What is the best way to feed laying hens. Is it possible to give potatoes and raw cabbage?

The high egg production of chickens at home depends on many factors. This can include the breed and age of the bird, its state of health, living conditions, and even the time of year. However, one of the most important conditions for good productivity is proper nutrition. How to feed chickens so they lay a lot of eggs all year round? We invite you to find out the answer to this question.

In order for chickens to lay eggs well all year round, it is important not only to feed them correctly and fully, but also to follow a number of rules. We will not focus on the conditions of keeping the poultry, as we will talk about this in our other thematic articles. However, we note that even a properly composed diet and a balanced menu will not give good productivity if you do not follow the feeding regime and norms. An important factor in this is compliance daylight hours, necessary hygiene in the poultry house and the availability of free-range chickens. Let's look at the basic rules of feeding at home in more detail.

Feeding mode

Perhaps nothing affects the number of eggs more than feeding at different intervals. If your chickens are not accustomed to eating time, then they will continually walk around the gate or feeder, waiting for the next handout.

Birds very quickly get used to the right time, so they will come to the feeder exactly on schedule.

It is best to feed adult chickens twice a day when free-range and three times a day if the birds are in a confined enclosure. In this case, the second lunch meal should consist of root vegetables, vegetables and herbs in any form. It is advisable to feed young laying hens 4 times a day. In the morning it is good to make wet mash, feed ground grain or mixed feed. In the evening, about an hour before perching, the bird should be sprinkled with whole grain.

The first intake of food should be done as early as possible. Ideally, at sunrise. This is due to the natural biorhythms of the bird, as they rise with the sunrise. In winter, accordingly, this time shifts slightly, but still it should be no later than 7-8 o’clock in the morning (with an additional light source).

Feeding standards

Systematic underfeeding or overfeeding of birds is another reason for a decrease in the number of eggs and irregular productivity. How to understand how much food laying hens need? The norm is determined taking into account the breed, weight and desired egg production. For example, if a laying hen weighs about 1.8 kg and produces about 200 eggs per year, then she should not be fed more than 125 grams of feed. For every subsequent 250 grams of chicken weight, about 10 grams of feed is added.

However, it is worth remembering that just a thoughtless increase in food leads to obesity, and not to an increase in eggs. It is important to increase nutritious feed, especially in winter and during the molting period. But for chicken breeds that are prone to obesity, for example, Cuchinese, Rhode Island, Plymouth Rock, New Hampshire, it is useful to do fasting days. On these days, the morning and evening feed is replaced with water and greens, and in the afternoon they are given half the usual portion of wet mash.

Making the right menu

Types of grain for laying hens:

• wheat is a very rich grain that contains a lot of protein, vitamins B and E. It can be used up to 60% of total mass cereals;
• oats – contains large number fiber and high percentage of fat. Therefore, including it in the diet of chickens reduces the manifestations of cannibalism and feather pulling. It is most beneficial to pre-steam or sprout oats;
• barley is a nutritious carbohydrate feed, but due to its small percentage of protein it should not exceed more than 40% of the total number cereals. In winter, it is best to feed sprouted barley;
• Corn is a valuable and easily eaten nutritious grain for laying hens. However, it is advisable to crush it and give it in small quantities. May cause obesity;
• rye is rich in proteins, but it is also not recommended to give it a lot and constantly. It is best to replace pure rye with triticale, a hybrid of rye and wheat.

Since grain itself is poor in vitamins and minerals, it should not occupy the entire diet. For greater usefulness, it is recommended to germinate part of it. How this can be done at home, watch the video (Valentina Prokudina).

Vegetables and root vegetables

In the warm season, it is very good to feed chickens with garden crops. It is useful for laying hens to include potatoes (boiled), beets, cabbage, and carrots in their diet. All vegetables and root vegetables are given in crushed form, for example, in a mash with cake or bran. The cabbage can be boiled or hung entirely on a hook for pecking. But do not forget that an excess of vegetables can lead to frustration.

Green

All chickens, especially laying hens, need greens. This includes tops of garden crops, ordinary grass, and grain crops. Birds can provide themselves with green food while free-range. Otherwise, they need to collect it themselves, finely chopping large leaves. It is especially useful to give beet tops, nettles, dandelions, and alfalfa.

