Poultry farming is a profitable and interesting business. But it is very important to properly organize the feeding of chickens from their first day of life. After all, it was at this time that the chicks were defenseless and susceptible to various diseases.
Feeding chicks in the early days of life
Many housewives use small compound feed instead of bedding for newly hatched chicks. This is done so that the chickens can satisfy the need for food when they still do not have the strength to get up and maintain balance. This method is especially effective if the chicks are hatched in a home incubator. After a few hours, you should offer the chickens a finely chopped, steeply cooked egg yolk. Subsequently, straw, sawdust or fine shavings should be used as bedding. The litter needs to be changed daily: pecking your litter, young growth can be poisoned.
Started feeding chickens without a brood - teach chicks to live
The best option is to slip the purchased daily chicks under the chicken, which is already incubating the eggs. This is best done at night when the hen sees poorly. Try not to remove it from the nest - carefully place the chicks one at a time and watch how she receives them. Then the first feeding of chickens will not be a problem. In life, mother hens teach them all the tricks. But if the chickens could not be found, the owners will have to train the kids. It is recommended that you tap with a knife on the finely chopped boiled egg yolk, similar to how the crook does. Sometimes she takes food with her beak, picks it up and throws it away - and the chicks grab precisely the crumb that the teacher paid their attention to.
"Chicken menu" from the second day of life
Usually, feeding the chickens with yolk is completed on the fifth day. By the second day they are already offered millet, crushed wheat, oatmeal, barley. Cooking porridge for little chickens is not recommended, as well as wet feed. Raw food gets chicked in the nose, which can cause them to die. But clean water must be in chickens. It is best to use special drinkers that prevent the chicks from falling and getting wet.
Wet chickens get sick and may die. Therefore, if for some reason the chicken is wet, it should be dried as soon as possible, placed in a box in a warm place. (Wet chicks weaken, others easily “trample” them in a pile, which is why it is necessary to isolate the wet chicken from the general company.) From the third day, chopped greens,
sprouted grain, well-squeezed cottage cheese are added to the feed. On the fourth day, you can give red carrots, grated in the same way as for cooking it "in Korean". Such a dish is instinctively perceived by the chicks as worms, and this is a good training.
Feeding chickens from ten days of age
During this period, young animals should diversify the menu by adding boiled potatoes, into which you can mix moistened compound feed, chopped greens. Fish waste is also very beneficial for chicks. They should be given at the rate of 5-7 grams per head, gradually increasing the portion to 15 grams. If it is possible to introduce meal (peanut, sunflower, soybean) into the diet of chickens, then add it like this: replace 15-17 percent of dry feed with meal. In the early days of life, broiler chickens are fed the same way as other chicks. But during adulthood, remember that broilers grow much faster - the daily feed rate should be constantly increased. It is also necessary to add vitamins to the diet. These additives are easy to purchase in special stores - manufacturers combined all the necessary components and calculated the rate of additives.