Broiler is a hybrid of domestic animals obtained by crossing different breeds. It is distinguished by its precocity. Broilers are called not only poultry, but also other animals, for example, rabbits.
In this article we will talk about broiler chicken, namely: where to start, how to choose eggs, what and how to feed for periods of growth, how to drink, what vitamins to give, what not to feed, diseases and what to treat. Let's talk about adult broilers: housing conditions, feeding and water, diseases and how to treat.
In general, we go through all the stages of cultivation - from eggs to the sale of the finished product.
Broiler eggs
Choosing eggs for incubation is an important part of the broiler breeding process, because the percentage of chickens leaving depends on how healthy the offspring will be, how often they will get sick or not hurt at all, how quickly they will gain weight, etc. You will remain with a profit or loss, also depend on right choice for laying eggs.
For the selection of eggs, choose a healthy broiler chicken without signs of infectious diseases. It is recommended to leave your choice on a medium sized hen.
The egg must be uniform in color. It is advisable to choose medium-sized, because of the small eggs obtained from the same offspring.
Large have a thin shell. Therefore, the appearance of microscopic cracks through which penetrate into the germ of infection is not excluded. In addition, chickens simply will not grow from many eggs of this size.
Egg weight is also selected, if possible, the same. Then chickens are born with a slight time difference.
Eggs are taken from the nests several times a day. Do not overheat or cool them. It is advisable to store them in a warm, dry room, in which the permissible temperature drops do not exceed 5 degrees.
Laying eggs in an incubator The maximum storage period between the recess from the nest and the laying in the incubator is two or three days. If this period is exceeded, the probability of negative consequences for their healthy development in the future increases.
The correct, competent approach to the process of selecting eggs for their laying in the incubator is the key to a successful result.
The maximum age of the hen from which eggs are taken for the incubator is limited to 2 years.
What and how to feed
Properly feeding broiler chickens, starting from the first day of their life, is very important, because the initial feeding sets the appropriate growth rate and development of this poultry. In addition, the composition of the feed plays a crucial role in the quality of the final product - meat.
Broiler chickens from scratch days
There is a widespread opinion that daily broiler chickens should immediately be given chopped boiled egg, cottage cheese, mixed fodder, which help strengthen the digestive system.
Broiler Chicken However, others caution against such a decision. They argue that this is precisely the reason for the death of the poultry population during the first 2–3 days of their lives. And feeding broiler chickens with a boiled egg at the day of age not only does not strengthen their immunity, but also calls for indigestion of the digestive system, causing mortality in large quantities.
It is not recommended to give any wet food. Useful in such early age give only millet and a small amount of egg powder. Chicks should have free access to feed and water. The size of the cage, box, or other place in which the brood contained, allowed each chicken to eat and drink freely. In water, diluted in very low concentrations of potassium permanganate (manganese).
At the same time it is impossible to allow the change of water color to pink. It is also recommended to separately prepare an aqueous solution of glucose. This will help avoid dyspepsia - a disease of the digestive tract.
The room in which the chickens are located should be well ventilated, but protect them from drafts. Dampness is also detrimental to them, even if the optimum temperature is maintained.
Weekly chicks
Gradually, to teach kids to starter feed can be the fifth day of their life. Simultaneously, they are fed with a prominent solution of vitamins. Until this age, it is not recommended to give them antibiotics.
Useful in the beak of every chicken to drop "Trivitamin" - a drug for the treatment and prevention of vitamin deficiency. In the water, add "Baytril", designed to prevent infections at the rate of 1 gram per 2 liters of water.
7 day old chicks From a week old, chickens are taught to eat cottage cheese. Diet varied crushed boiled egg. Food can be slightly moistened with whey. The approximate daily rate of consumption in this period reaches 15 - 20 grams. The temperature in the room is 30 - 32 degrees.
Important! Ensure that chicks do not get dirty and wet during meals. Otherwise it is fraught with their case. In the places of their content should be dry with desired temperature and humidity.
Chickens from 10 to 20 days
To avoid one of the most common diseases of poultry - coccidosis, which leads to disruption of digestion and dehydration of the body, at two weeks of age, the drug “Baikoks” is added to the water at the rate of 1 gram per 2 liters of water.