You can also prepare dried herbs for the winter. It perfectly retains its qualities and vitamins. It is necessary to dry twigs and herbs in the shade in the form of brooms. In winter they can be hung in the chicken coop. Such preparations will help maintain good poultry productivity and improve its appearance.

Mineral supplements

Egg production requires a lot of minerals from the body of laying hens, especially calcium, phosphorus and potassium. That is why it is necessary to include a lot of additional food in the diet of chickens. mineral springs. These include shell, chalk, limestone, egg shells, bone meal and salt. All minerals should be given in a separate feeder in crushed form. Shells and salt can be mixed into regular mash.

Many new poultry keepers feed their chickens gravel and small pebbles, but it is important to remember that this is not a mineral feed. Pebbles help grind food and improve its passage through the esophagus. This is especially necessary if whole oats are present in the birds’ diet.

Ensuring egg production in winter

The opinion that chickens lay eggs at home only in the summer is not entirely correct. Yes, laying hens slightly reduce egg production during the winter. But if you feed the bird correctly, even in winter you can achieve good results. Of course, besides good nutrition the bird should be kept in a warm, dry room (temperature not lower than 10 degrees). It is also very important to artificially (using lamps) lengthen daylight hours to 14-15 hours.

In the fall, as a rule, laying hens molt, so from the end of October they must be given a lot of vitamins and minerals. A good option would be sprouted wheat, dry brooms of herbs, and table scraps. In winter, you need to feed the bird 4 times a day and give warm (heated) water. But you don’t need to make wet mash often. Grass meal, legume hay (alfalfa), and fresh pine needles will also help make up for the lack of greens in the cold season.

Do I need additional vitamin and mineral supplements?

This question arises for many poultry farmers. A situation that often occurs is that chickens eat well, but there are still few eggs. What to do? If there are no reasons for a decrease in egg production, then you should think about additional sources of vitamins and minerals. Why?

Everything can easily be explained by the fact that we don’t always get high-quality grain, good feed and the birds don’t get enough necessary substances. In this case, you can resort to purchasing complexes specifically for laying hens. For example, the dietary supplement “Ryabushka” is very popular. Such complexes help maintain the necessary egg production.

Choosing the right diet for laying hens at home

How to feed laying hens correctly

As you know, chicken is an unpretentious bird and there is no need to select a special diet for it. But is this true? We should adhere to this rule only when we do not expect anything from our chickens. But if you still need to not only enjoy these creatures, but also have a good harvest of eggs, then you need to feed them properly. Read on for a few small recommendations on how to do this.

Feeding laying hens correctly

This feeding scheme is well suited for people who have a small area and very little space for birds to walk. In such conditions, feeding occurs three times a day, namely in the morning, afternoon and evening. In the morning, laying hens need soft food. Wheat cuts mixed with eggshells and table waste are well suited for its preparation. You can replace waste with chopped beets, carrots or cabbage leaves.

Good for lunch small quantity rice or buckwheat. You can also feed lentils, sunflower, hemp or flaxseed. In the evening, laying hens will not refuse barley or oats. Such a diet will be optimally rich in all necessary substances.

If you decide to develop a diet for laying hens from chicks to adult chickens, then I recommend following the following tips. So, first you need to conditionally divide the period of a laying hen’s life into 3 categories.

From birth to 27 weeks of life

The first is the period from the first day of a chicken’s life until the 27th week. During this period, it is enough to give the chicken the right amount of grain and flour. To ensure that the chickens are always full, you should adhere to the norm from the table below.

Feeding table for chickens from 9 to 20 weeks

27-48 weeks – period of optimal egg production

This period is characterized by the fact that the hen has already gained the required weight and begins to lay eggs. For optimal egg production, you should adhere to a certain diet. During this period, the hen not only lays eggs optimally, but also exhibits maximum activity. In order for her to have enough energy for everything, she needs to be put on a high-calorie diet.

You can feed them with hand-cooked food or purchased dry food. Among dry feeds for laying hens, #171 Multigain #187 is best. The norm of which is no more than 120 g per 1 individual. To prepare feed manually, it is better to use the table below.

Optimal daily diet for laying hens

This table shows the ideal diet for 1 chicken per day. It is worth remembering that most owners do not adhere to any diet at all and throw whatever they can get their hands on the chickens. This absolutely cannot be done. The hen must get used to the new diet. This adaptation takes about two weeks.

