharging off the end of belt  36  into one of the bins  102 ,  103 ,  104 . Referring to FIGS. 5A and 5B, an arced rail  120  indicates a guide on which the discharge end of transfer conveyor  36  is swung for deposit of birds through the openings over poultry receiving ends  105   a ,  106   a ,  107   a  of bins  102 ,  103 ,  105 . The operator tasked with this responsibility stands conveniently on deck  297 .  
         [0108]    Referring back to FIG. 4, poultry batcher and loader  100  further includes a poultry loader  121  comprising a longitudinally arranged conveyor belt floor  122  with a poultry discharging end  122   b . A carriage  124  comprises a cantilevered frame hangingly supported on roller bearings, indicated at  125  (FIGS. 5A, 5B) that ride on rail  126  which in turn is fixedly supported by subframe  244 . Carriage  124  supports all the structure comprising the unit in which poultry loader conveyor belt  122  resides. Carriage  114  is moveable transversely to the longitudinal direction of conveyor belts  105 ,  106  and  107  for longitudinal alignment of loader conveyor belt  122  with the individual conveyor belts  105 ,  106  or  107 . A driver indicated at  127  drives the poultry loading conveyor belt  122  and comprises a hydraulic motor and transmission for rotating drive roller  128  that rotates loader conveyor belt  122 . Driver  127  for loading belt conveyor  122  operates that conveyor at a high loading speed, as described hereinabove. Conveyor belt  122  is enclosed at the sides  129  and with a top  133  that overlies a forward portion of belt  122 . A portion of the belt  122  is exposed from the rear of top  133  in order to have access to the receiving end  122   a  of belt  122 . Top  133  tapers towards the discharge end  122   b  of the loader. The forward end of top  133  is a curved member  133   a  that smoothly reduces the ceiling to floor dimension at the exit of belt  122 . This dimension is selected to be no more than, and preferably a little less than, the vertical opening dimension of the cage compartment to be loaded, to compress the frontal profile of birds being propelled into the compartment from loading conveyor  122 .  
         [0109]    A control unit  134  is connected to a side  129  of the poultry loading unit. Press buttons  135  control raising and lowering the elevation of the poultry batching and loading unit  100 , switching on an enabled receiving unit belt  105 ,  106 ,  107  and simultaneously the aligned loader conveyor belt  122 , and also controls cage stager operations for advancing an empty cage at a place of origin  264  to a place of filling  283 , elevating the front of the cage for a set angle of tilt, and after filling, leveling the cage and moving the filled cage to a place of destination  284  for removal, operations which are explained in detail elsewhere herein. An emergency stop button is advantageously included.  
         [0110]    Referring to FIGS. 5A and 5B, an electrical contact alignment switch  136 ,  137 ,  138  for each poultry receiving bin is contacted and closed by a bowed leaf spring contact  139  when loader conveyor belt  122  is center aligned with the conveyor belt  105 ,  106 ,  107  of that bin to enable the driver  116 ,  117  or  118  for the aligned belt  105 ,  106 ,  107 . Thus only the receiving bin belt  105 ,  106 ,  107  with which the loader belt  122  is center aligned can be rotated by the operator, using a belt button on the control unit  134 . Use of the enabling alignment switch prevents the operator from powering on the receiving bin and loading conveyor belts when the loading conveyor is not totally aligned with the receiving bin. Also seen in FIGS. 5A and 5B is a hooded light diode  140 ,  141 ,  142  which indicates the center position of each bin  102 ,  103   104 . Poultry are caught in the dark to take advantage of their roosting behavior, and the light (suitably of a wavelength not perceived by the poultry) is an assist to the operator. A grab rail  143  (FIGS. 5A and 5B) is used by the operator to move carriage  114  transversely to the longitudinal direction of conveyor belts  105 ,  106  and  107  for longitudinal alignment of loader conveyor belt  122  with the individual conveyor belts  105 ,  106  or  107 . Grab rail  143  is omitted in FIG. 4 for visibility of other structure. The loader conveyor and cage stager operator stands on decks  292  and  293 . Deck  293  is fold-up in order to reduce width of chassis  200 B for over the road transport.  