During this period, they eat food up to 30 grams per day. So that the kids have a good gain, from the first days take care of the increased light day. The ambient temperature is kept at a level not lower than 28 degrees. If the young at this age overcool, it can become ill with bronchopneumonia, which occurs just as a result of hypothermia.
Two weeks young In the feed, you can add the return, yogurt, buttermilk. After a 15-day feeding, protein food of plant origin is mixed into the food. The proportion of green can be gradually increased. Now it should be up to 10% of the total mass of feed.
Mix crushed eggshells, fodder yeast, grated carrots in small quantities. In no case should sand be given to chickens. Do not forget to make a very weak solution of potassium permanganate.
From 10 days for three or four days, broilers may begin to die. Therefore, during this period, we take away poultry with antibiotics. Add a few drops of iodine. After a short break, vitamins are given, vitamin D from rickets is especially important during this period.
Lack of vitamins leads to hypovitaminosis A, D, E, B. Chickens are given only high-quality food. If you buy it ready-to-pack, keep track of shelf life.
How to raise monthly chicks
After 22-25 days, they transfer from feeding with starter feed (croup) on growth (in granules). The composition of feed for broiler should include mineral content, protein (fish meal), cereals (corn), amino acids and vitamins. Green mass can also continue to add.
To save we advise not to buy expensive growth feed, but to make its composition by yourself: crushed wheat, oats, corn, barley, peas. All components are mixed in equal proportions. It is advisable to add fish oil, whey, meat and bone meal to the feed. Add (but not mix) the leaves of cabbage, lettuce, green onions.
Feeding Monthly Chicks By 35 days of life, you can gradually increase the volume of corn to 40% of the total, and reduce wheat, oats and barley. Meal or cake is about 15%. The percentage of green mass can be reduced.
Under normal conditions and high-quality feeding, monthly chicks weigh about 800 grams.
We exclude from the diet all types of bread, boiled potatoes (if it is not mixed with other components), all stitched products, especially if there is a smell. We remind you to refrain from pouring sand. We make sure that the water of the chickens is constantly clean, fresh, slightly warm. It is useful to use distilled water.
The temperature of the environment is lowered to 23 - 25 degrees. The duration of lighting is reduced to 14-16 hours per day.
To avoid aspergillosis at this age, it is necessary to ventilate the room well, to avoid dampness. For the purpose of prophylaxis, add a little iodine-containing preparations to feed and water.
All new feeds are given first in small quantities so that chickens can get used to it. Otherwise, they may have indigestion, which will lead to death.
Chickens 45-50 days
After 40 days of life, the youngsters are given not crushed, but whole grains. A purchased finishing feed containing the main nutrients is also used. But if you want to have tasty meat, you can refuse to purchase it.
Already whole, not crushed grain is poured into the feeders. Vitamins, fodder yeast, chalk should also be present in the feed. Upon reaching the age of 45 days, exclude any medication. Cooking porridge, which includes boiled small fish, corn, wheat, peas, greens, gives a good effect.
Two month broilers All this is stirred and allowed to infuse. In the porridge, the percentage of corn is increased to half of the total mass.
If you did not save on feed and gave full diet, their weight at this age should be more than one kilogram. The breed also has a great influence on this indicator.
If the weight of a unit of young stock of one breed reaches 1, 2 - 1.3 kg, then the weight of an adult chicken of this age can be 1.6 - 1.8 kg. other things being equal.
We continue to use clean distilled water. The ambient temperature is gradually lowered to 21 - 23 degrees. The duration of daily illumination is reduced to 12-14 hours.
The area in which the young are kept should be sufficient so that everyone can freely approach the feeder or the trough. However, walking should not be spacious, otherwise the broiler loses weight due to excessive activity.
Adult broiler breeding at home
Keeping broilers for fattening for longer than two months does not have economic feasibility, because with age the bird gains weight more slowly and consumes more feed. In addition, broiler meat older than 70-75 days less tasty than two months.
Cellular upkeep and home care
If you want to grow up to 10 heads of chicken broilers at home, their cellular content will suit you. Depending on the size of the cage, they contain 3-5 heads (then the cage dimensions are made from such a calculation in order to limit the free movement of the bird to the required - to approach the feeding trough and the drinking bowl), or up to 10 heads (the cage sizes increase, and breeding remain the same).
Keeping birds in a cage When growing livestock more than 10 units need to do or extra cells (since one cell, when it contains more than a dozen heads, is very cumbersome and inconvenient to move, loses mobility), or think about the content in the pen.
