Is it possible to give chickens bread
Any poultry owner wants them to be healthy, have good egg production and quality meat. An important role in achieving these qualities is played by a correct and varied diet. Is it ok to feed chickens with bread? What is the dosage and frequency of feeding? Is the entire range of bakery products suitable for nutrition? Is black and white bread equally harmful or healthy?
Is it possible to give chickens bread
Which bread is suitable
White or black bread is a ready-to-eat food product. It includes in a significant amount useful and indispensable for the productive growth and development of chickens: carbohydrates, proteins, B vitamins, yeasts, other minerals and elements.
Nutritionally, it has quite a few calories. Therefore, it can be added to the diet, especially in the autumn-winter time, when the bird does not have enough heat and energy, but only in a certain form, with strict observance of the proportions and number of meals.
The best option is to use pre-dried bread. It can be prepared in several ways.
- Arrange chunks in the kitchen on a natural drying tray. After they dry, soak them in water and leave to swell for 2 hours. Then knead with your hands, squeeze out the water.
- Prepare the crackers by drying the pieces in the oven. Soak with water as above.
- Do not soak the pre-dried bread, but mash it in a bag until you get dry crumbs. This can be done with a hammer.
It is best to give bread with a mash, because the bird will not eat enough only with them. Wet formulations from boiled peelings of potatoes, carrots, fodder beets, pumpkins, or dry ones, for example, from wheat, barley, crushed corn, are acceptable.
Helpful Hints: Do not leave the cooked product soaked overnight - it starts to turn sour. This can cause gastrointestinal upset and diarrhea.
Which one cannot be given
Many owners prefer not to throw out, but to give bread leftovers to chickens, layers, broilers, if the product:
- stale or stale;
- moldy, completely or partially covered with mold;
- acquired an unpleasant odor;
- turned black.
It is strictly forbidden to feed birds with such a product. It negatively affects growth, well-being, egg production.
Dried black bread is given to birds in small quantities
Do not give birds fresh, undried bread. Its pieces swell in the goiter, turning into a voluminous dense lump. This causes an obstruction of the alimentary tract, which threatens the bird with suffocation, even death.
In addition, the chicken stomach does not digest fresh food well. He begins to sour and disrupts digestion.
It is contraindicated to feed with baked goods. This is due to the inclusion of sugar, fillers, dyes in their composition, which can negatively affect the condition of chickens.
Information: black bread is not prohibited for use, but it is given in small portions due to the significant amount of yeast that is part of the composition, this increases acidity, provokes fermentation in the digestive organs.
Allowed amount
Recently, the products sold in stores have often been genetically modified. The yeast present in bakery products is thermophilic. Many scientists consider them unhealthy.
Frequent feeding of bread, especially with the simultaneous use of compound feed that also contains salt additives, can lead to an excess of salt.
This reduces immunity, leads to a decrease in egg production in layers, and threatens broilers with a deterioration in the quality of meat. Chicks with weakened immunity begin to lag behind in development.
It should be given not as a basic food, but as a rare delicacy - no more than 1 time in 14-21 days (10-15 g per head).
Summing up
Poultry love baked goods, but constant feeding of such products can provoke a refusal from other feeds, which in the future will negatively affect their growth.
Therefore, it is important to approach feeding wisely and rationally. Chickens are given the product from 4 weeks of age. During this period, they are actively developing.
Feeding with bread is useful and necessary if carried out in a small dosage, in the form of an additional delicacy along with a mash, in compliance with all the tips and recommendations.