One of the conditions for a stable, healthy and good condition of an animal is its nutrition. Many farmers do not know how to feed chickens in order to lay many eggs. The productivity of birds consists of many factors - and their living conditions, the presence of daylight hours and even walking conditions. However, the issue of feeding chickens is one of the most important ones that a beginner poultry breeder needs to sort out first of all so that the birds rush well.
How and how to feed chickens so that they lay many eggs
Properly composed nutrition is the basis of egg quality and high, almost year-round productivity, as well as strong immunity and chicken health. If you follow the simple rules for the care and feeding of laying hens, even a beginner poultry breeder will be able to grow healthy birds and get high-quality eggs. In more detail how and what to feed laying hens at home can be studied in the photo or video.
Norms and feeding patterns
The biggest mistake is not to teach chickens to eat food properly, as well as to a specific time of eating food. Unsystematic food intake, as well as insufficient daylight hours, also significantly affects the quality and the eggs obtained are not so voluminous and tasty. Unaccustomed to any system, the birds will simply walk around the aviary waiting for the next portion of food, not knowing when it is better to hatch eggs in the chicken coop, and when to eat. Fortunately, they are easily and quickly accustomed to the right time - if you feed them every day systematically, at the same time, they will only approach the feeders at the hours that you have trained them.
The optimal number of meals per day in adult chickens depends on which territory they walk in. Also consider the norms of feeding in the summer and in the winter are slightly different. In summer, you need to give fresh herbs and vegetables. In winter, the mixers should be warm so that the birds can warm up, and instead of fresh herbs, vitamins and supplements should be given. If this is a limited area, then you need to properly feed the birds three times a day, with an open range - two is enough. At the same time, it is worth remembering the basic rule - the second meal with hens should mainly consist of herbs and vegetables. Young laying hens need food four times a day.
Bird Nutrition Guidelines
- One of the best “breakfasts” for birds so that they rush better at home is in the mixers based on ground grain or combined feed. They are cooked just before the “meal”, and they are not recommended to be kept in feeders for longer than 2-3 hours. By evening, it will not hurt to pour whole grains into the feeders.
- Since chickens, by their nature, wake up at sunrise - ideally, their first meal of the day should occur at that time. In winter, due to the decrease in daylight hours, this time may shift - but it should not be later than 7-8 hours of the morning.
- The amount of feed for each chicken is determined based on its breed, desired productivity and weight. The optimal formula is 10 grams of feed for every 250 grams of laying hens. It is important to feed the laying hens so that they are fully fed - since not overfeeding, as well as overfeeding, equally lead to a deterioration in the well-being and quality of the eggs.
- The nutritional value of food can and should be increased by winter; however, breeds prone to obesity and rapid weight gain can be helpful to arrange fasting days.
Nutrition and essential elements
Even people who are not at all familiar with poultry farming know that the basis of the diet of chickens is grain. It is the basis for every meal. There are many varieties of grains suitable for feeding chickens, but this does not mean that you need to collect a whole “cocktail” of grain for every day. Each variety has its own properties, but oats and wheat are recognized as the main and most useful, since they are the ones with the highest levels of vitamins, fiber, protein and fat.
How to feed laying hens so that a lot of food does not go away and they are carried better at home? The most optimal grain in the right proportions with the addition of various elements. It is recommended to add variety to the cereal part of the diet every day - grains of barley, rye and corn are also suitable. Only in this way the chicken will receive a huge share of trace elements and vitamins important for it.
There are some rules for each type of grain:
- oats - it’s worth germinating or steaming it first, you don’t have to give a lot;
- barley - does not differ in a large percentage of protein, therefore it should not be a frequent element of "dishes" in the feeder;
- corn - it is highly desirable to grind it, since this grain can provoke obesity in birds;
- rye - it is not recommended to give constantly and in large quantities, since this type of grain is too rich in proteins.