Let's say it is cost effective for you to breed livestock in cages. Then for dry food (feed, grain), it is advisable to choose feed type gutter, which is placed outside the cells along the whole tier. The drinking trough also build a solid, for example, from PVC sewer pipe.
The front side of the feeder can be made of metal rods of the combined type. This is convenient in that at first chickens can be contained in such a cage.
Steel rods on the walls are located among themselves quite often, so that the brood does not run out of the cage or fall out of it (if the cage is in the second or third tier).
The field of how the youngsters grow up is planted in different cells, removing the rods from the walls through one. Thus, we provide free access for an adult broiler to feed.
Broiler cage Conditions of detention adult bird several broilers:
- so that the area of content made it possible eat unhindered each individual, that is, it is not too small, but not too large (the reasons given above);
- permanent availability of high quality fresh food in feeders. In addition, separate porridge feeders can, and should be, if used;
- constant availability of fresh (better than separated) warm water in drinking bowls, but not higher than 22-25 degrees;
- enough hours light day (12-14 hours). If less - give additional lighting;
- humidity air 68-72%;
- no dampnessespecially in the cells;
- no drafts must not be;
- ambient temperature - within 20-21 degrees (if it is lower, the broiler activity decreases, the intensity of eating the food decreases, the mass build-up slows down; if it is higher, the bird gets hot, the result is the same);
- mandatory availability ventilationbecause otherwise intensive accumulation of nitrogen adversely affects the vital activity of the bird. The case is described when the owner, in order to save on heating, placed hundreds of broilers in the greenhouse, where the greens were grown in a small improvised pen. Despite the fact that the greenhouse had access to fresh air from time to time, after a few days the green began to fade due to the increased nitrogen content in the air, although this was not felt. After the paddock was fenced off with a film, the concentration of nitrogen in the environment in the pen reached such a level that the hens began to behave sluggishly, ate reluctantly, and gained weight slowly.
- cells inside must be clean. To do this, you can make the floor of a galvanized welded mesh fine-mesh, and clean the floor tray, based on the amount of litter accumulated in it;
- if growing broilers at home is “put” on stream, then it is necessary to periodically cell disinfection (after the slaughter of the previous batch, but before growing the second).
Disadvantages of keeping birds in cages:
- requires cash investments more than with a driven way of growing.
Advantages:
- more convenient in service;
- more compact (saves used space).
How to maintain and grow a broiler in the pen
This way of keeping broiler chickens and indocores from zero days does not differ from the previous one. The main differences are as follows:
- cost effective in terms of construction. In fact, in order to raise birds in a pen, you need floor and walls. If you are going to grow a bird in a shed, then part of the shed is fenced off by folding sections of welded cellular wire, put troughs and troughs - and the pen is ready;
- designed for content at least 10 goals birds;
Chicken on the paddock in the pen Disadvantages:
- requires increased care and attention to eliminating dampness and increased humidity, you need to frequently change the litter broilers, to keep the floor dry;
- on the area occupies more space per one unit of livestock.
Advantages:
- less material costs, compared to the first method.
Requirements for ambient temperature, humidity, absence of drafts, dampness and other conditions are maintained.
Proper feeding. Where to begin
As mentioned above, it does not make sense to fatten broilers for more than two months. This is justified by the following:
- after two months fattening bird gains weight more slowly;
- consumption feed increases;
- broiler meat over 2.5 months tougherless tasty.
Feeding adult broilers (in our case - in the recommended age range from 60 to 75 days) is that they only need to give quality feed with the following diet:
We feed adult broilers with whole grains or purchased finishing feed. To make the meat tastier, we advise you to abandon the purchased feed in general. It will save you money and improve product quality.
But worries will increase, in order to raise chickens you will need to buy separately wheat grain, barley, maize, peas, etc., and mix it all in proportion. Do not forget to give greens, add fish meal.
If you are not too lazy, then cook for your poultry porridge from the above ingredients with the addition of cooked small fish. If there is no fish, add fish oil. The main share should be corn (up to 50%).
Some when growing poultry go after two months of fattening exclusively to corn and greens (5 - 10 days before slaughter). Under normal complex feeding, expect that your broilers will weigh at least two kilograms by 70-75 days of fattening.