         [0111]    Referring now to FIGS. 1D, 3,  3 A- 3 D, reference numeral  200 B indicates trailing chassis  200 B which has been referenced in respect to description of joining it to leading chassis  200 A. Trailing chassis  200 B comprises a trailing chassis frame  251  having front end  252 , rear end  253 , and longitudinal sides  254 ,  255 . A longitudinal imaginary centerline between sides  254 ,  255  is indicated by dashed line  210 B on FIG. 3. At front end  252  are mating and cooperating members as described above for the aligning members  222 ,  223  and latching members  224 ,  225  for connecting trailing chassis  200 B in longitudinal alignment with leading chassis  200 A. Trailing chassis frame  251  transversely mounts at least one axle, and as shown three axles  256 ,  257  and  258 , for carrying wheels  259 ,  260  and  261  for supporting trailing chassis  200 B above ground level at the same elevation as the level of leading chassis  200 A. A supporting surface or deck  262  is mounted on the trailing chassis frame.  
         [0112]    A first cage mover indicated generally by reference numeral  263  is supported by trailing chassis frame  251  in a rear portion of trailing chassis  200 B on the same side of trailing chassis centerline  210 B where tray  226  on leading chassis  200 A is in the away position  291 . Such rear portion is a place of origin as that term is used herein and is indicated generally by reference numeral  264 .  
         [0113]    The first cage mover is a first force transmission movement carrying an engager and situated in such place of origin  264  for engaging a poultry cage  300  placed there with cage fork tubes  302  longitudinally aligned substantially parallel to trailing chassis centerline  210 B and with cage doors  310  facing centerline  210 B and for moving the engaged cage  300  so aligned toward the front end  252  of trailing chassis  200 B and onto tray  226  in the away position  291  on trailing chassis  220 B.  
         [0114]    The first force transmission drive comprises one or more flexible members of a loop, preferably a pair of chains  266 ,  267 , carried on rotating supports for travel in a forward direction toward front  252  of trailing chassis  200 B above surface  262  and for travel in a reverse direction toward rear  253  of trailing chassis  200 B under surface  262 . More particularly, the rotating supports are spaced chain sprocket wheel pairs  268 ,  269  on a first sprocket wheel axle  270  affixed to the trailing chassis frame transverse to the centerline, and spaced chain sprocket wheel pairs  271 ,  272  on a second sprocket wheel axle affixed to trailing chassis frame  251  transverse to the centerline and spaced from sprocket wheel axle  270 . A motive driver, suitably a hydraulic motor, not seen, is connected to one or both of such axles for powering turning of at least one of the sprocket wheel pairs  268 ,  269  and  270 ,  271 . Chains  266 ,  267  carried on the first and second sprocket wheel pairs  268 ,  269  and  270 ,  271  run parallel to centerline  210 B of trailing chassis  200 B.  
         [0115]    A pair of projections  273 ,  274  are carried by each of the chains  266 ,  267  at the same points along the length of the chains. The projections constitute engagers, and are of height adapted to press against base  308  of poultry cage  300  placed on rear portion  253  of trailing chassis  200 B with cage fork tubes  302  longitudinally aligned substantially parallel to trailing chassis centerline  210 B when projections  273 ,  274  are above surface  262 .  
         [0116]    Between chains  266 ,  267  is an expanded metal deck portion  295 . Trailing chassis frame structure is indicated at  296 .  
