Showing posts with label Poultry. Show all posts
Appetite Genes Are Key To Better Poultry Diets
The welfare
of poultry could be improved by a discovery about how chickens regulate
their appetites. Scientists have identified how a chicken's genetic
make-up can affect the signals sent from its stomach to its brain that
tell a chicken when it has had enough to eat.
Poultry farmers
often have to restrict food for chickens because some birds are
insensitive to feelings of fullness and can overeat, affecting their
ability to reproduce.
The study could make it easier to develop methods to develop diets that reduce excess growth more naturally in these birds.
Researchers say
that genetic differences, which affect when chickens recognise when
they have had enough to eat, could date back thousands of years when
chickens were first domesticated and breeds were selected for their
size.
The research
was carried out by The Roslin Institute at the University of Edinburgh.
Dr Ian Dunn, who led the study, said: "The findings shed greater light
on food intake in birds and help us understand why some breeds - in
general the faster growing types of chickens - are more insensitive to
feelings of fullness than others."
The study,
published in the American Journal of Physiology, Endocrinology and
Metabolism, focused on a protein called cholecystokinin (CCK) that has a
key role in sending signals linked to being full from the gut to the
brain.
The
researchers, funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences
Research Council, found that some birds were better equipped than others
at recognising the protein, making them more effective in triggering
signals of feeling full.
The study
involved cross-breeding a fast-growing meat production strain of chicken
with a relatively slow-growing, chicken. The researchers looked at how
the protein was processed in both types of chickens and in the new cross
breed.
They showed that reduced levels of protein that recognises the fullness signal also affected the chicken's natural body weight.
Their findings
back up the theory that, when poultry were domesticated thousands of
years ago and bred for increased size, their appetite levels were
changed. The study could also help inform research looking at appetite
regulation in other animals.
Dr Dunn said:
"All species regulate their appetites to make sure the amount of food
taken in is just the right to maintain body weight and fat content. Our
research has shown that there is genetic variation in the interpretation
of biological signals sent relating to being full. This also affects
what would be considered to be the natural body weight of chickens."
World Poultry
Hatching Checklist
Posted by Unknown in Hatching Egg, Incubator, Poultry on Sunday, 12 May 2013
Pre-Hatch Check List--Equipment
When you receive your incubator:
- Wash it thoroughly with a damp cloth using a diluted bleach solution; then let dry.
- Set it up away from drafts, direct sunlight, and traffic path.
- Regulate the temperature between 99 degrees - 103 degrees F for two to seven days before you begin incubation of fertile eggs. Maintain room temperature between 70 degrees and 75 degrees F.
- Make sure you have a reliable and accurate thermometer.
- Be sure the thermometer is placed at egg level.
- Fill water rings in bottom of incubator with distilled water and keep full.
Incubation Check List
- Wash your hands thoroughly before setting eggs in the incubator. Wash your hands after setting eggs in the incubator.
- Be sure the incubator water channels are full of water. Refill with water that is at room temperature.
- Mark an "x" on one side and an "o" on the other side of each egg with a pencil.
- Best day of week to set your fertile eggs is on a Tuesday or Wednesday.
- Regulate temperature between 99 degrees F. and 103 degrees F., most preferably at 100.5 degrees F., if using a still air incubator.
- Turn your fertile eggs three times a day beginning on day two until the 18th day of incubation.
- Wash your hands thourougly before and after handling the eggs. Keep records on turning the eggs.
- Candle eggs on day 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18 and after 21. Do not candle after day 18 until you are sure that hatching is complete.
- At the End of Day 18
- Place a thin layer of cheese cloth over the wire rack, then place the eggs on the cheese cloth.
- Add wet sponges to bottom channels to increase moisture, and if your incubator has vent plugs, remove them as appropriate.
- When chicks hatch, lower incubator temperature to 95 degrees F. Do not remove chicks from incubator until they are dry and fluffy.
When Hatching Begins -- Day 21
- Set up a brooder box.
- Get out feeder and waterer.
- Place wood shavings or other suitable class="smaller" litter in the bottom of the brooder box.