Broiler feed Attention! We do not give broilers:
- boiled potatoes (if it is not mixed with other components);
- all varieties of bread;
- everything overdue products;
- sand;
- medication (if possible);
- simultaneously several new products food in large quantities;
- other components, if we see that they cause negative reaction in the bird.
What to water
Follow the same rules as for the rearing. Water should be:
- cleanpreferably desiccated;
- moderately warm (in the region of 20 - 21 degrees);
- in drinking bowls providing unhindered access birds (depending on the number of livestock);
- can be diluted in very low concentration potassium permanganate (manganese). At the same time it is impossible to allow the change of water color to pink.
Diseases of broiler chickens
Broiler chickens can suffer from quite a few diseases. Some of them:
If you do everything right, the result will not take long.
Recommendation for beginners: nothing is better personal experience . Therefore, in the initial stages of development of your business, you can use the information and recommendations of others. But if in practice you achieve the best results due to your workings out - it’s a sin not to use it.
Growing broilers at home is a fairly profitable business that does not require particularly large investments. The meat of such birds is dietary, tastes great, so there is always a demand for it. But there are some peculiarities in breeding chickens in meat. Read in our article. useful tipsand also watch photos and videos that will help you to care for broilers from the first days of life and successfully breed them.
Features of broiler breeding
Breeding broiler chickens is not an easy task. To grow them, it will take a lot of attention, because the chickens do not tolerate low temperature and pollution of the coop. In addition, if you want to quickly get large broilers, then they need to provide a special diet and care.
Buying Chicks
Broiler breeding usually begins with the purchase of chicks. In the future, you can decide for yourself how it is more convenient for you to get chickens: constantly buy young stock or raise chickens in an incubator. When you first buy is not recommended to take daily broilers. It is very difficult to transport them correctly, and after moving they will require very specific conditions during the first few days. For novice farmers, compliance with all conditions can become a very difficult task, so it’s best to choose chicks whose age is at least 10 days.
When buying carefully inspect the little chickens. All chicks must be healthy and active. If you do not know how little healthy chickens should behave, then watch the video with them. Even 10-day-old chicks should be transported very carefully. Put them in cardboard box with cutouts on the sides. If possible, try to avoid jolting and noise during transportation, and also minimize its duration.
Rearing chicks
As already mentioned, broiler chickens are very sensitive and require special conditions. In the first days of their content will require a lot of your attention, especially if you still decide to take a day-old chicks. In addition, you need a very responsible approach to feeding, because the little broilers have a strong appetite and are actively growing from the first days.
The first week of the kids must be kept in a small box, in the center of which you need to install a heater. Maintain a temperature of 30 degrees, because in vivo the hen constantly warms chicks. You can look at an example device of a similar box on a photo and video in a network.
In the early days chicks can be given crumbled boiled eggs, ground corn or wheat groats, as well as millet. In addition, the growing body will need a lot of vitamins that can be provided with finely chopped greens. From the second week, the treatment remains the same, but it is recommended to lower the temperature by 3-4 degrees.
Starting at ten days of age, dry purchased feeds and wet mashes of steamed crushed grain and bone meal can be given to chicks. Do not add meat and fish to food. Make sure that they constantly have water and change it regularly. In the third week it is necessary to set the temperature within 22-24 degrees, and by the month of age it is necessary to gradually reduce the temperature to 20 degrees.
Do not forget to increase the space available for chicks in a timely manner. By the fourth week, they are significantly increasing in size and will require a lot of space. During this period, it is recommended to remove bright lighting in the place where they are being held and install lamps only near containers with food and water. This will allow chicks to rest in dark places and quickly recuperate.
Monthly chickens are not much different from adult chickens, so you can start feeding them whole grains. Part of the grain is recommended to germinate. So you will provide the broilers with essential vitamins. In addition, meat and fish can be added to the diet of chickens, but you should not give too much of such food.
Content Features
Adult broilers also require special care. Their breeding will require you a lot of time, but all efforts will be justified by a good income. First of all, it is worth noting that they are very sensitive to various contaminants. You need to constantly maintain a clean place, because they can quickly pick up infectious diseases.
To clean the chicken coop conveniently and quickly, spread an oilcloth on the floor. So you can quickly clean the litter in the form of sawdust or other material.
Choosing a place
Unlike laying hens, broilers can be bred in a small area. They feel good in small chicken houses. In addition, if they are too often released in the yard, they will slowly gain weight. If you want the birds to graze on the grass, put them in the aviary.
