Making your own chicken feed at home can help in cutting down on the cost of purchasing chicken feed. Formulating your own chicken feed is advantageous because you will be able to control the quality. Saving on the cost and feeding your chicken with high-quality chicken feed will ensure that you maximize profit.
Feeding chicken with formulated feed at home. Chicken feed amount to about 65% -75% of the cost of raising chicken.
Chicken require different nutrients in varying quantities at different stages of growth. The quantity of nutrients are also subject to the following factors:-
1. Age :
The chicken will have different nutrient requirements at different stages of growth
2. Type of chicken:
Different types, strain, and breeds of chicken will require varying nutrients and feed quantities. This maybe Pure breed, indigenous (Kienyeji) chicken, hybrid chicken
3. Reproduction:
The mating activity in cockrels and the laying level in hens determine the number of nutrients needed. The feed should be formulated to ensure optimal production at this stage
4. Level of activity:
The level of activity is determined by the kind production intensive, semi-intensive or free range.
5. The health condition of the chicken:
The health condition of the chicken affects the number of nutrients it needs. High levels of stress will also determine the dietary requirements. Stress is caused by diseases, poor air quality, unfavorable temperatures, and poor litter quality
6. Purpose:
Whether you are raising the chicken for meat, eggs, breeding or ornamental (pets)
7. Season:
Chicken require more nutrients during cold season than hot seasons. During cold seasons, they need to keep their bodies warm. The heat is generated during the digestion process. Some nutrients produce more heat during this process than other nutrients.
8. The energy level in chicken feed:
Different food has varying amounts of energy levels. Chicken tend to feed more if the feed has low energy levels and eat less when the feed is packed with high amounts of energy
CHICKEN NUTRIENT REQUIREMENTS:
Chicken require essential nutrients for good growth and maximum production. These are:-
1. Fats:
Chicken use fats for energy since fats have high energy density. A type of fat known as linoleic acid is known to improve on the egg size. Chicken need between 3% to 5% fat in their feed.
2. Carbohydrates:
Chicken require energy for all the activity, growth and production. The most common way for the chicken to get carbohydrates is through feeding on grains
3. Proteins and amino acids:
Proteins and amino acids are needed for muscle growth, maintenance, and development of egg protein
4. Vitamins:
Chicken require vitamins are involved in all biological functions of the body. They are required in small quantities. Vitamins are essential for growth, health, and production
5. Water:
This is the most important requirement since it is directly correlated to production. It is needed for absorption of nutrients, digestion of feed, body temperature regulation and excretion of waste. Water intake in chicken should be double the amount of feed taken, in weight.
6. Minerals:
Chicken need minerals for body processes such as skeletal formation, health, metabolic activity and maintaining the bodyβs acid-base balance
Ingredients for making chicken feed
It is advisable to use locally available ingredients for your chicken feed. In addition to using ingredients that are in season, this will help you further cut the costs of production. Farmers can grow or produce their own ingredients. Care must be taken while producing, handling and storing the ingredients, so as to avoid contamination. This will lead to a lower nutritive value of the feed and sometimes diseases
>> Grains:
Cereal grains are used as the source for carbohydrates (energy). The most commonly used cereal grain in chicken feed is maize. Others are wheat, sorghum, and barley. Depending on availability, it is advisable to use the grains that are in season and at the right price. Please pay attention when changing grains so that they do not cause upsets in the digestive systems. This might affect productivity. Changing grains in chicken feed should be done gradually.
Some farmers have been known to grow their own grains in order to cut on costs. Whether you grow your own or buy. Make sure they are stored well, as poor storage and handling might lead to lower energy levels.
>> Fats:
Fats and oils are used to provide energy to the chicken. Vitamins A, D, E and K are fat soluble, hence fats in chicken feed are used as βcarriersβ for these vitamins. Fats provide Linoleic acid, which is essential to chicken, especially in layers where it has been known to improve on egg size. Fat and oils in chicken feed are derived from animal and vegetable sources
Animal fat sources include fishmeal (Omena), lard and tallow while vegetable sources come from cottonseed cake, sunflower cake/seeds, canola, rapeseed, and soya.
>> Animal and Vegetable Protein.
Proteins sources for chicken feed are derived from animal protein and vegetable protein
Animal protein comes in form of fishmeal (Omena), meat meal, bone meal, chicken meal, feather meal, and bone meal. Uttermost care should be taken when using the animal byproducts (meat meal, bone meal, chicken meal, feather meal, and bone meal), to avoid diseases
Vegetable protein is usually a by-product of oil seed plants whereby after the oil is extracted, the remains are used/sold as chicken feed ingredients. These include sunflower, soybean, canola etc. They come in form of cake or meal. These are cottonseed cake, soya meal, and sunflower cake.
>> Minerals.
While some minerals are found in other chicken feed ingredients, minerals supplements are usually added to the feed to ensure that all the mineral requirements are met. These are purchased as mineral premixes and added to the feed.
>> Vitamins.
Just like minerals, vitamins can be found naturally in some feed ingredients. To ensure that all required vitamins are provided for, vitamin premixes need to be purchased and added to the feed.
