What to feed chickens in the first days of life?

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Farming chickens is quite a profitable business. And in order for adults to be strong and he althy, it is necessary to properly care for them from the first days of life. A very important aspect in this is the feeding of the chickens. It depends on how the organs of the digestive system will develop, as well as how many birds will survive. The probability that not a single chicken will die, while increasing by almost 20%. In this article, you will learn what to feed chickens and how to do it right.

Basics

Often, farmers are faced with a problem in which strong chicks suddenly fall ill and even die. This may be due to malnutrition, because every crumb eaten affects the he alth of babies. Therefore, you need to carefully monitor their diet.

Chicks don't know how to eat when they are born. Their body retains a certain supply of nutrients, but they last only a few hours. Immediately after the chickens are dry, you need to tryfeed them. After the first swallowed grain, they develop a pecking instinct that does not leave them throughout their lives.

How to feed domestic chickens so that they fully develop? For these purposes, only high-quality food is suitable. Fresh foods should contain essential nutrients and vitamins. If the food is missing, then the digestive system of the young animals may not withstand, leading to mass death.

Chicken standards

Be sure to observe the necessary sanitary and hygienic standards. It is best to purchase special feeders. They are designed in such a way that chickens cannot stick their paws into them. Before the next feeding, you should get rid of the leftovers from the last meal.

In addition to all of the above, you need to regularly inspect the young. If any chickens are lagging behind in development (they are called “weak” and “sad”), then they are deposited and raised elsewhere. You can force feed stubborn individuals if they refuse to eat. To do this, use a pipette or a small syringe without a needle. With the help of these tools, softened food enriched with vitamins is introduced into the beak.

Feeding egg breeds

Probably the most unpretentious chickens are representatives of egg breeds. Young growth can be grown both from under the cow and from the incubator. Feeding them is a multi-step process.

The most important thing for a newborn chick is to learn as early as possiblepeck. Indeed, the development of all its organ systems depends on how soon the first feeding takes place. The bird will become deficient in nutrients if it is left without food for too long. Therefore, the best option for feeding chickens on the first day of life is fine corn grits. It is poured in a thin layer in a flat feeder.

Several years ago, a hard-boiled egg was thought to be the appropriate food for the first feeding. Immediately after birth, the chicken was given crushed yolk, and after a while protein was also added. Tender food did not injure the organs of the digestive system. However, veterinarians are now of 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 not formed correctly. Immediately after switching to coarse grain, young animals suffer from indigestion.

Moreover, there is one more minus in feeding newborn chickens with yolk - this part of the egg is characterized by a high fat content, which has a negative impact on the general condition of babies, and also contributes to the reproduction of unhe althy microflora in their body. Excessive amounts of protein received immediately after birth can cause poor absorption of B vitamins.

Per diem allowance

When deciding how to feed chickens in the early days, you should pay attention to the recommendations of experienced veterinarians. They advise to diversify food andadd the following foods to your diet:

• millet;
• semolina;
• ground oatmeal;
• one of the following varieties of cereals: corn, wheat or barley.

Day old chicks need frequent and regular feeding. They are given food every two hours. Do not be upset because the chicks do not peck at all the grains offered to them. During this period of their development, they can choose and eat only the food they like. It is better not to mix cereals, but to give separately. This is necessary due to the fact that the stomach of the chickens is still very weak.

Drinking mode

When thinking about what to feed your chickens, don't forget water. It is considered an essential element in their diet.

Young growth happily climbs into the drinking bowl and splashes there, at the same time quenching their thirst, so you need to carefully monitor the cleanliness and freshness of the water. It must be boiled, because raw water contains pathogens.

And to cure the diarrhea that day-old chicks often suffer from, you can give them a weak solution of potassium permanganate as a drink.

Feeding up to a week

In order for chickens to develop properly, be strong and he althy, you need to introduce various foods into their diet. When they have not yet reached the age of a week, they develop a need not only for grain food. According to the recommendations of veterinarians, cottage cheese should be used, because it contains a large amount of calcium and nitrogen. First it is mixed with cerealcrops and cereals, and if the young do not develop a digestive disorder, 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 food. They contain beneficial probiotics. They contribute to the formation of he althy microflora in the stomach. And these drinks are very popular with young birds. But take into account that milk is a forbidden product! Chickens get diarrhea from it and plumage sticks together.

On the third day, fresh herbs are also introduced into the diet, for example, plantain and dandelion, nettle and clover. The leaves of the plants are dried and then chopped. On the fifth day, onion feathers can be added to food. They are not only a source of vitamins, but also protect the stomach from digestive infections.

When deciding what to feed domestic chickens, in the early days - throughout 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 enough food and eats up, their goiter should be checked.

Older than a week

The question of what to feed the chickens comes up when it comes to matured 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 occur. Strengthens the digestivesystem, which means that you can not be afraid to add new ingredients to their food, because the risk of indigestion 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, dairy products and veterinary drugs with a high content of vitamins and minerals.

Feeding one month old chicks

It seemed that just recently they hatched from an egg, but already the chickens are 1 month old. What to feed the young? 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 micronutrients, and coarse grains are added to their diet. And to keep the chickens active, they are fed wet mash with bone meal and food waste, which perfectly saturates the young body of the bird.

After a month and a half after birth, they can easily eat whole grains. In addition, separate containers filled with sand and fine gravel should be placed next to the feeders. By the way, in order to prevent chickens from eating eggs in the future, broken shells should be excluded 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 chickens after three months, you can add industrial compound feed 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.

Feeding meatrocks

There is a big difference between feeding broilers and laying hens. Currently, there are two methods that are used to fatten meat chickens that already weigh at least 1.5 kg at two months.

The intensive method is most often used on large farms. They keep livestock in special cages or place a large number of individuals in one pen, limiting their motor activity.

So, how to feed chickens of meat breeds? 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 food is changed to the so-called growth food. It activates all 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, keep in mind that in this case, the birds will need a lot of water.

Extensive method

This method of growing meat chickens is suitable for those farmers who do not have extra money to purchase expensive mixtures. In this case, some rules will help the owners figure out how to feed the chickens at home so that they have a lot of meat:

• In the early days, they can be fed in the same way as representatives of egg breeds.
• From the fifth day, addeating a small amount of herbal flour. Just 3 grams a day is enough.
• Week-old chicks are given fish waste and vegetable cake. These products contain the proteins necessary for broilers.
• On the twelfth day, the diet becomes more high-calorie. Fermented milk products are added, about 15% of cereals are replaced with boiled potatoes. Vegetables and greens are given with preparations containing many minerals and vitamins.
• In a month, protein foods are almost completely removed from the diet. Protein is being replaced by nutritious carbohydrates.

After 4 months, chicks weigh at least 3 kg, with proper feeding.