Experienced farmers advise to breed chickens. So you can control their condition well, and feeding will become much more convenient. As practice shows, the content in the cages allows the birds to grow very quickly. By the age of two months the average can be 1.5 kg.
Diet and feeding rules
Birds at the age of 2-3 months should be fed 2 times a day. The basis of the diet is wheat and other cereals. But do not forget that broilers at home continue to grow rapidly and they need vitamins and minerals. At home, they can get them from fresh grated vegetables and greens. Unlike egg-bearing breeds, broilers are not very useful meat or fish, but you can still sometimes give them fresh table waste.
In winter, it is recommended to give germinated grains to birds, which can satisfy the need for vitamins. You can also give ready-made feed, which will provide the broilers with all the necessary vitamins. Proper dilution will help reach a weight of 3 kg already in the 2nd month.
Video "Care for broilers"
Watch this video to learn how to care for little broilers from the first days of their lives and how to breed these birds.
People associate broilers with chickens of American origin, which can be found on the shelves of almost every grocery store. And this is true, the first breeds came to us from America.
It should be noted that, unlike ordinary breeds of chickens, broilers are meat breed, which grows for a short time, and the meat after slaughter turns out to be tender and tasty in a dish.
The broiler is chicken average weight which reaches up to 2 kg at 50 days of age, while the mass of traditional chickens reaches only the mark of 700 grams.
Such advantages inherent in this breed contributed to the fact that in relation to them there was an interest not only among experienced farmers, but also among ordinary summer residents. It is popular broiler breeding as a business.
To start breeding, first of all you need to correctly draw up a business plan, calculate the basic costs of purchasing feed, feeders, drinkers and the cost of electricity and the construction of a chicken coop.
Regardless of the costs, the sale of poultry meat can be profitable, only with proper planning.
To start growing broiler chickens at home, you first need to buy a broiler hatching egg, obtained only from breeding stock. Eggs of this type are highly valued by all specialists involved in the poultry industry.
Since thanks to the interbreeding of rooster beef and chicken, egg and meat breedAs a result, it is possible to get perfect chick offspring, which will achieve the required weight in a short time.
Therefore, the question: " Where to buy broiler chickens hatching eggs? ”, You can answer with confidence:
"Only from farms", where there is an opportunity to purchase truly genuine and healthy broilers.
This is explained by the fact that on farms the rules are strictly observed:
- Proper feeding of poultry feed
- Necessary conditions for keeping birds (lighting, temperature, humidity in the hen house).
In addition, farmers take into account other factors that affect growth from the point of view of the financial side.
Broiler hatching eggs cannot be obtained independently at home, because well-established production is typical only for professional poultry farmers. Here the parent flock allows you to get as many eggs for the hatchery as needed.
Also on poultry farms or private farms, as a rule, several families are kept so that the production of hatching eggs is continuous.
Naturally, it is possible to achieve the successful growth of broilers at home, but it is important to follow some simple rules that will not only help to grow a certain number of chickens, but also contribute to ensuring that all offspring are healthy enough.
Breeding chicks can be, both in cages and on litter. Those who decide to grow broiler chickens are advised to regularly monitor the temperature in the room.
- Indicators of temperature background vary with the growth of chicks. If in the first days it is customary to maintain the temperature in the range of 26-28 degrees, then with each new week it is necessary to lower the figures by 2-3 degrees.
- It is very important to establish good ventilation and ensure that there are no drafts in the hen house. Bright light is recommended to be installed only in places where food is eaten, in the rest of the territory it will be sufficient to install non-bright lighting.
- In addition to the artificial source of light, for the curia it is important to receive sunlight. To do this, next to the chicken coop, you can install a canopy and tighten it with a grid that prevents the penetration of rodents.
- As for the floor, the best option for bedding would be ordinary straw or sawdust that needs to be changed regularly. It is important to keep the hen house clean, then chicks will be less likely to become infected with any disease.
If you chose the outdoor way of growing broilers in a special warm hen house, then broiler content in winter. For chickens you need to select a small pen and be sure to monitor the temperature in the room, as well as to control the ventilation processes.
Small chicks generally do not require a lot of space. Therefore, they are often placed in special boxes - brooders or prepared cells covered with litter. Older individuals are placed in a fenced area.
