Like any other domestic animals, chickens need care and care on the part of the owner.
Especially acutely they feel the need for feed.
Of course, in the summer, these birds are partially able to provide for themselves with food, if they have enough space for walking.
But still, they cannot walk around the street for a whole year and eat insects in our climatic conditions, so we will try to figure out exactly how and what these birds should be fed throughout the year.
Moreover, how fast the bird will gain its weight, rush, and show the instinct of the hen will depend on feeding directly.
What kind of feed can be used for feeding chickens: the pros and cons of different compositions
Many poultry farmers come to a dead end when they choose what to feed their chickens. After all, some consider it a more economical option for grain, but at the same time it’s hard not to agree that more nutritious are compound feeds.
In addition, the great advantage of compound feeds is the ability to mix them independently, thus, without fear of purchasing a low-quality product.
The composition of the feed can be completely diverse, the only mandatory rule - all components must be ground. The type of grinding can be chosen coarse, otherwise the grain used will simply not be flour.
Also, dry feed is better not to give to chickens. In a slightly moist form, they will be much more attractive to birds, especially since any additional supplements can be introduced into such feed without problems. In winter, wet and warm mash are made from the feed.
Discussing ingredients for chicken feed
Usually, for the components of the feed, poultry farmers choose the grains that they have in stock and which can be cheaply purchased. In other words, for each poultry farmer, the composition of the feed may be completely different, while having the same nutritional value for the birds.
Below we consider the most important components that are recommended to use:
- Wheat.
This component should be basic in any kind of feed, since wheat is able to provide the bird with a large amount of energy. In particular, in order to maintain the level of the Leggornov egg production at a rate of 70%, they need to consume at least 220 Kcal per day.
Such an indicator fully fulfills rice in the amount of 100 grams, however, feeding chicken with rice is too expensive. Therefore, feel free to add at least 70% of this grain to the compound feed, and you can not worry about the needs of your cattle.
If you do not have such a large amount of wheat, up to 30-40% of its mass can be replaced with crushed corn.
- Barley.
This grain has always been considered one of the best for feeding all agricultural animals, therefore chickens are no exception. But in dry form, chickens are very reluctant to feast on barley grains, because there are pointed ends at the ends of its grain cover.
It is not necessary to add a lot of barley to the feed, 10% will be enough. Also, this grain crop can replace up to 10% of wheat.
- Oats.
Oats are very valuable in animal husbandry for the fact that it contains a large amount of protein, that is, proteins. But, being the benchmark for the feed unit, oats have their drawbacks - a large amount of fiber.
Thus, in the process of digesting this grain, the chicken spends a lot of its energy. In this regard, its quantity in the composition of the feed should not exceed 10%.
- Bean cultures, cake and meal.
Such components are introduced into the feed mainly for the reason that they contain oil. For example, cake, which is a waste obtained after cold-pressing oilseeds, contains from 8 to 10% of vegetable fat.
Meal is not so fat-containing (only 1%), because it is obtained as a result of oil extraction. In the composition of feed cake, meal, soybean and sunflower seeds can be only 5-8%.
- Animal feed.
This category of feed refers to fish and meat and bone meal. Of course, for chickens, these ingredients are very nutritious and useful, but when you buy them you have to spend not a small amount of money. Therefore, poultry farmers often manage without such components, selecting the food of plant origin only as carefully as possible. But still, the feed will be much more nutritious if you add at least 3-5% of fish or meat and bone meal into it.
Thus, following the above recommendations, the main part of the compound feed (70%) should be wheat, 10% barley and oats, 5% oil-containing crops, and about 5% of the composition can be filled with animal feed, premixes, chalk or seashells.
But nobody discourages you from your own experimentation, so try to include other ingredients in the compound feed.
It is also interesting to read about cooking feed with your own hands.
Vegetables and root vegetables in the diet of chickens: in what form should they be given?
Various root vegetables, which are given to chickens, contain a lot of nutrients and vitamins. It is best to give them raw, so that their value does not decrease.
Also, it is important to rinse them before grinding them from dirt so that it does not enter the body of the bird along with the food. Crushed root vegetables on cuttings or grated, bringing to a state of pulp or paste. In this form, they can be mixed with other feeds.
Carrots are most often used for feeding domestic chickens. Its main advantage is the content of vitamin A, as well as the ability to almost completely replace fish oil.
It accumulates the most useful properties in itself by autumn, immediately after harvesting. During storage, approximately half of all vitamins are lost.
Very good does carrot affect chick growthwhich is given in the amount of 15-20 grams per individual, but adult chickens can be given 30 grams each. Carrots, like pumpkin, are used in feeding chickens as a source of carotene.
For feeding chickens it is also useful to use potatoes and sugar beets. With this, for this you can use sorted and unsuitable for food or other processing of roots.
However, both in potato and in sugar beet, there is solanine, which is very undesirable to be given to chickens for food. Therefore, to get rid of it, these roots boil and give only in this form.
Chickens are very fond of boiled potatoes and can be easily digested. During the day, one individual can consume about 100 grams of potatoes without negative consequences. They can even be fed small chickens, starting from the age of 15-20 days.
Use fruit to grow poultry
You can also include various fruits in the diet of homemade chickens, especially if the year was fruitful and there is a huge amount of them in the garden.
So birds You can give apples, pears, plums, as well as apple cakes obtained from apples.
Also, as a feed, you can use both ripe watermelons and tomatoes. They must be given to the birds in a crushed state, since they usually cannot completely eat a whole apple. One feathered head should have no more than 15-20 grams of fruit.