If you decide to come up with a diet for your charges yourself, then you should remember that without the necessary set of minerals and vitamins, the chicken will not lay eggs. Their balance is required in any diet. You can also feed laying hens 2 times a day. It is advisable to give soft food in the morning, and hard food in the evening.

Decline in egg production after 48 weeks

During this period, the chickens' diet does not change much. Can be removed fishmeal and corn. Add barley and pumpkin instead. And to those who fed ready-made feed, there is no need to change anything at all. You should continue the same feeding ration until you retire your hens.

What can you give to laying hens?

The chicken diet should contain everything necessary vitamins and minerals, as well as easily digestible protein. Sprouted grains are a good source of protein and vitamin E. Its daily norm reaches 40 g.

Baker's yeast will enrich the diet with B vitamins. Their norm is no more than 5 g per day. Fish oil can also be used as a source of vitamins. Its norm is 1 g per 1 chicken. But in order not to worry too much about preparing feed, it is better to consider ready-made dry feed.

All dry food is divided into four types:

• mineral
• vitamin
• carbohydrate
• protein.

The former serve as an irreplaceable source of essential minerals. The latter are a source of provitamins and vitamins. Still others contain cereal grains, cereals and bran, flour and mill dust, as well as potatoes, melons and various root vegetables. Fourth, it is a source of proteins. There are two types: the first contain animal proteins, and the second contain plant proteins.

Using dry food will be much easier, but more financially expensive. Therefore, each owner makes the choice of what to feed his laying hens for himself. There is no single correct diet.

Video “Creating a diet for adult chickens”

Proper diet for chickens

In order for chickens to lay eggs all year round, they need to be properly maintained and fed. IN chicken diet should include flour mixtures and whole grains, as well as feed of plant and animal origin and mineral supplements.

When raising chickens to obtain hatching eggs, the feeding must include feed enriched with vitamins and containing protein.

For chickens intended for breeding, it is necessary to feed 40 grams of sprouted grain per bird per day. Sprouted grain is rich in vitamin E. Baker's yeast provides poultry with vitamin B; 3-5 grams should be added to food. yeast.

There must be 1 gram of fish oil per bird per day.

The chicken feeder should always contain mineral feed. For one chicken: grain (barley, oats, wheat, etc.) - 50 g flour mixture (wheat, barley and oat bran) - 50 g hay flour -10 g succulent feed - 30 - 50 g dry protein feed of plant and animal origin - 10 - 15 g shell - 5 g bone meal - 2 g salt - 0.5 g.

Chickens molt every year. When daylight hours change, the feather begins to change; this occurs in the month of August and lasts 2-4 months. During the molting period, birds are weakened, egg production decreases, and egg laying may stop altogether.

With favorable organization of food and maintenance. and also if the required duration of daylight is provided, molting can begin in the fall and last 1.5 - 2 months. Chickens that moult in the summer are not kept for the next year.

During molting, feeding chickens should be less plentiful, more nutritious and varied. The diet must necessarily contain meat and bone and fish meal, fresh cottage cheese, skim milk, chalk, shells, slaked lime, eggshells, vegetables, yeast feed, and sprouted grains.

Chickens are fed 3-4 times a day. In the morning, a third of the daily requirement of grain crops is served, two hours later they are fed with wet mash, the amount of which should be such that the birds eat it in 30-40 minutes. At night, chickens need to be fed grain. During the day, as they are eaten, there should be a dry mixture in the feeders.

To feed chickens, you need to use several groups of feeds: carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals and additives. The diet must contain concentrated feed (wheat bran, meal, cakes, grains of legumes and cereals), food residues, tops, grass.

Wet mash is prepared before feeding and should not sit in the feeder for more than 2-3 hours. The grain is best served in crushed form. Legumes always soaked in water for 1-2 hours, or steamed or boiled. The feed can be mixed with chopped root vegetables and potatoes; sprouted or greened tubers and the water in which the potatoes were boiled are not used for mash. Boiling water from potatoes contains solain. who poisons chickens.

