Farmers today breed chickens not only to get eggs throughout the year, but also to sell them. The implementation of chicken eggs is a profitable business, but it requires attention and time, because high egg production depends on what the chickens eat and in what volumes.
Feed: their varieties
During the breeding of chickens, knowledge of the correct feeding of birds is necessary so that in the future they will bring many eggs, giving a good profit from this. Increase the chance of obtaining high-quality and large eggs allows a responsible approach to the preparation of the diet.
In their farm, poultry farmers need to use feed for laying hens of three varieties:
- Dry. This compound feed is manufactured and sold exclusively in crushed form. So the bird will not overeat, therefore it will be possible to protect the animal from obesity. It is enough to give 120-130 g per day to one layer feeding on mixed feed.
- Wet. This is a homemade mishmash, which contains the following ingredients: cake, makukha, cereal, boiled potatoes, grass meal, other vegetables, wheat bran, and meal. The basis of the stirrer is water, dairy products. It is not recommended to cook the mixer in large quantities, such food quickly sour. For laying hens in a cage, chopped greens must be added to the dish. If the birds are in the aviary, then they are given grass separately - this will allow the birds to choose what they like.
- Combined. For the preparation of such food, you can use a variety of nutrition, including dry mixes and mixers. It is desirable to add grain and mineral impurities to the mixers. A useful combined feed should consist of 1/3 of protein impurities and 2/3 of grain.
What should be mixed feed?
Farmers are advised to carefully approach the issue of what to make compound feed for laying hens. Combined feeds of factory production are made according to special technologies strictly in accordance with GOST. They contain many useful substances that are necessary for birds and their proper nutrition.
Compound feed for laying hens is a special feed mixture consisting of the following ingredients:
- grain mixtures and other plant elements;
- natural vitamins;
- elements with animal type of origin;
- trace elements.
For one bird, compound feed is prepared, consisting of such ingredients and their quantities:
- wheat grain - 50 g;
- vitamins - 1 g;
- corn - 10 g;
- edible salt - 0.5 g;
- barley - 40 g;
- crushed shells - 5 g;
- bone meal - 1 g;
- feed chalk - 3 g;
- bran - 20 g.
The above components are the main ingredients present in animal feed. There are feeds that are specifically designed for young or adult chickens. You can also purchase food recommended by animals in summer or winter.
A balanced feed for laying hens should consist of a grain mixture in the amount of 60-75% of the total diet. Corn 40-50% of the diet - this product is especially valuable in feeding broiler birds. It also replenishes the bird's body with carbohydrates and vitamins, including carotene, allowing the yolk to acquire a bright yellow color.
Barley for chickens should make up 30% of the diet - it is necessary to give meat juiciness. Wheat should be present in the diet, constituting 40-70% of the diet, it supplies the body of the bird with protein, vitamins E, B. Sprouted wheat is useful for laying hens, especially in winter, when there is no greens.
Oats should be no more than 15% of the diet of the total weight of the mixture. This product is used to prevent biting, often in the form of bran, because it is difficult for the bird to digest it. Millet (10-20%) acts as a source of carotene. It is added to the feed not only for small but also for adults. Sunflower, legumes and flax are important for increasing egg production. Meal and meal to add to the grain for chickens - increase the level of protein and protein. An indicator of which grain to use is the age and breed of the bird.
In chicken feed you can include premixes or vitamin complexes. But you can not use it as a separate food, this can lead to an overdose, the development of diseases, the extinction of birds.
An important component for the body of laying hens is calcium, which helps to ensure a strong egg shell. Bone meal, limestone, salt, gravel, shells are rich in calcium. Chalk is considered to be the most famous source of calcium for chickens, therefore it is extremely important to give it to birds as an impurity to the main feed.
The amino acids contained in fish and meat waste, meal will help to avoid biting. Calcium sulfate is found in gypsum and also helps prevent cannibalism. Such impurities are required in the food of birds from their first days of life.
