How to increase the egg production of chickens at home? Features and ways to increase

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

When starting chickens, any poultry farmer plans first of all to get a large number of fresh and tasty eggs. However, it is not always possible to immediately achieve the desired result. In some cases, it is necessary to master farming by trial and error before the goal is achieved. But still, if you figure out how to increase the egg production of chickens at home, you can save a lot of time and effort.

Which breeds do you prefer?

Before you buy chickens or adult birds, you should decide what exactly you want to get. Is your goal a large amount of dietary, young and tender meat? In this case, you should pay attention to the breeds that are meat. They grow very quickly and can be clogged up as early as a few months old. But if you want to get a large number of eggs, then you should startonly productive layers.

Loman Brown chickens can be a good choice. They are highly resistant to cold conditions, which is an extremely important factor in a country with such a harsh climate as Russia. Although they do not develop too quickly, they grow to a very impressive size. This makes them doubly beneficial - when the birds get too old to lay, you can always put them on the meat.

Another good option is cross leghorn. It was a chicken from this breed that set a world record - it laid 371 eggs in one year! It is important that they begin to reward their owner with good productivity surprisingly early - at the age of 20 weeks. True, when starting them, you need to take care of good sound insulation or remoteness from any sources of noise. Otherwise, the hens will feel bad, productivity will drop, and the birds themselves may get sick.

Finally, the third place in the ranking of the best laying hens is occupied by highsex hybrids. Although in fact, this is not an independent breed, but a variety of Leggorn. Unlike the latter, representatives of the Highsex breed easily tolerate low temperatures, rarely suffer from infectious diseases and, at the same time, are very undemanding to feed. And in terms of the number of eggs laid, they are comparatively not far behind.

What age hens lay the best?

Before looking for ways to increase the egg production of chickens at home, you need to take a closer look at the characteristics of birds. The fact is that at a certain stage of its growthrepresentatives of the same breed can bring a different number of eggs per day. Young individuals show themselves best in this regard - from full maturity (in most breeds it occurs at the age of six months, but there are earlier specimens) to 3 years.

After this, the chicken is still he althy and strong. But still, the number of eggs is declining and will fall for several years until the bird stops laying completely. In most cases, the best solution in this situation will be to put the hen on meat, replacing it with a younger individual.

Choosing the right coop

If you are wondering how to increase the egg production of chickens at home in summer and winter, you need to pay attention to every little thing. For example, how the chicken coop is built and finished, the way of life of birds.

Of course, it is best if the hens walk quietly in a large fenced area. Eating the right grass, diversifying their diet with live food, having he althy physical activity, they will bring much more eggs. However, this luxury is not always possible. So, you need to try at least to find a suitable chicken coop.

Immediately it is necessary to abandon the concrete floor. In winter, it will be cold, and many breeds of chickens react very sharply to such changes. The best choice would be wooden material. If this is not possible, then at least sprinkle the floor with a thick layer of sand or sawdust. But they will have to be changed often to protect chickens from infectious diseases, and yourself from unpleasantsmell.

In general, concrete and brick are not the best materials for building a chicken coop. They absorb the cold, which makes it very difficult to maintain a comfortable temperature for chickens in winter. It is better to give preference to wooden or at least clay buildings. Otherwise, the walls and ceiling should be sheathed with plywood or boards, under which heat-insulating material should be laid - from polystyrene foam to polyurethane foam. The main thing is not to let the birds get to it. Sometimes they start eating Styrofoam, which is not the best effect on their he alth.

Creating optimal conditions

The next step is how to increase the egg production of chickens at home in the spring. After the winter period, it is important for birds to create comfortable conditions. Only in this case, you can count on a good result.

Let's start with the fact that the room should be well lit - use artificial devices or large windows. But the nests themselves, in which the birds will rush, should be shaded.

There should also be no drafts - they pose a serious threat to both egg production and the he alth of the birds themselves.

The door to the chicken coop should be hung with a tarp or other thick, windproof cloth. This will further reduce heat loss, increasing comfort in the room. In general, the temperature should not fall below +23 degrees Celsius. Otherwise, the chickens practically stop laying. So, if you are wondering how to increase the egg production of chickens at home in the spring, first of alltake care of heating.

Making the right diet

It is from the correct feeding that, first of all, depends on how many eggs the chicken will carry. So, the diet needs a varied and complete. All trace elements, vitamins, proteins, carbohydrates and fats must be present in sufficient quantities.

Of course, you can use special compound feed, which has all the substances necessary for laying hens. However, this is quite expensive, so many farmers are looking for more affordable options.

Wheat is traditionally the best choice. It contains a lot of proteins, as well as vitamins B and E. Therefore, the diet of laying hens may well consist mainly of wheat - by 50-60%.

But barley is richer in carbohydrates. But still, it is also a good help for the farm - you can feed up to 20-30% of this valuable cereal.

Oats are quite difficult to digest, so they usually do not give them. But if you need to stimulate the growth of feathers, as well as prevent cannibalism, then you can divert 5-10% of the diet to this grain.

But corn should be treated more carefully. This is a useful cereal, but chickens quickly gain weight when eating it. Although if your task is to fatten the birds before slaughter, you can allocate 70-80% of the diet specifically for corn.

Green is a very good help. There are few nutrients in the grass, but trace elements and vitamins are in abundance. Of course, this food is seasonal, but in the summer it is worth giving as much greenery as possible to the birds.

Asadditional feeding, you can use eggshells, chalk, fishmeal. All of them contain calcium, which hens use in large quantities when they lay eggs.

Preparing food

As practice shows, the digestibility of conventional cereals can be significantly increased if subjected to the simplest preparation. Moreover, it is quite easy and simple to do this - you do not need to spend a lot of time or use expensive equipment.

Any grain, be it wheat, oats, barley or corn, should be brewed with warm water - but not hot. After that, the container is left in a warm room for 2-3 days. During this time, sprouts appear, the grain itself becomes softer. Therefore, the digestion of birds takes less time, and the percentage of digestibility of nutrients increases significantly.

Correct daily routine

Another tip for beginner poultry farmers on how to increase the egg production of chickens at home in the summer is timely feeding. In the warm season, you need to do this twice - at the same time, about an hour after getting up and an hour before lights out. In winter, birds spend a lot of energy fighting the cold. Therefore, an additional meal should be added - around lunchtime.

Why is this needed? When birds eat at the same time, their body gets used to a certain schedule, and they feel more calm, confident. Constant disruptions in the schedule introduce birds into a state of stress. Of course, in such conditions, egg productionfalling rapidly, and a good owner would never allow such a thing.

What to do in winter?

But the most difficult task is how to increase the egg production of chickens at home in winter. Alas, in the cold season, the birds will in any case rush worse than in the warm. But there are tricks that allow you to at least slightly smooth out the negative effect.

As mentioned above, the chicken coop should be warm and light, food should be increased by about 30%. You should also add twice as many vitamins to the diet - in summer they get everything they need from grass, in winter this luxury is unaffordable. Some experts recommend abandoning ordinary water in favor of melted water. There are no problems here - you just need to collect snow in a bucket or any other suitable container, compact it well and leave it in a warm place. After a few hours, the resulting water can be watered to chickens. But it is advisable to let it warm up to room temperature.

Conclusion

Now you know some tricks that allow you to get the maximum number of eggs from layers at any time of the year. Surely this will help novice poultry farmers in farming.