One of the favorite delicacies of chickens is mash with gardening waste (carrion of pears, apples, plums, apple pomace). During the autumn-winter period, it is necessary to add pine flour, 3-10 grams, to the mash. per head per day.

It is imperative to use mineral feed (shells, chalk, eggshells, limestone). Egg shells, before adding to the feed, must be calcined over an open fire for 10-15 minutes and crushed. The feed uses only old slaked lime, the shelf life of which exceeds 6 months. Do not feed the bird fresh and quicklime. Salt is required in the diet of chickens, which should be given in the form of a solution and no more than 0.5 g. per day per head. Salt is a source of chlorine and sodium; if it is in excess, the bird does not eat well.

Water should always be near the food. For 100 gr. chicken consumes 200-300 grams of dry food. water. If the weather is hot, the water needs to be cooled periodically, and if it is cold, then it needs to be heated.

What to feed chickens so that they lay eggs better?

Oleg Kaminsky Pupil (98), closed 3 years ago

☼-*NINEL*-☼ Supreme Intelligence (1073418) 3 years ago

To increase egg production, stimulants are given, which are added to the feed for laying hens. That is, by purchasing this compound feed, unless of course it is fake, you can achieve an increase in egg production. However, in this case, the eggs will be far from the so-called village ones and they will have barely a yolk. yellow. Do you need this?

Most best option, is to keep chickens on pasture. I have a garden of 20 acres and it is fenced, so the chickens graze there all the time and lay so many eggs that there is a problem with selling them.

In winter, I give the chickens grain, beets, boiled potatoes, or rather peelings. At the same time, I peel the potatoes very thickly.

Your egg production has dropped and you think this is due to feeding?

Don't rush to make such hasty conclusions.

No matter how you feed the chickens, when the daylight hours decrease to less than 9 hours, egg production drops sharply, and if it is also cold, it stops completely.

Many chickens have now stopped laying eggs, because now the most short days a year and they simply do not have enough light.

Hang in the chicken coop energy saving lamp with a yellowish tint of glow, 15 watts and give them 12 hours of daylight (turn it on either in the morning, when it’s dark, or in the evening). As a result, egg production will immediately increase.

Personally, I did this.

When my chickens are locked in the barn (it's snowing outside). I turn on the energy-saving system for 12 hours a day (it’s a little dark in the barn even during the day due to the small window, which is also covered with film for insulation). To do this, I bought a programmable timer and set the time from 08.00 to 20.00. The lights turn on at eight in the morning and turn off at eight in the evening, and everything is automatic.

The egg production of chickens has increased sharply.

When using such a lamp and lighting it for 12 hours a day, a little more than 5 kilowatts burns up in a month.

But my chickens lay eggs and feed is not wasted on feeding them.

In addition, calculate how much money you will spend on electricity and how many eggs you will get.

The eggs cover the costs many times over.

Caring for adult chickens in summer

We keep our birds in the backyard in the summer. They walk around our yard freely, row, bathe in dust, and peck at pebbles. In the evening our chickens go into the barn to sleep ( It's made of wood and it's cool there in the summer).

In the barn we have nests for chickens and, of course, a roost. The chicken perch is installed near the back wall at a height of 40 cm from the floor. Each hen needs 20-25cm of perch space. The perch is made from poles and poles. It is better to place the poles at the same level, at a distance of 40cm from each other.

Feeding chickens in summer

I feed the bird grain #8212 wheat, barley, oats, corn. Wheat contains more protein (protein) and vitamins (B, E), so it can be used in the diet up to 60% of the total feed weight. When feeding barley– the quality of meat improves. Oats has a high fiber content. Feeding oats stimulates feather growth and reduces cannibalism. When feeding corn#8212 egg production increases.

In summer I feed 40% green food. It is very good to give to the bird fresh nettle, sugar beet#8212 Chickens peck it very well. Next you can cut the bird any vegetables :

• cucumbers,
• tomatoes,
• zucchini,
• pumpkin
• everything you have in your garden.

In the fall, you don’t have to think #8212 where to put the tops of carrots, beets, and radishes. The bird willingly eats everything.

Feed must be given at the same time!

I in autumn I dig up the garden and sow rye, and early in the spring I cut it and feed it to my chickens.

Don't forget to give it to the chickens chalk, shell. And then your chickens will not peck the testicles and the shell will be strong.