Chicken Feed Formulation.π£π£π£
When making chicken feed, the digestible crude protein formula is used. Without going into the math, the digestible crude formula is based on the total percentage amount of protein in the chicken feed ingredients. Each chicken feed ingredient has different amounts of digestible crude protein.
Layers and broilers require a different amount of proteins at different levels of growth. Let us look at specific examples based on making 70kg of chicken feed.
π£π£Making a 70 kg chick mash (1 to 4 weeks):
Growing chicks require feed with Digestible Crude Protein (DCP) of between 18 to 20 percent. The following formulation can be used to make a 70 kg bag of layers chick mash:
Ingredients:
γ31.5kg of whole maize
γ9.1kg of wheat bran
γ7.0kg of wheat pollard
γ16.8kg of sunflower (or 16.8 kg of linseed)
γ1.5kg of fishmeal
γ1.75 kg of lime
γ30g of salt
γ20g of premix.
Amino acids:
γ70g of tryptophan
γ3.0g of lysine
γ10g of methionine
γ70g of Threonine
γ50g of enzymes
γ60g of coccidiostat
γ50g of toxin binder
ππMaking a 70 kg bag of growersβ mash (4 to 8 weeks).
Growers (pullets or young layers) should be provided with feed having a protein content of between 16 and 18 percent. Such feed makes the young layers to grow fast in preparation for egg laying:
γ10kg of whole maize
γ17kg of maize germ
γ13kg of wheat pollard
γ10kg of wheat bran
γ6kg of cottonseed cake
γ5kg of sunflower cake
γ3.4kg of soya meal
γ2.07kg of lime
γ700g of bone meal
γ3kg of fishmeal
Additives:
γ14g of salt,
γ1g of coccidiostat,
γ18g of Pre-mix, 1g of zinc bacitracin,
γ7g of mycotoxin binder.
ππMaking a 70 kg bag of layersβ mash (8 weeks and above)
γ34kg of whole maize
γ12kg of Soya
γ8kg of fishmeal
γ10kg of maize bran, rice germ or Wheat Bran
γ6kg of lime
Amino acids:
γ175g premix
γ70g lysine
γ35g methionine
γ70g Threonine
γ35g tryptophan
γ50g toxin binder
Layer feed should contain a Digestible Crude Protein (DCP) content of between 16-18 percent. The feed should contain calcium (lime) for the formation of eggshells (laying hens that do not get enough calcium will use the calcium stored in their own born tissue to produce eggshells). Layer feed should be introduced at 18 weeks.
ππFormulating a 70 kg bag of broiler feed:
Broilers have different feed requirements in terms of energy, proteins, and minerals during different stages of their growth. It is important that farmers adapt feed rations to these requirements for maximum production. Young broilers have a high protein requirement for the development of muscles, feathers, and other body organs. As the broilers grow, their energy needs for fattening up increase while their protein requirements decrease. They, therefore, require high protein content in their starter rations than in the grower and finisher rations. Broilers should have feed that has between 22 -24 percent DCP.
The following guidelines can help the farmer to make the right feed at each stage of growth:
ππPreparing broiler growers feed (70 kg)
γ10kg of whole maize
γ16.7kg of maize germ
γ13.3kg of wheat pollard
γ10kg wheat bran
γ6kg of cottonseed cake
γ4.7kg of sunflower cake
γ3kg of fishmeal
γ2kg of lime
γ3.4kg of soya meal
γ40g of bone meal
γ10g of grower PMX
γ5g of salt
γ5g of coccidiostat
γ5g of Zinc bacitracin
ππBroiler starter feed (1-4 weeks)
γ40kg of whole maize
γ12kg of fishmeal (or Omena)
γ14kg of soya bean meal
γ4kg of lime
γ70g of premix
Amino acids
γ35g of lysine
γ35g of Threonine
ππFormulating a 70 kg bag for Kienyeji/Indigenous/Village chicken (kienyeji mash formula).
γWhole maize = 34 kg
γSoya bean = 12 kg
γOmena = 8 kg
γMaize/wheat bran = 10 kg
γLime = 6 kg
NOTE: For farmers who have more than 500 chickens it is advisable to make 1 tonne of feed at once (there are 14 bags of feed in one tonne). To make 1 tonne of feed, multiply each of the ingredients by 14.
Ensure that all the feed you make will last for one month and no longer β this ensures the feed remains fresh and safe for chickens. Any feed that lasts more than one month may deteriorate in quality and can affect your chickens.
Substituting Maize for other Grains
During some seasons, the price of maize or other grains goes up. In order to cut on costs, it is advisable to substitute maize for another grain. Maize and other grains e.g wheat, sorghum, oats primary function in feed formulations is to provide energy(carbohydrates).
The good thing is that these grains have nearly the same energy levels, so when substituting you can replace maize with another grain in the same quantity.
When substituting your chicken feed formulation ingredient, it is advisable to make a small batch, then test on a small number of birds. Observe their performance indices. The performance indices include weight gain and the number of eggs. If the performance drops, you can tweak your formulation until you attain the ideal performance.
Complete Guide to Chicken Feed Formulation At Home: π£ππ
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