- Regulate the temperature around 95 degrees F.
- Provide water and feed for chicks after they are placed in the brooder box. Place marbles or rocks in the waterer to keep chicks from drowning.
- Return hatched chicks to the Extension Office or take them to the farm at the agreed upon time.
After Hatch
- Clean your incubator with a diluted bleach solution.
- Allow to dry.
- Wash and dry feeder and waterer.
- Put incubator and other equipment away for next year.
- Return evaluation.
Poultry Litter Not Responsible for Weed Surge
Posted by Unknown in Bedding and Litter, Poultry, Research and Studies, Weed, Weed Control on Friday, 29 March 2013
You don’t catch a cold from cold weather. Rubbing a corn kernel on a wart and then burying it under the doorstep will not make the wart dry up. And you don’t get weeds in your fields from applying poultry litter.
At least that’s what the little research currently available shows.
“We don’t have a lot of research on whether applying poultry litter to cropland increases weed pressure,” says Joseph Payne, Oklahoma State University Extension livestock specialist.
Payne, speaking during a weed management session at the annual No-Till Oklahoma Conference yesterday in Norman, said research as far back as 1934 indicates that poultry litter carries almost no weed seed.
A study back then indicated that only about 0.02 percent of seeds fed to chickens were viable in the poultry litter.
“It’s a real challenge to get a seed to survive a chicken’s digestive system,” Payne said. “The gizzard grinds everything up.” Also, chickens eat pelletized rations, which are heated to the point that weed seed would not remain viable.
“So we should not see weed seed in poultry litter.” Still, Payne gets questions from farmers who have noticed a “flurry of weed growth,” following application of chicken litter. “Ís chicken litter the source?”
More recent research indicates it’s highly unlikely. Payne said a study at N.C. State University in 1995 tested poultry litter products. Products that were fumigated before application showed no weed seed germination. Products that were not fumigated showed numerous weeds. Consequently, one might assume that the poultry litter did carry weed seed.
Not so fast. The study also looked at commercial fertilizer products. Products that were fumigated before application showed no weed growth. Products not fumigated showed “numerous weeds.”
The fumigation, not the nutrient, was the difference, Payne said.
Another study at Auburn University using sterile potting mix with the poultry litter came to the same conclusion. “Poultry litter is not a source of weed seed.”
What happens, Payne says, is that nutrition, whether biological or commercial, stimulates weed growth.
The litter does have value, he added. A litter product with an analysis of 63-61-50 includes $26 worth of nitrogen, $26 worth of phosphorus and $23 worth of potassium per ton. Add $2 for liming value and the total value is $77 per ton.
Payne said he would not pay that for poultry litter but would buy commercial fertilizer if nutrients were deficient. At a lower price, $40 per ton, poultry litter might be a better value.
“But remember, nutrients only have value if there is a deficiency in the soil.”
And that’s not chicken feed.
USDA Proposes Streamlining Poultry Inspections
Posted by Unknown in Inspection, Poultry, USDA on Monday, 28 January 2013
By Mary Clare Jalonick
Associated Press
The
Agriculture Department has proposed to reduce the number of government
inspectors at poultry slaughter plants in a move the agency says will
make inspections more efficient and improve food safety.
Agriculture
Secretary Tom Vilsack said about 1,000 government inspector jobs at
poultry plants would be phased out as companies take over the job of
looking for visual flaws like bruises in chickens on the processing
line. Vilsack said inspectors would shift to jobs more important to food
safety, such as sampling for pathogens and keeping conditions sanitary.
The move could save the government as much as $95 million in the first three years, Vilsack said.
"The
modernization plan will protect public health, improve the efficiency
of poultry inspections in the United States, and reduce spending," he
said.
The
chicken industry supports the plan, which would speed up the rate at
which poultry is processed and could save companies and consumers more
than $250 million, according to the department. The shift would be
voluntary and has already been tested at some plants around the country.
USDA officials predict about 200 of the 300 qualified poultry plants in
the United States would make the switch.