It is very important that chickens there was always water and you need to make sure that she was always fresh .

Caring for chickens in winter

In winter we keep the chickens in the barn. We have a stove in the barn, which we heat all the time in cold weather ( We heat with wood, which is harvested in the fall). The temperature in our barn is 12-16%.

The floor in the chicken coop is needed first sprinkle with slaked lime. and then lay down straw and you can also add sawdust. As the litter becomes dirty, fresh litter is added to it, bringing the litter to 25 cm. And in order for the air in the barn to be clean, it must be ventilation. We clean the barn as the litter gets dirty.

For that, so that the chickens lay eggs well. you need to increase daylight hours. I turn on the lights at 6 am and turn them off at 7 pm.

Feeding chickens in winter

IN winter period I feed my chickens 3 times a day. I start the first feeding with mash. where I always add a drug that promotes egg production (ask your veterinarian for any similar drug). The mash should be crumbly, since Sticky food clogs the nasal passages bird's beak.

To strengthen and increase resistance to infections in winter, it is necessary to give chickens fish oil.

You should also put feeders in the barn for:

It is also necessary to place ash bath box(50% ash, 50% sand). I also add 2 bags of sulfur to this box.

Chickens bathe in a box of ash

Drinking bowl need to be positioned like this. so that the chicken does not have the opportunity to climb into it. Our drinking bowl is located on the other side of the poultry house. We pour water into it without going to them and it is always clean. And watch so that water is always available .

In the summer you need to prepare grass for the winter. And in winter time hang grass in the chicken coop and the chickens willingly peck it all off. This is a very good help. We also provide the chickens with beets, green radishes, and cabbage. You need to hang it like this: take a long nail and hammer it into any vegetable, and tie a rope to the other end. And hang it wherever is convenient for you.

In the evening the chickens are fed 1 hour before they begin to roost. It is important that the bird receives whole grains at night. It is advisable to give a different grain every evening, one day wheat, another #8212 barley, then oats, then corn.

You need to give enough food to the chickens so that they eat it in 30 minutes. And excessive feeding can lead to obesity and chickens stop laying eggs.

Beginning poultry farmers often forget that only balanced feeding stimulates bird productivity. In this article, we will consider the principles of competent menu planning and feeding regimes that solve problems with low clutch rates.

Rules for feeding laying hens

At home, it’s easy to adjust your diet and organize proper feeding. What should it be like?

1. The composition of the feed should be optimally balanced and varied: mixed feed, grain, soft mixtures, vitamin and mineral supplements.
2. Laying hens are fed twice (morning/evening). When using feed mixtures, you must not exclude vegetables, herbs, and grains. In winter, young animals also need 4 meals a day.
3. Natural additives are prepared independently: a moistened mash of crushed moistened grain, plus table waste.
4. Vitamin mass is vegetable tops and greens. If the bird does not walk outside, the amount of greenery increases.
5. Overfeeding/underfeeding negatively affects the health of the livestock and wearability.

How to feed chickens correctly

You can improve egg production with the help of feed quality. In addition to grass tops and mineral and vitamin supplements, millet should be included in the feed, wheat bran, sunflower cake, meal, sprouted or steamed grain.

In addition to the composition of the menu, it is important to monitor the regime. In the morning, feed is given as early as possible. Breakfast includes crushed grain, boiled potatoes, salted table scraps, and bone meal. After the evening meal, an hour and a half later, rest conditions are created (the lights are turned off) so that the bird sleeps with a full crop.

The dose for one chicken weighing 2 kg is calculated simply: 100-125 g are required per day. The portion is adjusted according to the weight category of the birds. When feeding with monofeed, the annual ration averages 45 kg. When using a combined menu, you will need 28 kg of feed and another 17 kg of grain additive (flour for laying hens).

Creating a chicken menu to increase egg production

To improve digestion and enrich with fiber, be sure to use complementary foods made from kitchen waste and vegetable/green mixtures. If the chickens do not roam, then alfalfa, dandelion, tops, nettles, etc. are introduced. Root vegetables are given only boiled in the form of moistened mash. Grain is the main additive. Since each grain has its own properties, you should alternate between oats, wheat, and millet. By the way, the first two types actively influence the productivity of laying hens.