Laying ration according to bird age
Feeding a bird with a certain set of products is required based on its age. This is due to intensive egg laying. It is known that the most productive period in laying hens is the first year of their egg production with a peak at weeks 27 and 28. At this time, it is important to feed chickens plentifully.
During a period of high egg production, carrots, boiled potatoes, barley, pumpkin, yeast, fish (bone) flour, crushed shells, millet, and green grass are introduced into the daily diet of the bird. This food allows the body to get a lot of nutrients. It is also recommended that you gradually introduce protein into the chicken feed to increase the quality of the eggs. This must be done while approaching the peak of egg production.
When the chicken reaches the age of 1 year, the egg production is significantly reduced, so the laying hen no longer needs energy in the old quantities. It is possible to feed laying hens during this period with the same ingredients, but only fishmeal can be replaced with pumpkin, barley.
So, for one laying hen from 6 to 12 months old, there are so many ingredients:
- baker's yeast - 1 g;
- meat and fish waste - 5 g;
- fish meal - 4 g;
- boiled potatoes - 50 g;
- pumpkin - 0;
- carrots - 10 g;
- crushed shell - 5 g;
- feed chalk - 3 g;
- green grass - 30g;
- sunflower meal - 11 g;
- corn - 40 g;
- barley - 0;
- wheat - 20 g.
For one layer over the age of 12 months, there are so many ingredients:
- baker's yeast - 14 g;
- meat and fish waste - 10 g;
- fish meal - 0;
- boiled potatoes - 50 g;
- pumpkin - 20 g;
- carrots - 0;
- crushed shell - 5 g;
- feed chalk - 3 g;
- green grass - 30 g;
- sunflower meal - 14 g;
- corn - 0;
- barley - 30 g;
- wheat - 40 g.
With proper feeding of laying hens at different stages of growing up, it will be possible in the future to get high-quality, large eggs.
Norms for carbohydrates, fats and proteins
Proper nutrition of laying hens consists in obtaining a balanced feed containing proteins, fats and carbohydrates. Egg production directly depends on the nutrition of birds. Fodder there are such varieties:
- Protein. Source of plant and animal proteins.
- Vitamin. Food intended to replenish the supply of vitamins, provitamins.
- Mineral Fill the body with minerals.
- Carbohydrate. They contain flour mixtures, grain mixtures, root crops, vegetables, bran, cereals.
Per chicken accounts for 60 to 70% of carbohydrates, 15 to 18% of proteins, 4 to 6% of fiber, 3 to 5% of fat. This is enough chicken per day to replenish its energy reserves. It is important that the protein enters the body in the right amount, since 80% of it goes to the formation of eggs.
It is possible to replenish the diet with vegetable proteins if mixtures of oilcake, sunflower or rapeseed are included. To replenish animal proteins, it is recommended to feed the chickens with waste from meat and fish. You can also feed the birds with bone meal, insects, earthworms. It is equally important to ensure the intake of fats, they in the same way affect the formation of eggs. It is necessary to include oats, corn, pumpkin, sunflower in the diet.
Carbohydrates - the basis that ensures the life of the chicken as a whole. Feed laying hens for bran carbohydrates, cereals, root vegetables.
How to feed laying hens in winter, spring, autumn, summer?
To increase the egg production of chickens, it is advised to correctly compose a diet based on the time of year. A table is proposed in which the seasonal norms for feeding hens are considered:
Feed | The rate per hen per day | |||
Spring | Summer | Fall | Winter | |
Cereal | 98 g | 99 g | 85 g | 70 g |
Food salt | 0.5 g | 0.5 g | 0.5 g | 0.5 g |
Flour (fish, meat and bone) | 11 g | 10 g | 5 g | 13 g |
Milk products | 10 g | 10 g | 14 g | 100 g |
Bone meal | 2 g | 2 g | 2 g | 3 g |
Baker's yeast | 1 g | 1 g | 1 g | 1 g |
Bean flour, hay | 7 g | 0 | 7 g | 10 g |
Crushed shell, chalk fodder | 5 g | 5 g | 5 g | 3 g |
Green grass | 40 g | 60 g | 40 g | 0 |
Roots | 40 g | 0 | 40 g | 50 g |
Wheat bran | 10 g | 10 g | 10 g | 10 g |
Potatoes | 40 g | 0 | 40 g | 50 g |
Cake | 12 g | 11 g | 10 g | 15 g |
How many times to feed the hens and how much feed do you need?
