Many in the household have chickens, ducks, goats, and piglets. But few know how to keep these animals. In this article, you will learn how feeding hens affects their productivity and how to feed them to improve results.
Homemade eggs have always been more expensive, as they are distinguished by excellent taste, size and shape. Therefore, experienced poultry farmers prefer those breeds that are characterized by high egg laying, and pay special attention to their nutrition, choosing all the ingredients correctly.
How to feed laying hens
With proper nutrition, the bird should receive all the useful vitamins it needs, especially those that affect the formation, growth and formation of the egg. For example, with a lack of calcium in the body, the shell will be soft, prone to deformation and damage.
The main diet of chickens at the poultry farm includes feed. This is a unique mixture consisting of various crops with a sufficiently high content of all the necessary vitamins and minerals, useful not only to the bird, but also to other animals. Quite often, premixes or vitamin complexes are added to it to increase egg production.
Amino acids are necessary to avoid cannibalism (when birds destroy their own kind). The addition of animal feed to the diet of chickens will help to avoid such problems: fish, meat or meat and bone meal, soybean meal.
Minerals, calcium - these substances affect the egg production of birds. With each egg, the chicken body loses 2 g of calcium, so its deficiency must be replenished. Calcium deficiency is a thin shell, and an excess is the loss of appetite in layers, weight loss and a decrease in the number of eggs. Additives rich in minerals:
bone meal, chalk, salt, limestone, shell.
Feeding laying hens at home is different from production. Most often, they are given cereals in kind: wheat, barley, oats, corn, rye, peas, millet.
Also, proper feeding of laying hens involves the addition of gravel. It is not digested in the stomach, but has been in it for more than two months. Stones help grind the feed, which facilitates the absorption of vitamins. It should be emphasized that sand cannot replace it, since, getting into the intestines, it irritates the mucous membrane and is excreted without delay.
Water is also included in the feeding of laying hens. Next to the feeder should be a drinking bowl with clean and fresh water. Sometimes it is appropriate to add a weak solution of potassium permanganate (potassium permanganate) to water.
It is important to ensure that the chickens are not hungry, but also do not overeat. Obesity is contraindicated, as they cease to lay eggs.
Roughness, a pale yolk or just small eggs - all this is worth paying attention to, as this may be due to a lack of some nutrients.
Proper feeding of laying hens ensures high-quality eggs every day, which can bring considerable income to poultry farmers.