Method and system for transporting live poultry

1. A method for transporting live poultry comprising the steps of providing at least one transporting unit including a supporting frame and a series of drawer-type cages having an open top and are carried by the supporting frame in a mutually superimposed condition, loading the poultry inside said drawer-type cages, and transferring said transporting unit to a station for unloading the poultry, wherein the step of loading the poultry is carried out at the front side of said transporting unit, according to the following procedure:

extracting at least partially in the direction of one side of said transporting unit other than the front side thereof used for introduction of the poultry, the drawer-type cages situated above a drawer-type cage set in a lowermost position of said transporting unit;

introducing the poultry into said lowermost drawer-type cage, until said cage is substantially completely filled from above through said open top;

setting in, on top of said lowermost drawer-type cage, the drawer-type cage immediately above it in such a way that the bottom of the latter cage defines the lid of the former cage; and

repeating the same procedure until the uppermost drawer-type cage has been filled and setting on top of the top cage a covering element as a lid.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said steps of extracting and setting in said drawer-type cages are carried out by making the latter slide along guides of said supporting frame.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said drawer-type cages are extracted in the direction of the back side ( 1 a ) of said transporting unit.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said drawer-type cages are extracted in the direction of one lateral side of said transporting unit, set at right angles to said front side ( 1 b ).

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said drawer-type cages are extracted substantially for one half of their longitudinal extension.