         [0117]    When the responsible operator commands cage  300  to be advanced from the place of origin  264  to the place of filling  283 , by depressing a button  135  on control unit  134 , a hydraulic motor powers rotation of chains  266 ,  267  and projections  273 ,  274  engage and move cage  300  on chains  266 ,  277  toward front end  252  of trailing chassis  200 B and toward poultry batcher and loader  100  (FIG. 3A.), and onto tray  226  positioned in away position  291 . When cage  300  is pushed as far as projections  273 ,  274  will advance it, it is essentially fully butted against a back lip  285  of tray  226  and alongside retainer member  230 . Tray  226  is then pivoted a quarter turn counterclockwise (in the embodiment depicted) to home position  290  (see FIG. 3B). At this time a second cage  300 B can be deposited onto place of origin  264 . Doors  310  are opened (FIG. 3B and the operator depresses a button  135  on control unit  134  to elevate cage  300  to the preset level of tilt, suitably about 12 degrees. As seen in FIG. 3B, in home position  290 , tray  226  rested on trailing chassis  200 B when tilted and is elevated over the rear portion  220  of leading chassis  200 A.  
         [0118]    Trailing chassis  200 B further optionally comprises a pivot member  275  adjacent and in FIG. 3 partially overlapping trailing chassis centerline  210 B. Experience has shown that the pivot is helpful but with careful dimensioning of platform and draw components involved in stage mover  276 , is not always necessary. Pivot member  275  is described as an optional inclusion only.  
         [0119]    A second cage mover  276  is located on trailing chassis  200 B on the side of trailing chassis centerline  210 B opposite cage mover  263 . Second cage mover  276  comprises sprocket wheel  277  and sprocket wheel  278  respectively on spaced sprocket wheel axles indicated at  279 ,  280  and chain  281  carried on sprocket wheels  277 ,  278  with an upper run of the chain proximate the surface of supporting surface  262 . Sprocket wheel axle  279  and sprocket wheel  280  are adjacent rear end  253  of trailing chassis  200 B. Sprocket wheel axle  280  and sprocket wheel  278  are adjacent front end  252  of trailing chassis  200 B. Sprocket wheel axle  279  and sprocket wheel  277  are closer to the trailing chassis frame centerline than sprocket wheel axle  280  and sprocket wheel  278 . A projection  282  is carried by chain  281  for pressing against base  308  of a poultry cage  300  when projection  282  is above surface  262  of chassis  200 B.  
         [0120]    Projection  282  serves as an engager for engaging cage  300  on tray  226  when tray  226  is in the home position  290  largely on leading chassis  200 A. This home position  290  is at the place of filling  283 , where poultry are loaded into cage  300 . Chain  281  carrying the engager projection  282  acts to engage an outside cross member  312  connecting fork tubes  302  on the underside of cage  300  and move the so engaged cage  300  towards a rear portion or place of destination indicated generally by reference numeral  284  on trailing chassis  200 B (see FIG. 3C). Rear portion or place of destination  284  is located on the opposite side of the centerline  210 B from the place of origin  264 . In pulling cage  300  toward place of destination  284 , engager  282  turns front  227  of tray  226  clockwise in the direction of away position  291 , optionally suitably also pivoting the back  306  of cage  300  on pivot member  275 , and aligns the cage  300  with fork tubes  302  substantially parallel to centerline  210 B of chassis  200 B when cage  300  is at the rear portion or place of destination  284  with cage doors  310  facing away from centerline  210 B (see FIG. 3D). Tray  226  is moved completely to away position  291  (see FIG. 3D) by the hydraulic cylinder actuating it, placing it in ready position for receipt of the trailing cage  300 B, as shown in FIG. 3D.  
         [0121]    When loading empty cages  300  at the place of origin  264  on trailing chassis  200 B, a fork truck driver lowers the cage and to correctly place the cage, backs up until the side of the cage strikes a stop  286 , then lowers the cage onto the platform of trailing chassis  200 B. When picking you a loaded cage at the place of destination  284 , the fork truck driver inserts the forks into fork tubes  302  (FIG. 3D). A depressible stop  287  prevents the cage from being pushed back during fork insertion. Stop  287  is spring loaded so that when loaded cage  300  is being moved from the place of filling  283  to the place of destination  284 , it is depressed below the surface of the platform and poses no obstacle to passage of the cage. It springs up after the cage passes over it.  
