Homestead farming: what do broiler chickens eat

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

Broiler chickens, like all hybrids, are characterized by rapid growth and not too high resistance to various infections and diseases. Therefore, many homeowners often have a question about how to feed broiler chickens in order to get a he althy, well-gaining bird as a result. And this is understandable. After all, the more balanced the diet, the better the chickens will feel, and the more meat the owner will get as a result.

Feed for broilers should contain all the substances necessary for proper growth: from proteins to vitamins. In addition, when drawing up a diet, it is imperative to take into account the age of the chickens. The final result will directly depend on this. So what do broiler chickens eat? Let's consider this question in more detail.

Until three days of age, broiler chickens are given mainly boiled eggs and millet. From time to time, you can also feed cottage cheese and finely crushed grain: corn, barley, oats, etc. Starting from the third day of life, chickens add greens to the diet. Dothis must be done gradually, otherwise the bird may have problems with the functioning of the digestive system.

For the first time, you can feed no more than 6 g of greens per chicken. Then the dose is gradually increased. "What do they feed broiler chickens when it comes to greens?" - the question is not too difficult for the summer period. You can give finely chopped dandelions, nettles, tops of carrots and beets, sorrel, cabbage, etc. In late autumn and winter, instead of herbs, they feed flour (grass), the content of which is also gradually increased in mash from two grams to five.

Next, consider what broiler chickens are fed from the fifth day of life. Basically, they give the same feed as before, but at the same time vitamins are added to them. The easiest way is to use a special mixture. To prepare it, take half a liter of vegetable oil and add two teaspoons of oil solutions of vitamins A, D and E to it. At the same time, fine gravel is mixed into the feed. This contributes to its better digestibility.

The useful composition obtained in this way is stored in the refrigerator. It is given to chickens twice a week (1 tsp per kilogram of mash). On the sixth day of growth, broilers begin to give vegetables. It can be boiled carrots, beets or zucchini. Before feeding, they are rubbed on a grater. From the tenth day, you can include cake, sunflower or soybeans in the diet.

At twenty days of age, broilers, in addition to grain, should receive as part of the mashboiled potatoes. This will contribute to very rapid weight gain. Potatoes need to be replaced with about a quarter of cereals. Feeding monthly broilers is practically no different from feeding twenty-day ones. However, starting from the age of five weeks, the amount of food received by the bird should begin to be slowly reduced. The transfer of young animals to moderate feeding is carried out gradually over a period of about a week. After the chickens are fully adapted to the new regimen, they are kept up to 18 weeks with more stringent restrictions: they are given a double norm of food in a day. Young animals are transferred to fully adult feeding starting from the 19th week of life.

What they feed broiler chickens, most likely, is not a problem for you now. It all depends on the age of the young. Before the chicks are one month old, they are fed ad libitum. Then some restrictions begin to be introduced.