In general, fruits should be only an insignificant feeding of chickens, on which, however, their health and ability to carry high-quality eggs largely depends. In particular, high-quality feeding makes egg yolk more saturated in color.
It is also important in those cases when birds are kept in closed and space-restricted pens, without being able to independently find green food.
The value of green fodder for the health and growth of chickens
Green foods are the main sources of vitamins for chickens. These poultry are eaten only by the green parts of young plants. In the presence of free-range walking chickens themselves provide themselves with a sufficient amount of this useful food.
The main benefit of such a diet is that green fodder is the main way to get vitamin K for chickens.
Its deficiency in the body of the bird will indicate bloody spots in eggs, decrease in the strength of blood capillaries, anemia frolicking in chickens, and frequent cases of embryo mortality at different stages of egg incubation.
Green feed for chickens can be represented by the following herbs:
- Alfalfa.
- Peas (while on the stems only buds develop).
- Clover.
- Stern cabbage.
- Nettle.
Last mentioned grass - nettle - is the most important bird food, because it contains a lot of protein and various vitamins that are necessary for the chicken body.
It is necessary to collect nettle for feeding to birds from early spring, while its leaves have not yet become too rough and contain a large amount of vitamins. In particular, it is the nettle leaves contain vitamin K. But, besides it, it is still rich in iron and manganese, which is 3 times more in it than in alfalfa. Nettle is rich in copper and zinc.
In addition to fresh, finely chopped, nettle leaves, chickens are also given hay, vitamin paste and even nettle seeds.
It is very important to give nettles to chickens, practically from the very first days of their life.
Dried nettle and its seeds are usually added to a variety of mash. For one day, 30-50 grams of green nettle mass will be enough for adults, and dry - only 5-10 grams.
Kale is also an excellent greener feed for chickens. Its advantage over the other mentioned plants is that cabbage is capable of being kept fresh until the very spring, practically without losing its qualities.
It can only be given to birds in the form of a very finely chopped mixture, mixed with flour. Also, very often poultry farmers make cabbage silage, or, in other words, pickle cabbage and waste from it, adding a small amount of salt.
In winter, cabbages can be hung right in the house so that the chickens can reach out and pinch it.
Do not disdain chickens also eating a variety of vegetable waste, that is, beet, or carrot tops. In small quantities, they like to eat the tops of radish and swede.
Before giving to the tops of birds, it must be washed and finely crushed. It is best to mix the resulting green mass with wet feed, resulting in a very nutritious mash.
The source of vitamin C and carotene for birds can be tree leaves and needles. Pine and spruce needles need to be harvested in the form of lapnik branches, and this is done in winter, starting from the end of November until February. It should also be very finely chopped and in small quantities added to the mash.
It is fed mainly in the autumn and winter, when especially little green foods and birds can suffer from colds. On one individual should be from 3 to 10 grams of needles.
What grain and in what quantities should be given to chickens?
Above, we already talked about compound feeds and that they are more useful for chickens. However, if there is no possibility to grind grain for mixed feed, you can also give it to the whole. In particular, wheat and corn grain can be given in dry form, but the oats must either be soaked for 24 hours or germinated in advance.
Although the grain contains a very high concentration of various kinds of nutrients, but there are not so many proteins and amino acids in it. In this regard, with such feeding technique concentrates containing proteins should be added to the birds ’diet.
These are fodder lupins, fodder beans and peas. They are given to chickens only cleared of impurities and crushed, so that the grains are not stuck in the throat. The large grain of the bird may not even peck, but it is also important not to chop the beans too small, so that they do not cause clogging of the nasal openings of chickens.
When feeding small chickens with grain, it needs to be very finely grinded, pre-sifting through a sieve. When the young grow older, they can be given the grain in a soaked form.
Animal feed: why feed them birds?
We have already mentioned this category of feed, but once again pay attention to their value for chickens. The meat and bone meal and fish meal contain absolutely all the set of amino acids that the avian organism needs for full functioning.
Thus, the use of animal feed is very well reflected in egg production and fattening the younger generation of chickens.
But, in addition to these products, they often add to the feed for domestic chickens:
- Skim milk.
- Serum (especially important to give the young).
- Buttermilk
- Cottage cheese.
- Casein.
- Shellfish
- Ordinary earthworms (some poultry farmers are specially engaged in their cultivation in order to feed chickens in the winter).
It is important to give the hens feed of animal origin also because they contain large amounts of fat. Their lack can lead to fragile feathers in birds, their very abundant loss in the back area. But worst of all is that with a lack of animal fat in chickens, egg production is significantly reduced, they become shy.
We provide birds with the necessary amount of water
The vital activity and vitality of the body of chickens without a sufficient amount of water is simply impossible. Water is another, practically the most important, component of the diet of any species of birds.
Thus, the organism of one individual consists of 70% of mail. If at least 25% of its interest is lost, then the bird may simply not die. If the laying hen does not have the opportunity to drink water for a period of 2 days, then the egg-laying will stop immediately, and, stretching another 5 or 8 days in a miserable condition, she will surely die.
Therefore, give the birds water every day, as well as the rest of the above feed. It is important that the water is not too warm, not too cold.
Its optimum temperature is from +10 to + 15ºС. How much water the birds need will depend on the air temperature - the hotter the more water is needed. If at a temperature of +12 to +18 ºС one individual is able to drink about 250 milliliters, then if the thermometer increases above +35 ºС, the same individual will need about 350 milliliters.
In winter, chickens love to peck at the snow, but in this way they do not compensate for all their need for water. Yes, and the use of snow alone will necessarily cause various diseases. Therefore, in the house must be drink water: in the warmed ones - in the evening, and in the unheated ones - it is better in the morning and always heated a little.