         [0122]    Assisting proper alignment of an empty cage deposited at the place of origin  264  are inside guide rails  288  and outside guide rails  289 . Outside guide rails  289  fold up for over the road transport of trailing chassis  200 B.  
         [0123]    In operation of the foregoing apparatus, a method of picking up poultry from the floor of a poultry house and loading the poultry into a series of front-doored multi-compartmented multi-tier poultry cages  300  having fork tubes  302  extending along the front  304  and back  306  of cage  300  at base  308  of cage  300  transverse to the direction of opening of front doors  310 , comprises (a) capturing poultry on the floor of the poultry house with gathering heads  16  of sweeper boom  11 ; (b) lifting poultry received on extendible conveyor  30  from gathering heads  16  to rear end  14  of the boom;, (c) receiving the lifted poultry on transferring conveyor  36 ; (d) placing a first cage  300 A on one side of centerline  210 B in a rear portion or place of origin  264  on support surface  262 , with cage fork tubes  302  longitudinally aligned substantially parallel to the longitudinal centerline  210 B and the cage doors  310  facing the centerline; (e) engaging first cage  300 A placed on rear portion or place of origin  264  and moving the engaged cage  300 A so aligned toward the front end  252  of chassis  200 B and onto tray  226  in an away position  291  of tray  226 ; (f) moving tray  226  to the home position  290  where the cage doors  310  face the foremost end  209  of rear portion  208  of leading chassis  200 A; (g) without regard to operations “(d)”-“(f)”, (g)(1) receiving poultry in side by side bins  102 ,  103  and  104 , on substantially parallel conveyor belt floors  105 ,  106 ,  107 , (g)(2) moving transversely to the longitudinal direction of conveyor belts  105 ,  106 ,  107  of bins  102 ,  103 ,  104  poultry loading conveyor belt floor  112 , and positioning poultry loading conveyor belt floor  112  in longitudinal alignment with the conveyor belt floor of one of the bins  102 ,  103  and  104  containing poultry, (g)(3) rotating the bin conveyor belt  105 ,  106  or  107  with which poultry loading conveyor belt  112  is longitudinally aligned, in the direction of the discharge end  105   b ,  106   b  or  107   b  of such bin conveyor belt  105 ,  106  or  107  with which poultry loading conveyor belt  112  is longitudinally aligned, while maintaining stationary the conveyor belts  105 ,  106  or  107  of the other of the bins  102 ,  103  and  104 , to selectively discharge the poultry in such bin  102 ,  103  and  104  with which the poultry loading conveyor belt  112  is longitudinally aligned, (g)(4) receiving the discharged poultry on the poultry loader conveyor belt floor  112  that is in longitudinal alignment with the bin  102 ,  103  and  104  from which the poultry are discharged; (h) with operations “(d)”-“(f)” and “(g)(1)”-“(g)(4)” of this paragraph completed, and with the door  310  of a compartment of cage  300 A facing discharge end  113  of loading conveyor  112  opened, rotating loader conveyor belt  112  in the direction of discharge end  113  to discharge the poultry received on poultry loader conveyor belt floor  112  into the facing compartment of first cage  300 A; (i) closing door  310  of the facing compartment of cage  300 A; (j) after the poultry are discharged in operation “(h)” into the compartment, moving the poultry loading conveyor belt floor  112  transversely to the longitudinal direction of conveyor belts  105 ,  106  or  107  and positioning poultry loading conveyor belt floor  112  in longitudinal alignment with the conveyor belt floor  105 ,  106  or  107  of another of the bin containing poultry, and repeating operations “(g)( 3 )”-“(g)( 4 )” and operation “(h)” of this paragraph with respect to another of the bins  102 ,  103  and  104  containing poultry; (k) repeating operation “(j)” until all compartments in a tier are loaded with poultry (see FIG. 6A, which illustrates doors  310  on tier five