I come to this thread late, and there has been quite a bit of good
discussion, but I think I can shed some insight in to the possibilities
represented by the "cage" included in the Chambers inventory.  Being an
agricultural historian, I frequently run across references to and
descriptions of "cages" in my research involving inventories and farm
diaries/journals from Massachusetts to Georgia and from all periods.  In
virtually every situation I have encountered, these cages fall into two
categories intended for chickens or other similar farm fowl - I am
frequently lucky enough to find modifiers (e.g. "chicken," "large,"
"yard," or "market") to provide a better indicication of the specific
use of the cage.  One type of chicken cage is a fairly large, portable
wooden A-frame type structure that is placed in the farm yard to allow
fowl to escape predators - quite simply the bars are set closely enough
together to allow the chicken to pass through but not the predator, and
the cage is large enough to accommodate several birds and heavy enough
to prevent it from being moved about easily by the predator.  The other
type I am familiar with is a rectangular wooden cage used for
transporting fowl to market.  There are plenty of extant examples of
both types in museum collections around the country (e.g. The Henry
Ford, Conner Prairie, Mercer Farm).  Moreover, metal cages were fairly
rare before the mid-nineteenth century and were typically hand-made for
birds or small animals kept as pets - these were typically unique and/or
valuable enough to be described in greater detail (e.g. metal bird cage)
and they are most often listed among the household possessions.  I would
be interested to know what posessions precede and follow the cage in the
Chambers inventory since this might provide some clue to the specific
use - is it listed with the household, farm, or livestock.     

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