Chickens that are not outdoors need soft food. These are garden and kitchen scraps that are ground up and mixed with layer meal. The result is a crumbly, loose, moist mass that chickens really like. It is important to remember that such food spoils quickly, especially in the summer. For these purposes, food is not prepared in the evening - only in the afternoon or in the morning. When putting into a container, give such a volume that it is eaten in half an hour.

When using soft food, you need to have a wide dish from which all the chickens can peck at the same time. Otherwise, the weak will be pushed aside and they will be deprived of adequate food. With this option, the livestock will be heterogeneous.

How to ensure egg production in winter

The age of the chickens and the time of year do not affect productivity. They need a well-maintained, clean coop and a balanced diet. How to achieve this?

1. Daylight hours in winter need to be extended to 14-15 hours.
2. During the molting period, more vitamins and minerals are introduced into the food. This contributes to increased activity, weight gain and increased ability to lay eggs in the required volume.
3. In winter, you need to give sprouted wheat, ground grain and a large dose of boiled vegetables and kitchen waste.
4. The feeding regime changes - up to 4 times. Drinking water is given warm.
5. Closed space and lack of sun have a negative impact on chicken condition and egg production. Experienced poultry keepers stimulate their pets with increased attention. It is recommended to go into the chicken coop more often and talk to the bird in a calm voice. This is a proven method that gives results in the form of increased appetite and productivity.

Feed quality, chicken condition, egg quality

Lack of nutrients manifests itself in decreased appetite and egg production, weight loss, and slow growth. A lack of amino acids and hormones leads to the development of rickets, abnormal feather formation, and poor quality of eggshells. Poor quality feed characteristics affect the color of the yolk.

A light yolk is an indicator of intensive content; if a dark tone or a reddish tint appears, it means the chickens do not have enough vegetable products, corn, flour from green grass. The color of brown shells is affected by the increased inclusion of carotene.

Good nutrition is the main condition high productivity laying hens and rapid weight gain in broiler chickens. Regardless of the purpose for which you raise birds, their feeding should be properly organized, varied and balanced. What to feed chickens - detailed information this is presented in this publication.

The diet of chickens must contain a sufficient amount of components important for health in strictly defined proportions:

Variety of food for chickens

Organizing high-quality and varied nutrition for such omnivorous birds as chickens is not so difficult. One of the main rules is to make maximum use of waste, which is always found on any rural farmstead:

Rules for preparing feed

To maximize the preservation of vitamins and microelements, you must follow the rules for processing feed. If you prepare food in accordance with the recipe, it will be better absorbed and your pets will be more willing to eat it.

Wild food and methods of their preparation

The best time for harvesting meadow grasses is spring and summer. It is during this period that clover, quinoa, alfalfa, chicken millet, ashiritsa, china, manna, horse sorrel are especially rich useful substances. The grass is mowed and placed in small windrows to dry (preferably in the shade, since vitamins are destroyed in the sun). The hay is ready when it begins to rustle.

In addition to herbs, pine and spruce needles are added to the birds' food (it is best to collect them from November to March), as well as seeds, foliage and berries of wild trees - rowan, beech, birch, linden, ash, chestnut and shrubs - viburnum, rose hips, hawthorn , elderberries. Late autumn and in winter, when there is a lack of greenery, the addition of crushed wild plants becomes an excellent help for good nutrition.

Feeding rules in homestead farming

The main rule is to give food at least twice a day:

• early in the morning after waking up;
• about an hour before the birds begin to prepare for bed (they enter the house and sit on a perch).

Feed your chickens as early in the morning and as late in the evening as possible to ensure healthy flocks and excellent productivity.

In the morning it is better to give wet soft mixtures of boiled potatoes, flour, vegetables and herbs with mineral supplements, and at night - a grain mixture, since it takes longer to digest.

Three and four meals a day are recommended only for young animals under the age of 8-10 months. The time for additional feed supply (wet and vitamin mash) is distributed evenly based on the length of daylight hours. In late autumn and winter, it is necessary to increase the portions to protect against hypothermia and to ensure that the birds receive enough energy.

Key rules of hygiene when feeding

Birds require gravel to grind food in their gizzards. If it is not in a separate feeder for a month or more, chickens may stop digesting up to 20% of their food, develop cuticulitis (rejection of the surface of the muscular stomach) and die.