having been closed, indicating filling of tier five is complete); (l) adjusting the elevation of the bins  102 ,  103  and  104  and the poultry loading conveyor belt  112  to match the elevation of a tier of the cage  300  containing one or more empty compartments (illustrated in FIG. 6A); (m) repeating operations “(c)”-“(f)” of this paragraph and if necessary also operations “(g) including “(g)(1)” through “(g)(4)” and operation “(h)” of this paragraph until all empty cage compartments in such empty compartment tier are loaded with poultry (FIG. 6A, showing by arrow discharge of poultry into cage compartments); (n) after completion of operation “(m)” of this paragraph, repeating operations “(l)” and “(m)” of this paragraph (see FIG. 6B showing discharge of birds into a tier tow compartment with tiers five, four and three filled, as indicated by closed doors  310 ) until all tiers of cage  300  are loaded with poultry; (o) with first cage  300 A loaded with poultry, engaging cage  300 A on tray in the home position  290  with engager projections  266 ,  267  and operating cage mover  276  to move engaged cage  300 A in the direction of the rear  253  of chassis  200 B toward the place of destination  284 , in so doing turning the front  227  of tray  226  towards the away position  291  and pivoting the base  308  under the back  306  of cage  300 A on pivot member  275  to align cage  300 A with its fork tubes  302  substantially parallel to the longitudinal centerline  210 B of chassis  200 B when the cage is at the rear portion or place of destination  284  with the doors  310  facing away from centerline  210 B; (p) removing first cage  300 A from support surface or deck  262 ; and (q) after operation “(e)” with respect to first cage  300 A, placing a second cage  300 B on the rear portion or place of origin  264 , with second cage  300 B fork tubes  310  longitudinally aligned substantially parallel to centerline  210 B of chassis  200 B and the doors  310  of the second cage  300 B facing centerline  210 B, and after commencing operation “(o)” with respect to first cage  300 A, performing operations “(e)”-“(p)” on the second cage.  
         [0124]    Referring to FIGS.  7 A- 7 E, an alternative embodiment of a stager of this invention is described with reference in which cage deposit onto a towable stager apparatus is oriented with the cage doors to the left. The mirror reverse of this described embodiment is used for cage deposit onto a towable stager apparatus oriented with the cage doors to the right.  
         [0125]    In the figures, reference numeral  400  indicates the stager apparatus of this invention, reference numerals  300 A and  300 B indicate cages staged on the stager  400  and reference numeral  100  indicates a schematic representation of the loading device described in detail above, which is used in conjunction with stager  400  to load cages  300 A and  300 B.  
         [0126]    Stager  400  includes a towable body  411  on a frame  410  that suitably attaches axle pairs  413 ,  415  (not shown) each mounting wheels and tires  417 ,  419  (not shown) for tow of stager  400 .  
         [0127]    Stager  400  stages cages  300 A and  20 B for frontal filling of the cages. Stager  400  has a front  414 , a rear  416 , left and right sides  427  and  430  each longer than rear  416 , and a centerline  432  (indicated by dashed line). A place of origin  434  is at a first rear portion  435  of the stager to one side of the centerline  432  (the left side in the drawings). A place of destination  436  is at a second rear portion  435  of stager  400  on the other side of the centerline  432  from place of origin  434  (the right side in the drawings). A first cage  300 A is received on a support platform  440  on stager  400  at the place of origin  434  with cage fork tubes  402 A,  402 B longitudinal to sides  427 ,  430  and cage doors  310  (shown open) facing a selected side of stager  400  (left side  427  in the figures). In the mirror reverse of this embodiment, right side  430  is the selected side.  