Homemade feed for broilers is a necessary food for growing offspring. Regardless of age, chickens should eat food that is rich in fiber, proteins and gives a lot of energy.
Most often at home such food can be a boiled egg. After 5 days it is allowed to include in the diet of chicks. starter feed, and after 30 days - finish. 
The question arises: "So what's the difference between these types of feed?".
It all depends on the composition of the feed, namely:
- Prelaunch feed includes barley, wheat, maize, skimmed milk and sunflower cake.
- Starter feed, characterized by the fact that it consists of corn, fodder yeast, wheat, sunflower meal, calcium, fish and grass meal, skimmed milk powder, feed fat.
- Compound feed has a composition that includes corn, sunflower oilcake, herbal and fish meal, wheat, fodder fat, barley.
Consumption of feed for broilers is determined based on 1 kg of chicken weight 1.8 kg of feed. But this calculation is correct under the condition of fattening for 5-6 weeks.
After 30 days it is allowed to add household waste to the feed, which can be dry bread, potato peelings, boiled vegetables, eggshell.
As soon as the necessary weight of the broiler has been reached, and this happens on the 50-60 day, further feeding does not carry the need.
As mentioned earlier, the content of broilers can be cellular and outdoor. The cellular housing of broiler chickens is possible, both at large poultry farms and on small subsidiary farms on its territory.
This method of breeding chicks has its undeniable advantages, namely:
- Save space in the hen house. By choosing this broiler breeding method, it is possible to arrange the cells in 2 tiers.
- Savings on litter. The litter in the cells is not required, so you can not only save a lot on its purchase, but also simplify the process of disinfecting the chicken coop.
Basically, the cages are designed to plant up to 10 day old chickens in them, but other equipment can also be found, which can be a system of cages interconnected in a single unit.
An important point that must be taken into account by those who have chosen the cellular content of broilers, is to maintain a certain microclimate (temperature and humidity) on all tiers of the cellular battery.
VIDEO ON THEME
Thus, it can be said that growing broilers at home is a matter of responsibility and not simple, as it may seem at first glance. Only by observing certain conditions for the breeding of chickens, you can grow healthy broilers with the desired mass.
- cleaning, disinfecting and drying the house;
- the floor is covered with a layer of hydrated lime at the rate of 0.5–1.0 kg per square meter;
- over sawdust poured a layer of up to 10 cm;
- create conditions for maintaining air humidity of 60–65%;
- provide continuous ventilation of the room;
- maintain an air temperature of 26 ° C;
- provide round-the-clock lighting for day-old chicks.
With this method of growing broiler chickens, per square meter should be no more than 12–18 birds.
As long as the broilers are small, and their own thermoregulation is imperfect, they need an increased air temperature of around 26–33 ° C. After 20 days, the air in the house can be cooled to 18–19 ° C. It is important to ensure that the bird is comfortable, otherwise it is too cold, and excessively warm air adversely affects the growth and well-being of the chicks. Neglecting the rules of poultry housing threatens to get acquainted with the symptoms of diseases of broiler chickens and the treatment of poorly growing herds.
Growing up in cages, especially a multi-layered structure, allows you to significantly save the area of the house, simplify its hygienic processing and control the feeding of the chicks. In this case, the temperature and humidity conditions, as well as the average daily feed intake rates are similar to the content on the litter.
The cultivation, care and feeding of broiler chickens are greatly influenced by cell or poultry lighting. In the daytime the bird actively eats and moves. The darker the room, the more sluggish the growth of chicks.
Therefore, within 14 days from the moment of birth, the chicks are organized around the clock coverage, and then gradually switch to the natural mode.
Feeding broiler chickens at home
However, it is not enough to create suitable conditions for the chickens and provide them with the proper amount of feed. For the early receipt of a large, well-fed bird, it is important to choose a balanced, age-oriented diet.
How to feed broiler chickens? This question is the most relevant for all novice and experienced poultry farmers who have not previously encountered the rearing of such a bird. Homesteads often practice the use of wet and dry self-made fodder.
The first weeks of the chicks staying at the farmstead are fed with wet mash on the basis of boiled eggs, millet, crushed oats and wheat, which make up a little more than half of the total feed volume consumed. From 3 weeks of age, boiled is introduced into the menu, replacing them with no more than one fifth of the grain.
