What do day-old chicks feed
Scientists have proven that the sooner a small chick can begin to peck food, the faster the formation of the digestive tract will occur, therefore the question of what to feed day-old chicks is more than relevant and requires discussion. If, after hatching from the incubator or weaning from the laying hen, the necessary nutrients are not provided to the baby, then it is possible to provoke a deterioration in the functioning of internal organs and serious disturbances in the body, therefore, you need to start feeding the chickens immediately after they are born.
How to feed day old chicks
Feeding scheme for day-old chicks
Feeding day old chicks after they have been warmed up under a lamp and completely dry should begin with the use of chopped yolk. To date, there is a debate about its benefits for the body of chickens. Some experts argue that giving the yolk is necessary and useful, others are sure of the harm and fat content of the product. Which point of view to adhere to, you decide, however, according to experts, feeding with yolk will only lead to further disorders and an excess of fat. Together with the yolk, you can give babies some ground and chopped eggshells, as well as semolina.
It is necessary to feed day-old chicks on the first day every 2 hours, taking into account the night time. The starter feed should consist of fresh kefir or low-fat yogurt in order to help improve the work of digestion and intestines. In addition to food, you will need about a handful of semolina or any other cereal and several onion feathers per 10 individuals. You need to feed day-old chickens with kefir and sour milk yourself using a syringe.
How to properly feed day old babies after the first day?
- When the chickens have reached 2 days of age, it is necessary to transform the previously described diet. Corn grits can be supplemented with a mixture of barley, oatmeal, wheat and millet grits. Feeding should be frequent and repeated every 2 hours, however, the standard portion cannot be large. It is necessary to ensure that the chicks eat all the food in any conditions. If they begin to sort out the grains, leaving only one thing, the cereals must be stopped mixing. You can feed babies only with dry, not steamed porridge.
- On the second or third day, other sources of vitamins and energy should be introduced into the diet of domestic chickens. From the second day, you can start feeding the kids with cottage cheese mixed with cereals (no more than 50 g per 10 heads). The diet of day-old chicks should be saturated with dairy products: kefir or whey, which the birds absorb with great desire.
- On the third day, it is time to introduce fresh herbs: plantain, onion, dandelion, clover. The green part of the onion prevents the occurrence of intestinal diseases. When growing and breeding broilers a couple of days after birth, the birds need to feed the appropriate compound feed, designed to gain weight.
- On day 4, feeding with one yolk is replaced by eating a whole egg.It is required to ensure that the chicks drink as much liquid as they need, as well as the purity of the water in the drinker. Only boiled liquid is suitable for drinking.
- On the 5th day, you need to feed the babies in a different proportion. It is important to increase the proportion of green food daily, saturating it, for example, with clover. At the same time, the diet should be filled with cottage cheese instead of kefir. It will not be superfluous to use a small amount fish oil: up to 0.2 g per chick. In order to prevent possible problems with the stomach and intestines, you can place a container with sifted sand in the chicken coop.
- By the 6th day of life, normal feeding is replaced by the use of mineral supplements, wood ash and eggshells. Fermented milk products should still be included in the diet. For example, white bread can be soaked in kefir. To replenish protein reserves, you should give babies low-fat meat broth and the proper amount of cooked meat waste.
Broiler chicks from the incubator and layers need the same mixtures of cereals with cottage cheese and plant seeds. It is not often necessary to pamper day-old chicks with food: the intake after 3-4 hours is enough. On day 10, night feeding is excluded. When raising chickens at home, it is important to provide the birds with walking and trivitamins... It is also necessary to periodically give an aqueous solution of potassium permanganate.
You can see how the life of chicks is born and proceeds after birth, in the corresponding videos.
How to feed weekly and monthly babies
Having talked about feeding domestic chicks during the first day, it is worth moving on to discussing nutrition when they reach one week of age. So, when the chick is already a week old, it is time to consume additional amounts of dairy products and cooked cereals. Eating at home should be done less often than after the first days of life: 4-5 meals a day in larger portions are enough.
Feeding broilers up to 3 weeks can be exclusively starter feed, supplemented with corn grits and plenty of water. One and a half month old broilers signal the transition to wheat groats, while the use of boiled potatoes and porridge is prohibited.
As soon as the babies crossed the line in 1 "month", it is necessary to change and care for them, giving more time for a walk, where they will eat mainly greens. It is the herb that will provide them with the necessary vitamins, which are sometimes lacking when eating at home. Monthly age requires a transition to coarse grinding of grains, and one and a half months - to whole grains.
From the first months, it is important to provide the birds with moisture mash and bone meal or food waste, the use of purchased feed for broilers is also suitable. Recently, a myth has spread about the intake of food for pets by birds - it is strictly forbidden to do this, especially from the first days of life.
Young stock and layers should not need sand, gravel and crushed shells: a lack of them will lead to growth retardation and constant diseases.
What feed to give preference
Taking proper care of your chicks ensures an active and healthy life. In traditional conditions, poultry farmers can offer their birds only a couple of types of food: hard or soft. Mainly, the diet of layers and babies is a skillful ratio of both types. What is the difference between them?
- Solid foods are grains or grass seeds. It is the grain that is taken as a basis when compiling food for birds. The best choice for chicks will be all kinds of cereals (millet, peas) and even waste that was obtained after grain processing.
- The mild type of feed consists of cereal flour, various vegetables, animal feed and greens. This also includes solid grain mixtures treated with hot or boiled water.Sometimes, for the manufacture of soft food, different types of flour, bran, boiled vegetables and herbs are used. The advantage of soft food is its rapid absorption by the body, therefore soft food is mainly used to feed small chickens. Also, this species is suitable for birds in molting period and disease for enhancing and diversifying nutrition.
Chicken cereals
What are the best cereals for chickens? To understand this, it is necessary to consider all the properties and characteristics of the most common food options.
- Oats are considered one of the most widely consumed feeds for chickens. However, grains have a significant drawback: they contain a large amount of films, which is why chickens can use it exclusively in crushed form. The grains are able to stimulate the growth of feathers. When choosing oats, pay attention only to the large, white or light yellow option.
- Millet has a close composition to oats, therefore its use differs in the same features and characteristics. Small chicks are best served as a hard-boiled porridge. Cereal mash is often composed of ground millet.
- Barley groats should not form the basis of the diet due to the feathered dislike of this type of grain. You can feed it either as a meal or as a whole. To determine a quality grain, you should pay attention to its color: it should be white with a yellowish tint and shine. Good grain also has no mustiness and odor, and has a thin skin.
- Corn is considered a fairly valuable cereal, extremely popular among chickens. Grains are high in fat and carbohydrates and are easy to digest. They can be used whole or after preliminary grinding and crushing.
- It is better to refuse the use of rye altogether or add it to the mash in a chopped form.
- Eating bran allows you to saturate the diet with phosphorus and some calcium. Chickens and chickens need 30 g of bran per day.
- Grain strips have become widespread recently and are distinguished by a variety of quality. The nutritional value and usefulness of the cutters depends on the amount of various impurities in the waste.
- Yeast can be added to the diet to saturate the body of birds with vitamins of the B1 group. Yeast is most often consumed by chickens raised without regular walking.
The nutrition of day-old chicks is something that needs to be paid attention from the first days of the birds' life. Care for any bird must be careful and timely, so that the pet lives and develops in accordance with its age. Plus, keeping chickens at home in their unpretentiousness with regard to products. The secret of successfully growing poultry lies in providing it with vitamins, abundant use of water and greens. Now you know how day-old chicks react to feed, how it should be, and how to prepare and serve it correctly.