         [0128]    A place of cage filling  438  is located at front  414  of stager  400  between sides  427  and  430 . Means, suitably a cable or chain draw works acting on platform  440 , are provided on stager  400 , first, for moving a first cage  300 A on platform  440  from place of origin  434  to place of destination  436 , thence to place of filling  438 , in the course of movement from place of destination  436  to place of filling  438 , drawing a semicircular slotted portion  442  of platform  440  onto a pivot post  444  on stager  400  while drawing cage  300 A to front  414 , thereby rotating platform  440  on pivot post  444 , and therefore first cage  300 A on platform  440 , a quarter turn towards front  414 . This pivoting rotation is clockwise in FIG. 7B, where the cage doors are oriented at place of origin  436  with the doors facing the left side, and would be counterclockwise in the mirror reverse embodiment where the cage doors are oriented at the place of origin with the doors facing the right side. The quarter turn during movement to front  414  positions first cage  300 A on platform  440  in an orientation at place of filling  438  with doors  428  of cage  300 A facing towards front  414  of stager  400 .  
         [0129]    Platform  440  tilted up at the place of filling  438  with an elevator  234  as described in reference to the embodiments disclosed in FIG. 1C and is in readied for filling.  
         [0130]    The draw works provided on stager  400  also move first cage  300 A from place of filling  438  to place of destination  434 , in the course of such movement pivoting platform  440  at slot  442  in the opposite (counterclockwise) direction on pivot post  444 , thus rotating first cage  300 A on platform  440  a quarter turn towards the aforesaid selected side. Thus this is a counterclockwise quarter turn to left side  427  in FIG. 7D, and a clockwise quarter turn to right side  430  for the mirror reverse embodiment. This positions first cage  300 A on platform  440  in an orientation at place of destination  436  with doors  310  of cage  300 A facing towards the selected side (left side  427  in FIG. 7E, right side  430  in a mirror reverse embodiment).  
         [0131]    The invention is practiced by placing empty first cage  300 A on platform  440  at place of origin  434  in rear portion  435  to one side of the centerline  432  of stager  400  with the cage fork tubes  302 A and  302 B longitudinal to the sides  427 ,  430  of stager  400  and cage doors  310  facing out towards a selected side of the stager (the left side  427  in the drawings), then moving empty first cage  300 A on the platform  440  of stager  400  from place of origin  434  to place of destination  437  at second rear portion  437  of stager  400  on the other side of the centerline  432 . Next, empty first cage  300 A is moved on stager  400  from place of destination  437  to place of filling  438  at the front  414  of stager  400  between sides  427 ,  430 , in the course of movement to place of filling  438 , rotating first cage  300 A a quarter turn towards front  414 , thereby to position first cage  300 A in an orientation at the place of filling  438  with the doors  310  of cage  300 A facing towards the front  414  of stager  400 . Then at the place of filling  438  the compartments of the first cage  300 A are filled with poultry inserted through the portals to the compartments given by opened front doors  428  of the compartments. The filling of the cages is performed using poultry batching and loading device  100  as described above.  
         [0132]    After cage  300 A is filled (doors  310  closed), elevator  234  is then actuated to lower it and level cage  300 A. Filled cage  300 A on platform  440  is then moved from place of filling  438  to place of destination  437 . In the course of this movement, filled first cage  300 A is rotated a quarter turn towards the selected side  427 , thereby to position filled first cage  300 A in an orientation at place of destination  436  with closed doors  310  of cage  300 A facing towards selected side  427 .  
         [0133]    While first cage  300 A is at place of filling  438 , an empty second cage  300 B is placed on another platform  440  on stager  400  at place of origin  434 , with the fork tubes  302 A and  302 B of cage  300 B longitudinal to the sides  427 ,  430  of stager  400 . As so placed, doors  310  of second cage  300 B face out towards the same selected side  427  of stager  400 . First (now filled) cage  300 A is removed (by forklift) from place of destination  436 . The process described above is then carried out with second cage  300 B, and another cage is placed on stager  400  at the place of origin  434  while cage  300 B is being filled, and so on, until all the cages to be loaded are filled.