We should not forget about protein feed, which lay the active growth of muscle and bone mass. To this end, the bird is given cottage cheese, yogurt, converse and other dairy products. The source of animal protein from 10 days of age becomes fish and meat and bone meal. These products should be given first at 5–7 grams per day per head, and then double the consumption.
Feeding broiler chickens at home involves the use of protein-rich vegetable products, including cake from sunflower seeds, all sorts of meal, crushed seeds of legumes.
From three days of age, green broiler chickens are needed. In spring and summer it is a juicy grass, tops of garden crops, crushed by 3-5 grams per chicken. In the cold period, when there is not enough fresh greens, grass meal of no more than 2–5 grams and sprouts of barley or other cereals are introduced into the diet.
A surplus of grass meal in feed can cause diarrhea in broiler chickens, the treatment of which involves the mandatory correction of the menu, the use of antibiotics and other drugs.
To prevent digestive problems, broilers are given:
- every other day as a drink a pink solution of potassium permanganate;
- small gravel with a diameter of not more than 5 mm, which activates the work of the intestine and improves the digestion of grain and other feed for broiler chickens.
From 5 days the bird is given a crushed shell, but not sand, and chalk at the rate of 2-3 grams per chick. Mineral feed and gravel are not mixed with other components of the diet and poured into separate containers, which are always in the house.
Clean water at room temperature in the house should be constantly. To exclude the development of pathogenic flora and the development of intestinal and other infections, the dishes are regularly washed and disinfected.
For better growth and as a preventive measure, with the first symptoms and the treatment of broiler chickens, young chickens are given vitamin supplements. From the fifth day on the menu, they use the oil solutions of vitamins A, D, and E, avoiding an overdose of the drugs used.
How many times a day and how to feed broiler chickens at home? A lifelong bird should not suffer from food shortages. The first 7 days of chickens should receive food at least 8 times a day, then the bird is fed every four hours. In the third week, the number of meals is brought to four, and from one month of age, broilers are fed in the morning and evening.
Everything wet food for broiler chickens are cooked so that the bird eats them for 30–40 minutes.
If the masks are kept warm longer, it is possible:
- sour products;
- insect insect eggs;
- development of pathogenic microflora.
All these factors most often cause broiler chickens to cause diarrhea, the treatment of which weakens livestock and reduces growth rates.
Use of feed for broiler chickens
In order to intensify weight gain, today ready-made and self-made compound feeds are used that fully meet the physiological needs of the bird. Such a diet gives especially good results in the first four weeks. 
Ready-made feed for broiler chickens vary in particle size and composition. Most often resort to a three-stage system of feed, which is designed for all ages of chickens from birth to slaughter.
Although such mixtures are more expensive than homemade mixers, they significantly improve the performance of growing stock, simplify the care of broiler chickens, their growing and feeding, as well as the control of food consumption.
At the initial stage the compound feed helps to strengthen the immune system, create all the prerequisites for good health and fast growth birds. To this end, the amount of mineral additives in the diet increases, the diet is built on easily arranged components.
During active growth, compound feed for broiler chickens is a source of protein, calcium, vitamins and fats that provide rapid growth of the backbone and increase in muscle mass. Before slaughter, use finishing mixtures to increase fatness.
Growing broiler chickens in cages - video
Broilers are meat breeds of chickens. Their characteristic feature is a large body structure and rapid growth. So, with proper feeding, at 50 days of age, the weight of the carcass of such a bird will be from one and a half to two kilograms. And if you take an ordinary chicken, then at the same age the weight of her carcass will be no more than 700 grams. As you can see, the difference is quite big.
Broiler breeding is quite an attractive and profitable business. But is it worth doing at home? Frankly, why not do it ?! Many have already tried and none of them complains.
So let's understand all the intricacies home breeding chickens, and also, is it possible to turn this into a profitable business? To do this, we need to know which meat chickens are the easiest to breed, how to feed them and how to keep them? We will try to give detailed answers to each of these questions, or at least we will advise where to find them. And besides, you can learn more about growing chickens in the below video.
Conditions of detention
Broilers are much more demanding than ordinary chicken. For their good and fast growth, we need a proper and high-calorie diet and suitable conditions of detention. Let's talk about the diet a little later, and now a few words about the main features of growing. So let's get started:
- When keeping day-old chicks, you need to remember, in the room where they are located, there should be about 30 degrees Celsius. Then, the first two weeks they need constant coverage. This is due to the fact that chickens during this period grow rapidly and gain weight. Therefore, they constantly eat and move, and in the dark they cannot do this.