For greater benefit, it is always recommended to germinate the grain, this makes egg production only better. You can watch and study the diet of layers in detail on the video. Also an important element of the diet are vegetables. It is very useful to feed the hens at home with beets, potatoes and cabbage. All vegetables are usually served chopped or mashed with a mash. It is also worth remembering that an overabundance of vegetables leads to digestive disorders - therefore, do not make them the basis for the diet.
It is important to know that during cooking, potatoes release a substance poisonous to birds - solanine. Therefore, the water from the cooking of potatoes should in no case be used either in the mixers or as an additive. Boiled potatoes themselves need to be mashed with the addition of flour and only after this procedure can it be fed to hens.
Daily ration
The “menu” should include greens. The most different are vegetable tops from a garden and crops of grain crops and even ordinary grass. On free-range chickens, they themselves usually eat enough greens themselves; in the absence of free-range it is recommended to collect it yourself, finely chopping large leaves. Also, greens can be prepared for the winter: by bundling bundles in small brooms, dried in the shade or in a well-ventilated room. In winter, such “bouquets” should be hung up in the chicken coop - even when dried, the greens retain their natural properties and trace elements, can support the appearance of birds and their ability to carry eggs better. Also in winter, they can be added to the mixers or dry feed mixtures.
Especially important for hens are vitamins of groups A, D and B, which just can be provided with herbs, coniferous flour, baker's yeast.
In addition to the above greens, it is also good to provide chickens with varieties of food that grow specifically in the wild: these are plant seeds (such as clover, quinoa, horse sorrel), hay and silage made from weeds (alfalfa or nettle), as well as mashed leaves and berries of wild shrubs, as well as trees (acorns, chestnuts, in addition - rowan berries, rose hips, hawthorn).
And the last, but important element in the diet of birds is mineral fertilizing. It is the minerals that are responsible for the strength of the eggshell and the lasting health of chickens. The crushed shells, chalk, pure limestone, bone meal, wood ash, mashed egg shells and salt will become excellent mineral top dressings. All mineral dressings are given in separate feeders in a crushed form. Egg shells and salt can be used as additional ingredients for mishmash.
Maintaining hen productivity in winter
The nature of chickens is such that in the cold seasons they begin to carry fewer eggs - and this depends on many factors, working on which you can maintain productivity. In addition to a balanced diet, birds should be kept in a dry, insulated room (the temperature should not go below 12-18 degrees Celsius). An important role is also played by an artificial increase in daylight due to the lamps arranged in the chicken coop.
Already at the end of autumn, the nutrition of hens should be filled with vitamins and minerals, preparing them for the cold. Great options are sprouted wheat and greenery harvested from summer. In winter, all birds need food four times a day, as well as constantly heated water. The lack of greenery in the cold season can be replaced by fresh needles, hay from legumes and grass flour.
Appointment of vitamin-mineral complexes in chicken feeding
Even with proper planning and balanced nutrition, the problem of the lack of desired productivity may arise. If this problem occurs - most likely, the birds do not get the right amount of minerals and vitamins. A good solution in this situation are vitamin-mineral food supplements. At the moment, there are a huge number of different food additives, which one to choose - you decide.
All of them equally well supplement the nutrition with the necessary substances, improving the productivity and general condition of the birds. However, in this case it is worth considering that the use of such top dressings in the summertime is trite unprofitable, since in the summer all the necessary substances are present in the chicken diet. On the contrary, it will be much more appropriate to diversify and supplement food with complexes in the cold seasons, when birds just do not have enough vitamins and minerals to produce high-quality eggs. Additives can also reduce the loss of the main feed, as additives supplement the birds much more quickly eat up.
Useful Tips
To improve the quality of egg production at home, it is recommended to keep birds with a similar color of feathers in one pen. Such a measure helps birds less to conflict and peck each other. In the summer, fresh greens can be prepared for the future, so that in the winter, hen can be mixed. In order for the eggs to be firmly shelled, calcium or calcium-rich foods must be given.
To prevent the development of infections and diseases in the chicken coop, it is necessary to conduct regular cleaning of the house with the use of disinfectants. During the hygiene of the house, all individuals should be taken outside or in another room so that they do not absorb harmful chemicals, since egg production and egg quality also suffer from this.