Consumer group Food and Water Watch said the proposal would give poultry companies too much control over inspections.
"USDA
must abandon this plan that puts industry interests above consumer
protection," said Wenonah Hauter, director of the group.
Poultry
companies say they have made great strides in recent years to reduce
contamination of pathogens such as salmonella and campylobacter in their
products. But that has not made them immune to outbreaks of illness. An
outbreak of salmonella poisoning linked to Cargill ground turkey last
summer sickened at least 136 people and killed one, prompting a recall
of 36 million pounds of turkey.
Can We Get Antibiotics Out of the Meat Industry?
Posted by Unknown in Animal Health, Cattle and Livestock, Meat, Medicine and Antibiotics, Poultry on Friday, 25 January 2013
I
have a distinct memory from a few years back, when anti-bacterial soap
and the like first became popularized, involving the Utopian promise of
wiping out all bacteria (good and bad) from hands, feet, countertops,
etc. While this promise of a cleaner and more sanitary world had its
appeal, I (along with a few other wary skeptics) wondered if the
eradication of all bacteria was such a good idea; that maybe this
pathogen-free promise was going to bring along unforeseen problems.
Well, we have yet to see the result of our anti-bacterial boon, but in
the fight against disease and pathogens with the use of antibiotics, we
humans have seen spotted trouble on the horizon – especially in relation
to factory farm-raised livestock.
As
a brief primer to the whole issue of livestock (or animals as some of
us tend to overlook) and antibiotics; industrial farms throughout the
United States have been mixing antibiotics into livestock feed since
1946, when studies showed that the drugs cause animals to grow faster
and put on weight more efficiently, increasing meat producers’ profits.
The primary reason that animals are fed antibiotics is because they are
fed a low cost, high calorie corn based diet. This is also the reason
the livestock tend to gain weight so quickly (as much as 70 percent of
all antibiotics used in the United States is fed to healthy farm
animals). Add to this the close confinement these animals are kept in,
as well as the stress and lack of sanitation that many of these animals
contend with, it is no wonder that they become prone to infection and in
desperate need of antibiotic treatment in order to stay alive for as
long as necessary.
But
the liberal use of antibiotics present more complex and knotty
challenges than just ethical ones. According to a New York Times report,
dispensing antibiotics to healthy animals is routine on the large,
concentrated farms that now dominate American agriculture. But the
practice is increasingly condemned by medical experts who say it
contributes to a growing scourge of modern medicine: the emergence of
antibiotic-resistant bacteria, including dangerous E. coli strains that
account for millions of bladder infections each year, as well as
resistant types of salmonella and other microbes. It has been estimated
that at least 18,000 Americans die every year from such drug-resistant
infections, many of which are attributed to liberal antibiotic use.
Now,
contributing to what may be a banner year for the Food and Drug
Administration (FDA), the FDA intends to put its proverbial food down
with new tighter guidelines that would effectively end farm use of these
antibiotic drugs simply to promote faster animal growth. In addition,
the FDA is calling for tighter oversight by veterinarians in an effort
to reduce what it calls a clear risk to human health. All of this FDA
movement comes at a time when vocal criticism of factory farms and
animal confinement has reached a fever pitch, and will undoubtedly be a
welcome relief to the long established status quo. However, not everyone
is looking forward to these tighter regulations, namely livestock
producers who don’t see the direct connection between factory farms,
antibiotic resistant bacteria, and outbreaks of human illness. In
addition, many in the factory farm business argue that more stringent
guidelines on antibiotic use would lead to more animal fatalities and
ultimately a more costly end product. However, the EU barred most
nontreatment uses of antibiotics back in 2006 and farmers there have
adapted without major costs. And it has been proven over the years, in
many different locals with sustainable farms, that animals raised in a
clean, natural environment that is not a breeding ground for bacteria
actually do better than their antibiotic-treated counterparts.
