Compound feed for chicken meat and egg breeds
Chickens of meat and egg breeds reach a weight of 5 kg and give up to 270 eggs annually depending on from chicken breed and conditions of detention. To increase egg production, chickens need high-quality balanced feed. The diet for chickens of meat and egg breeds can be compiled independently or you can buy ready-made feed. The composition of the grain mixture for chickens must include at least 10 components, so the cost of home feed, taking into account the extra charges for the components, will be higher than the price of factory feed.
That is why most poultry farmers buy feed for meat-bearing chicken breeds at wholesale stores. Unscrupulous manufacturers, in order to reduce the cost of the final product, replace some components with low-quality raw materials. Due to unbalanced feed, egg production of chickens decreases, a lack of calcium in the grain mixture can lead to gout in males and pecking of eggs by chickens.
If you are not sure about the quality of the finished grain mixture, prepare the feed yourself. Gradually, chickens of meat and egg breeds can be transferred to a home-made grain mixture and the egg production rates can be compared. If the number of eggs and their weight increase, then the chickens need to be transferred to homemade feed.
Making homemade grain mixture
The basis of compound feed for adult chickens is barley. It contains a lot of fiber and protein, which are needed for egg formation. Part compound feed for chickens meat and egg breeds also include sunflower meal, meat and bone or fish meal and a few more additives:
- ground corn;
- wheat bran;
- salt;
- premix for compound feed;
- eggshell.
All of these ingredients are essential for rapid weight gain, as well as regular laying and preventing egg pecking. In order to prevent flour dust and small fragments of grain from clogging the goiter of chickens, you need to add sunflower oil or fusa to the compound feed - a sediment from unrefined oil. The smell of sunflower oil is popular with poultry. In addition, the fuse will bind the flour dust.
In winter, herbal flour or dried nettle can be added to the compound feed so that the chickens receive the necessary amount of vitamins.
Prepare hay for the winter and add to compound feed in winter and autumn. Usually, grass flour is included in the premix for mixed feed, but its increased amount contributes to better absorption of the grain.