- After two weeks, the indoor temperature is gradually reduced to 20 degrees Celsius. Also, every day they begin to make alternation of day and night. The period of such alternation is every two hours.
- Broilers should be kept in a clean and well-ventilated area. The best option would be the cellular content. But you can keep them in the shed on the floor, as long as the temperature in the room is the one you need.
- Cellular cultivation is optimal for broilers, because they are not afraid of crowding. On 1 sq. M. can accommodate up to 18 chicks and up to 9-10 adults. Also when in cells need good ventilation.
- In case of floor keeping for birds, they enclose a place. Make a soft bed of chopped straw or hay, which should always be kept clean. As the broilers grow, they simply increase the paddock. According to reviews of experienced poultry farmers on 6 sq. M. You can easily accommodate 50 heads of adult birds. With this content, it is recommended to breed chickens only during the warm period of the year.
- Sometimes with the floor view of the content of broilers bred in the winter. It would be nice if you have a small greenhouse. Then in winter the hens can be fenced off a small paddock. Due to the greenhouse conditions to monitor the temperature is not difficult. Again, the main thing is not to forget about good ventilation.
- Maintaining constant cleanliness plays a very important role, because broilers lead a sedentary lifestyle. If you do not follow the cleanliness, the bird quickly falls ill and may even die.
Feeding
The first important factor, about which it is undesirable to forget, is that feed in meat chickens should always be. Also, they should always have easy access to it. After all, for rapid growth they need constant nutrition and warmth. If the second condition has already been mentioned above, now let's talk about nutrition. It must be as balanced and nutritious as possible, because only then can we achieve good results in a short period of time.
From the first days you can feed like other chickens. Their ration will consist of boiled eggs, millet, crushed wheat groats, etc. From the third day greens are added to their ration, which is added to the mash in the ground form. Also at this age it is possible to feed the chickens with a weak solution of potassium permanganate. Then grass meal from 3 g to 5 g per 1 bird is also added to the feed.
At the age of five days, be sure to feed the chickens with trivitamins. Next, the composition of the mash gradually mixed with chalk, shells and bone meal. These are indispensable sources of minerals for poultry. But it’s worth remembering that it’s absolutely impossible to mix simple sand into feed. Mandatory components of the mash must be crushed grains of oats, barley, and corn.
You can also mix in food with food waste from the kitchen. Whole grains give the bird from one month. Another very useful would be if you add baker's yeast to the mash. Before that, they need to be diluted in a small amount of warm water. should always be in excess, but also it should not stagnate and rot.
What if we tried to raise broilers at home and decided to start our own small business? Then first of all we need a good business plan. Then determine the number of birds that we will keep. And based on this, you need to choose the most profitable diet.
For a profitable business plan, an excellent option would be to use ready-made factory feed for broilers. There are several types of them. For the chickens, “Starter” is good, and then “Feeding”. All these ready-made feeds already contain the necessary proteins, vitamins and minerals, so you do not need to add anything to them. Broilers grow on them like yeast.
For business
Already experienced businessmen recommend feeding broilers from the very beginning with factory feed for meat breeds birds. It is thanks to them that one can begin slaughtering chickens at 40-45 days of their life, and also, thanks to them, the loss of poultry will be reduced to a minimum. A forty-day-old bird carcass will be about 2-2.5 kg, which corresponds to the most frequent market demand. Also, the slaughter must be completed before the age of 55 days of poultry, because it is unprofitable to keep such a chicken longer.
The live weight of a broiler at the age of 50 days will be about 4 kg. It should also be remembered that after 50 days of age, meat at times loses its dietary quality. Still for economy from 21-25 days of a life of broilers recommend to transfer to corn. The meat of such a bird will not be pale pink, but with a rich yellowish tint. It is this color carcasses most in demand on the market.
As you can see, it is possible to maintain and grow such chickens at home, but for this you need to follow some rules on keeping and feeding the birds. Also, such an occupation can easily grow into a fairly profitable business. Which can easily be practiced in warm seasons, and when creating the right conditions - all year round. Still, in the end, we can say that various factory broiler crosses are best suited for home businesses.
Loading...