It
is too early to see how all of this shakes out, but in a year where
progressive legislation has been authored to reform egg farms, and a
general growing awareness of the shortfalls of the factory farm model,
it feels like a move in the right direction, especially after the FDA’s
relative inaction over the past decade. I would imagine that many of you
have strong feelings about the current status of factory farms and
their liberal use of antibiotics. I don’t even feel I need ask pointed
questions, as many of you will happily sound off without provocation
below. But please, I invite everyone to share your take on the current
state of being and what is needed for a happier, healthier, and maybe
more ethical food system.
Eric
Steinman is a freelance writer based in Rhinebeck, N.Y. He regularly
writes about food, music, art, architecture and culture and is a regular
contributor to Bon Appétit among other publications.
Health Authorities Still Search for Cause in Bird Flu Death
Posted by Unknown in Animal Health, Bird Flu, Chicken, Poultry
(Xinhua)
-- Health authorities in south Guangdong province have yet to find the
cause of the highly pathogenic H5N1 virus, commonly known as bird flu,
that led to the death of a bus driver, a local disease control official
said Sunday.
The
39-year-old man surnamed Chen in Bao'an district of Shenzhen was
hospitalized for fever on Dec. 21 and tested positive for the H5N1 avian
influenza virus. He died of multiple organ failure Saturday afternoon,
the Guangdong Health Department said in a statement.
The
department also said that during the previous month prior to his fever,
he had no direct contact with poultry and hadn't traveled out of the
city.
Chen's
wife said he had a habit of doing morning exercises every day near a
wetland park and an artificial lake not far from his home, but "no proof
has been found that his infection is connected with the migratory birds
there," He Jianfeng, director of the Epidemics Studies Institute of the
Guangdong Disease Control Center, said Sunday.
"We also don't know whether he had eaten poultry before he fell ill," He said.
He said contacts with poultry and migratory birds are two ways for humans to be infected with bird flu.
"But
Chen had been in coma after being hospitalized, so we couldn't inquire
about what birds or poultry he may have had contact with," he said.
The
General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and
Quarantine (AQSIQ) on Dec. 22 suspended supplies of live poultry to Hong
Kong after a dead chicken tested positive in Hong Kong for the highly
pathogenic H5N1 virus.
The
AQSIQ said it would maintain close contact and work together with the
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) to jointly step up
measures to control the epidemic.
The
Guangdong Department of Agriculture announced Saturday that no epidemic
of bird flu among poultry had been reported in the province.
Chen's
wife said he had asked for sick leave and stayed at home five days
before he was sent to hospital due to an ankle injury. While she
prepared his dinners, she didn't know what he had been eating for lunch.
Hong
Kong media reports have quoted one of Chen's friends as saying that
Chen had slaughtered a chicken to cook for others, but He Jianfeng
doesn't think that was the cause of his death.
"That took place a month ago. It cannot be the reason. The latent period of bird flu virus doesn't last that long," he said.
He advised locals against panicking, saying no proof has been found to show that bird flu virus can be spread among humans.
"By
Jan. 1, among the 120 people who had close contact with Chen, including
his wife, colleagues and medical workers, no one has shown any
symptoms," he added.
Also
on Sunday, the Shenzhen Municipal Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine
Bureau announced it had commenced 24-hour monitoring at all ports during
the ongoing three-day New Year holiday to enhance health inspection of
overseas visitors and guard against possible health incidents.
Swarnadhara poultry breed's benefits, no chicken feed
Posted by Unknown in Breeds, Chicken, Layer Poultry, Poultry, Zz_Wordpress on Monday, 10 September 2012
M.J. PRABU
The eggshell is brown in color and thicker than other commercial eggs |
| MORE YIELD: The birds lay about 180-190 eggs in a year. |
IN AGRICULTURE, even with the best crop production strategies and technical expertise, there is no guarantee that the yield will be bountiful.
Agricultural experts have always been advising farmers to grow multicrops instead of monocrops and rear cattle, goats and poultry along with their crops, because even if the crops fail, the animals and their produce will help the farmers overcome their financial losses.
Hardy Birds
Compared to cattle and goats, which require a hefty investment, farmers can rear country chickens (having coloured plumage) as these birds are hardy, require less space for growing and fetch a good price for their meat and eggs.