Gravel should not be replaced with fine-grained sand, as it irritates the intestinal mucosa of birds, and in large doses can cause inflammation.

Diet standards

Let us consider, as an example, the dietary standards for meat-egg chickens. Such breeds are considered universal, more unpretentious and easy to care for, which is why they are most often grown on farms and in garden plots. The percentage composition of the diet of meat-egg chickens is almost the same as that of egg-laying chickens, but the amount of food per head is slightly higher (up to 15-18%).

The table below gives the daily amount of food for one adult chicken weighing 2.6 kg, depending on the time of year (in grams per head).

Types of feed	in winter	in spring	In summer	in autumn
Whole grains (2 types)	50	45	40	45
Crushed grain (2-3 types)	50	55	60	55
Cake, meal	12	13	12	12
Wheat bran	10	10	10	10
Boiled potatoes	50	40	20	20
Yeast	3	4	3	3
Silage or root vegetables	40	20	-	20
Herbal meal and greens	10	10	50	30
Bone meal	5	7	5	5
Whey	20	30	30	20
Shell, chalk	4	5	4,5	4
Salt	0,5	0,5	0,5	0,5

During the breeding period, to increase reproductive abilities, roosters need to add 50 g of sprouted grain enriched with vitamins A and E (20 mg per kg of feed) to their regular diet. Feed in separate feeders out of reach of chickens.

Feed for chickens

It may well become the basis of the chickens’ diet, since it contains a whole range of substances important for their body. But in order for it to be truly useful, it is important to know the composition and dosage.

Video - Making a diet for adult chickens

What ingredients and in what proportions should be in the feed?

We offer you an approximate composition of a balanced feed that is easy to prepare at home.

The composition and proportions may vary slightly depending on the breed and age of the chicken population.

A big plus of preparing a nutritional composition with your own hands is your confidence in the quality of both each component and the final product. In addition, this will help save up to 60 percent of costs compared to ready-made feed.

In winter, the mash must be warm, and it is advisable to germinate the barley. If you have a small herd, then this food can be prepared in ordinary containers. For large volumes you will need at least a small mixer.

If you don’t have the opportunity or desire to prepare compound feed yourself, you can always buy ready-made feed in specialized stores or on the market.

Industrial feed

Compound feeds produced at specialized enterprises are of two types:

• CC (concentrated feed);
• PC (complete feed).

Concentrate feed contains no more than 12% of digestible protein, and for complete nutrition of chickens a minimum of 18% is required. This means that cake, meal, animal proteins and other additives additionally need to be added to the CC.

Essentially, this is grain ground and pressed into granules, waste from the flour milling industry, which sometimes contains up to 1.5% of the P-1 or P-2 premix (a mixture of vitamins, antioxidants, amino acids and antimicrobials).

If the CC already contains a premix, its additional addition is extremely undesirable (carefully look at the composition on the packaging).

As for PP, its composition is completely balanced, includes all the necessary components and does not require any additional additives. However, its cost is quite high.

Video - Compound feed: secrets of poultry farms

What to feed laying hens to increase productivity?

The egg production of chickens is negatively affected by any deviations from the feeding norm, be it undernutrition or overeating, so it is advisable to weigh portions before serving.

The composition of eggshells, consisting of 90% calcium carbonate, resembles the composition of human bones and teeth

Quick laying and optimal body weight gain for laying hens is ensured by a sufficient amount of grain, herbs, vegetables, mineral supplements. To increase productivity, the daily menu should be varied and well-balanced. If we talk about the variety of grains, then it does not consist of alternating wheat, barley and oats, but that the chickens receive all grain crops daily.

Proper nutrition is the key to egg production and optimal weight of chickens

Excellent sources of protein for laying hens are bone meal and mineral supplements. Thus, calcium for the hardness of the skeleton and eggshells should be obtained from shells, charcoal, edible chalk, burnt bones, as well as from wood ash, lying under open air no less than a month.

Daily diet of an adult laying hen

Raising chickens is one of the most interesting and profitable agricultural industries. Anyone, whether an amateur poultry farmer or a beginning farmer, does not necessarily need to purchase expensive feed to raise healthy and productive livestock. The main thing is to have a great desire and a minimum of necessary knowledge.