Breeding chickens is a pretty lucrative affair. And for adults to be strong and healthy, you need to properly care for them from the first days of life. A very important aspect in this is the feeding of chickens. It depends on how the digestive system organs develop, as well as how many birds survive. The likelihood that not one chicken will die will increase by almost 20%. In this article, you will learn how to feed chickens and how to do it right.
The basics
Often farmers are faced with a problem in which strong chicks suddenly fall ill and even die. This can be due to malnutrition, because each eaten crumbs affects the health of babies. Therefore, you need to carefully monitor their diet.
Chicks still do not know how to eat when they are born. A certain supply of nutrients is stored in their body, but they are enough for only a few hours. Immediately after the chickens have dried, you need to try to feed them. After the first ingested grain, they have a gnawing instinct that does not leave them throughout life.
How to feed domestic chickens so that they fully develop? For these purposes, only high-quality feed is suitable. Fresh foods should contain essential nutrients and vitamins. If the food is missing, the digestive system of the young can not stand it, which will lead to mass death.
Chicken Content
Be sure to follow the necessary sanitary standards. It is best to purchase special feeders. They are designed in such a way that chickens cannot stick their legs into them. Before the next feeding, you should get rid of the remnants from the last meal.
In addition to all of the above, you need to regularly inspect the young. If some chickens are lagging behind in development (they are called “weak” and “sad”), then they are planted and reared in another place. Stubborn individuals can be fed by force if they refuse to eat. To do this, use a pipette or a small syringe without a needle. Using these tools, softened feed enriched with vitamins is introduced into the beak.
Egg Breeding
Probably the most unpretentious chickens are representatives of egg breeds. Young growth can be grown both from under the quack and from the incubator. Their feeding is a process consisting of several stages.
The most important thing for a newborn chicken is to learn to bite as early as possible. Indeed, the development of all its organ systems depends on how soon the first feeding will take place. The bird will lack nutrients if it is not given food for too long. Therefore, the best option for feeding chickens on the first day of life is small corn grits. It is poured in a thin layer into a flat feeder.
A few years ago, it was believed that a hard boiled egg was a suitable product for the first feeding. Immediately after birth, the chicken was given a chopped yolk, and after some time, protein was also added. Delicate food did not injure the digestive system. However, veterinarians currently have a different opinion. They are convinced that boiled eggs are too light food for newborn chickens, it does not affect the stomach sufficiently, due to which the muscles of the gastrointestinal tract of the bird are formed incorrectly. Immediately after transferring to coarse grains, young animals suffer from digestive upsets.
Moreover, there is another drawback in feeding newborn chickens with yolk - this part of the egg is characterized by a high fat content, which has a negative effect on the general condition of babies, and also contributes to the multiplication of unhealthy microflora in their body. Excess protein obtained immediately after birth can cause poor absorption of B vitamins.
Per diem
When deciding how to feed chickens in the early days, you should pay attention to the recommendations of experienced veterinarians. They advise diversifying food and adding the following foods to the diet:
- millet;
- semolina;
- ground oatmeal;
- one of the following varieties of cereals: corn, wheat or barley.
Daily chickens need frequent and regular feeding. They are given food every two hours. Do not be upset because the chicks do not peck all the seeds offered to them. During this period of their development, they can choose and eat only their favorite food. It is better not to mix cereals, but to give separately. This is due to the fact that the stomach of chickens is still very weak.
Drinking mode
When thinking about how to feed chickens, do not forget the water. It is considered an essential element in their diet.
Young animals with pleasure climb into the drinking bowl and splash there, at the same time quenching thirst, so you need to carefully monitor the purity and freshness of the water. It must be boiled, because raw water contains pathogens.
And to cure diarrhea, which often affects daily chickens, you can give them a weak solution of potassium permanganate as a drink.
Feeding up to a week
In order for the chickens to develop correctly, to be strong and healthy, various products must be introduced into their diet. When they have not yet reached a weekly age, they need to form not only grain food. According to the recommendations of veterinarians, you should use cottage cheese, because it contains a large amount of calcium and nitrogen. At first it is mixed with cereals and cereals, and if the young does not have a digestive upset, then you can feed the birds with cottage cheese without additives.