The development of a hybrid chicken breed named Swarnadhara by researchers at the Department of Avian Production and Management (DVPM), Hebbal, Bangalore will go a long way to meet the above criteria.
High Egg Production
Swarnadhara chickens have a high egg production potential along with better growth compared to other local varieties and are suited for mixed and backyard farming, according to Prof. K. Venkat Reddy, Associate Professor, Department of Poultry Science, Karnataka Veterinary, Animal and Fishery Sciences University (KVAFSU), Hebbal, Bangalore.
The bird can be reared for its eggs and meat. It attains maturity from the 22-23rd week after hatching.
Hens attain a body weight of about 3 kg and the cocks about 4 kg. "Swarnadhara hens lay about 180-190 eggs in a year. This breed yields 15-20 eggs in a year more than Giriraja chicken breed, which was released by the University in 2005.
(For information on Giriraja chicken breed refer The Hindu, Farmers Note Book dated December- 22-2005.)
"Compared to Giriraja breed, Swarnadhara breed are smaller in size with a lighter body weight, which makes them easier to escape attacks from predators such as jungle cats and foxes.
Good Hatchability
Each egg weighs about 55-60 gms," says Prof. Reddy. The eggs have a good hatchability (80-85 per cent) and enable the farmers to raise their own stock. A day-old chick weighs about 35-40 gm.
The eggshell is brown in colour and thicker than that of other commercial eggs and does not break easily.
"The eggs can be stored for 8-10 days at room temperature during summer and during winter for about 15 days.
The eggs are priced between Rs.3 and 5 in the local market," Prof. Venkat Reddy explains.
The birds are only layers and not brooders (that is, they only lay eggs and do not incubate them).
The eggs have to be hatched by local brooder hens. For backyard rearing, a flock of five hens and one cock can be ideally grown.
The birds are sturdy and have a high longevity. No special care is required to grow them.
Local Feed
They can be raised as free roaming birds and can be fed with locally available materials, according to Prof. Venkat Reddy. Being good scavengers, they feed on a variety of insects and green foliage. They can also be fed on farm and kitchen wastes.
"The birds are resistant to major infections except ranikhet and new castle which are common infections in poultry," he says.
Annual Income
A pair of Swarnadhara chicken fetches an income of about Rs.920 a year through the sale of its eggs and meat. One-day-old chicks and eggs of this breed are priced at Rs. 9 and Rs. 5 respectively and are sold at the university campus, according to him.
For more information readers may contact Professor. K. Venkat Reddy, Associate Professor, Department of Poultry Science, Karnataka Veterinary, Animal and Fishery Sciences University (KVAFSU), Hebbal, Bangalore-560024, Phone: (080) 23414384, 23411483 (ext) 201.
The Hindu
What Do Chickens Eat? A Guide to Chickens Food
Posted by Unknown in Alfalfa (Lucerne), Chicken, Feed, Layer Poultry, Poultry on Saturday, 8 September 2012
What do chickens eat?
Our chickens food guide will show you what to feed chickens, as well as your options for how to feed chickens.
Learn how to raise chickens in backyards and small farms for optimal self sufficiency, health and productivity.
Meeting the Nutritional Needs of Chickens
Chickens are production animals and so demand a nutrition-dense diet. Even if you are keeping chickens as pets, they still need plenty of nutrients to grow and lay eggs.
Feeding and Types of Chickens
What do chickens eat depends significantly on the types of chickens you are feeding, and whether you are raising chickens for eggs, or growing chickens for meat.
As this table shows, growing chicks have high protein requirements, and those being grown commercially for meat need the most.
On such a rich diet, commercial meat chickens normally reach their table weight by the tender age of just 7 weeks.
On the small farm or backyard it is often more practical to feed rooster and hen chicks together regardless of their different destinies.
However, expect such roosters being grown for the pot to take more than twice as long as commercial birds to reach a respectable size for eating.
Laying hens also have a relatively high protein requirement, as well as needing a lot of calcium, much of which goes straight out again as eggs.