The average daily rate for laying hens is 120-130 g of the required feed. Air temperature directly affects how much food the chicken consumes. If in summer the temperature begins to exceed the normal for chickens by 1 degree, they will already begin to eat 1% less. In winter, the opposite is true. Therefore, in the summer it is better to include less feed in the diet, but use its varieties, which contain many nutrients, based on the amount of compound feed consumed by the chicken.
In winter, hens are fed three times a day, in the summer - 2 times a day. Fill the feeders 1/3 with dry mixes so that the bird does not rake the feed. The hedgehog is imposed in such volumes that the laying hens can completely consume it before it sour. Be sure to add pure water to the drinkers along with the feed.
In the morning and lunch time hens are fed wet food, and in the evening - grain. You can’t give a stirrer in the evening, because it is heavy on the stomach.
It is important to know that how many times a day food is given, how many times the feeders of hens are cleaned:
- In winter, meals are distributed so that there is a five-hour gap between them.
- In the summer, it’s much more convenient to monitor the birds ’nutrition, because in addition to two meals a day they go for a range and graze on green grass. Because they fill the feeders with an interval of 10 hours, for example, at 8 in the morning and at 6 in the evening.
In the morning, hens are fed with a mash, and in the evening - with dry grain feed. If farmers keep chickens in cages, which prevents the birds from getting enough sleep, then in the summer they include a lunch meal.
What to give chickens to increase egg production?
Due to the fact that in summer there is an abundance of grass and greens, chickens get vitamins. In winter, everything is a little more complicated, during this period it is important to carefully approach the preparation of the diet and introduce products into it that will support the egg production of birds. In winter, it is better to feed the layers with vitamins contained in root crops and juicy vegetables. It is also good to include dairy products, oilcake, sprouted grain, silage and hay in the diet.
There are special feeding requirements during molting. It is necessary to increase the content of juicy and protein feed. Feeding chickens abundantly is not worth it, as at the peak of oviposition, but the menu should be varied. At this time, the bird is provided with carrots, chalk, baker's yeast, pumpkin, boiled potatoes, cabbage, slaked lime, and crushed shells. Vitamin supplements are also introduced into the diet.
What is banned?
Chickens are omnivorous birds feeding on pasture, but at the same time they are not allowed to consume everything in a row. For example, it is highly undesirable to feed the birds with fish oil, because it smells bad. You can’t give chickens hard food - the peel of potatoes, watermelons, oranges. It is difficult for chickens to digest this food, and this threatens the development of encephalopathy.
Overfeeding chickens can cause diarrhea and indigestion. If this happens, you need to stop feeding the birds with vegetables for a while.
It is useful that in the diet of chickens there is boiled potatoes, mashed and included in the mash. On the day you can not give the bird more than 50 g. Potato sprouted or greened is considered more dangerous, it contains solanine, harmful to the body.
It is also recommended to include zucchini in the mix, especially in winter, as they are an excellent substitute for green grass feeds. But there is a negative point: you need to avoid feeding the bird with zucchini as a monocorm, and they are also not suitable for birds under 3 weeks old. Overfeeding with this vegetable may cause diarrhea and digestive upsets.
Before you start breeding chickens, which should bring a good number of eggs, you need to know how to feed them, how to make a diet so as to increase egg production. So it will be possible to make good profits and to provide its family with high-quality large eggs year-round.