Broilers differ from egg chickens in much more whimsical. They require increased attention when caring and feeding. Therefore, the owners of cottages and private homes often have the question of how to grow broilers at home with the least loss.
The first thing you need to pay attention to is the correct purchase of young animals. Both day-old and 5-15-day-old chickens are sold. The first experienced chicken breeders are not advised to buy. Although they sometimes cost two to three times cheaper, you are unlikely to be able to save at least half of the young. Chickens of this age are very weak and die for almost any reason.
The question of how to grow broilers at home will be simpler if you buy them at least 5 days of age. At the same time, each chicken must be examined, discarding all inactive, with adhering fluff and dull covered eyes. This young growth will surely die, and you will only spend your money in vain.
It is impossible to breed such chickens at home. The fact is that a broiler is not a breed, but a hybrid, and its remarkable meat characteristics are not inherited. Even if the chicken lays on its eggs, the offspring will be significantly behind in weight gain from their parents.
So, you have acquired a healthy and fairly active young growth. How to grow broilers at home, while preserving as many chickens as possible? The first thing to do is to prepare a “home” for them. It is best to use a plywood box or a cardboard box. A feeder and a drinking bowl are installed inside, over which an incandescent lamp is fixed. The first week, the air temperature in the box should not fall below 30 degrees. Celsius. Lighting is available around the clock. If the heat of the lamp is not enough, an additional heater is installed.
Feeding broiler chickens at home is a fairly responsible process. The final result largely depends on the quality and correctness of the selected diet. In the early days, chickens are given millet, eggs, cottage cheese and oatmeal.
Also finely divided form is fed wheat, oats and barley. The ratio of grain in the total diet should be about 60 percent. In addition, it is necessary to give chopped grass, as well as high-quality vegetable flour.
From ten days of age, fish waste, meal and cake are included in the diet. From a twenty-day day, 20% of the grain is replaced with potatoes, which are boiled and, after being kneaded, added to the mash. Broiler chickens also cannot do without vitamin supplements. Include them in the same mixers. Quite simply, you can make a very effective trivitamin. To do this, you need oil solutions of vitamins D2, A and E. Two teaspoons of each are diluted in half a liter of vegetable oil. The resulting additive is stored in the refrigerator.
So, how to grow broilers at home, you now know. This is a complicated matter, but with the right approach, you can achieve simply excellent results. Broiler cultivation is completed at approximately 2 months of age. At this time, they gain their full weight, and fattening them in the future is considered impractical.