On the first day, you can treat them with natural proteins, such as earthworms and boiled fish.
On the third day, liquid kefir, whey and yogurt are added to the list of allowed meals. They contain useful probiotics. They contribute to the formation of healthy microflora in the stomach. And such drinks are very popular with young birds. But bear in mind that milk is a prohibited product! In chickens, diarrhea begins and plumage sticks together.
On the third day, fresh greens are also introduced into the diet, for example, plantain and dandelion, nettle and clover. The leaves of the plants wither, and then chop. On the fifth day, you can add onion feathers to the food. They are not only a source of vitamins, but also protect the stomach from digestive infections.
When deciding how to feed domestic chickens, in the first days - during the week - you can give them finely grated vegetables, such as pumpkin, carrots and beets. In addition, vitamins from groups A, D, E should be added to food. And so that each chick absorbs a sufficient amount of food and is full, they should check the goiter.
Older than a week
The question of how to feed chickens raises up when it comes to mature individuals. The diet of a chick that has reached the age of seven days is changing, since it is during this period of life that active development and rapid growth are necessary. The digestive system is strengthened, which means that you can not be afraid to add new components to their food, because the risk of an upset stomach is significantly reduced.
So, on the tenth day it is allowed to mix cereals with each other in equal proportions. At this time, the chicks are given greens, fermented milk products and veterinary preparations with a high content of vitamins and minerals.
Feeding chicks
It seemed that just recently they had hatched from an egg, but now the chickens had already been 1 month old. How to feed young animals? It is necessary to build on the fact that at this age the birds begin to walk a lot. They are looking for food containing the necessary trace elements, and coarse grains are added to their diet. And in order for the chickens to remain active, they are fed with moist mashrooms with bone meal and food waste, which perfectly saturates the young organism of the bird.
A month and a half after birth, they calmly eat whole grains. In addition, separate containers filled with sand and fine gravel should be placed next to the feeders. By the way, to prevent chickens from eating eggs in the future, one should exclude broken shells from the diet of young animals. It can be replaced with ground shells.
And to make it easier to solve the problem than to feed the chickens after three months, industrial feed can be added to their food. This mixture contains all the most important substances that young animals need. Along with such food, you should continue to feed the chicks with wet mash, vegetables and fresh herbs.
Meat breeding
There is a big difference between feeding broilers and laying hens. Currently, there are two methods that are used for fattening meat chickens, which already weigh at least 1.5 kg in two months.
The intensive method is most often used on large farms. They contain livestock in special cages or place a large number of individuals in one pen, limiting their motor activity.
So, how to feed the meat breeds of chickens? At the age of one day, special industrial mixtures prepared for broilers are included in their diet. The main characteristic of this food is an increased content of proteins or proteins responsible for the formation of muscle tissue.
In the third week, the feed is changed to the so-called growth. It activates all the processes of development of chicks. The last stage of feeding begins at the age of one month and lasts until slaughter. The food used at this time contains a large amount of nutrients, which positively affects the growth rate. However, it should be noted that in this case, the birds will need a large amount of water.
Extensive method
This method of raising meat chickens is suitable for those farmers who do not have extra money to purchase expensive mixtures. In this case, the owners will figure out how to feed the chickens at home, so that they have a lot of meat, some rules will help:
- In the early days, they can be fed in the same way as representatives of egg breeds.
- From the fifth day, a small amount of herbal flour should be added to food. Enough only 3 g per day.
- Weekly chicks are given fish waste and vegetable meal. These products contain the necessary proteins for broilers.
- On the twelfth day, the diet becomes more high-calorie. Sour-milk products are added, about 15% of grain crops are replaced by boiled potatoes. Vegetables and greens are given with preparations containing many minerals and vitamins.
- In a month, protein food is almost completely removed from the diet. Proteins are replaced by nutritious carbohydrates.
After 4 months, the chickens weigh at least 3 kg, with proper feeding.