And of course, chickens also need a whole range of other minerals, vitamins and fatty acids to thrive.
What Do Chickens Eat?
Here we’ll mainly concentrate on meeting the prodigious nutritional needs of the laying hen. However, most of this dietary information can be applied to other chickens; just remember though that non-layers need a lot less calcium!
***This is important as giving high calcium (i.e. layer) rations to other chickens, such as growing chicks, can cause kidney damage. ***
Another important point: never feed spoilt or mouldy feed to your birds. Feed is best fed fresh so don’t buy more than what you would expect to use within a few weeks.
And no matter what diet source you go for, make sure your chickens get plenty of fresh greens (weeds, vegetables, grass) every day.
Something to Think About If Raising Chickens for Eggs…
Laying an egg every day is no mean feat… Nutritionally it is akin to a woman giving birth to a full-term baby once a week!
No wonder failure to provide a quality, balanced ration is a common reason for poor egg production when raising chickens for eggs at home.
So, what is the best way to meet the prodigious nutritional needs of the laying hen? There are several options…
What Do Chickens Eat – Your Options!
We’ll cover a full range of options for what to feed chickens – from wholly commercial to the fully self sufficient option suited to raising organic chickens.
Commercial Layer Ration Only
What do chickens eat when you are too busy to mix or grow your own feeds?
By far the easiest option is to buy a high quality feed specifically formulated for laying hens from your local livestock outlet.
This should contain everything your layers need in the correct balance, including grit, vitamins and minerals.
Provide these rations ad lib, so that your hens can have as much as they want at any time.
Commercial layer rations can be in the form of seed mixes, pellets or crumbles. Use a poultry hopper, just half full and elevated to hen head height to avoid waste.
Expect each laying hen to use about ¼ lb (114 gms or half a cup) of commercial chickens food a day.
Supplemented Layer Ration…
What do chickens eat when grain is cheaply available in your local area? Yes, you can significantly cut your feed costs by supplementing commercial rations using cheap local grain.
The best solution is to feed the grain free choice (around 50 grams per hen per day) either in hoppers or spread on the ground amongst deep clean litter to encourage scratching, along with a higher protein (20 to 22%) laying feed.
If using a complete 16% protein laying feed, cut the grain fed down to half of this amount or your hens will get too fat.
You can also add surplus fresh or sour milk, stale bread, table scraps, pasture and garden waste to further cut the amount of commercial feed needed.
Consider local supplies of these resources – such as the waste from restaurants, bakeries, lawn-mowing contractors, fruit and vegetable outlets…
Whenever you are not using 100% commercial rations you need to also provide:
• Extra grit for all chickens.
What do chickens eat to compensate for having no teeth? Grit! Grit is needed by chickens to help grind seeds in their stomach, taking the place of teeth! It can be in the form of fine gravel or small, sharp granite chips.
• Extra calcium for laying hens.
The formation of egg shells requires considerable amounts of calcium. Provide it free choice as either calcium grit, natural lime sand, or oyster shell.
You can also recycle egg shells back to your hens after first washing the albumen off them (to prevent bacterial growth), then drying and crushing them.
Home Mixed Feed
Commercial rations can contain some unsavory industrial waste products such as sewerage, brew yeast or citrus sludges, as well as medicants such as antibiotics or coccidiostats.
So what do chickens eat when you are raising organic chickens or simply prefer a purer, fresher, more wholesome diet for your chooks?
One option is home mixed feed. It is not without its problems though.
Apart from the time and trouble of ensuring a balanced ration, I’ve done some calculations on home mixing my own “complete” chickens feed from bought ingredients and found the commercial feeds a cheaper option.
You just can’t compete on price with the big feed mills! If you can grow your own grains this is not such an issue though.
To do this right you must find the best and most cost effective local sources of protein and carbohydrates, and provide these in balance with sufficient calcium and grit to meet your chickens nutritional needs (see chart above).
Ideally, what do chickens eat when they are layers?
16-17% of the diet (by weight) should be protein. Wheat only has 12.5% protein. How do you make up the difference? By feeding the grain (wheat in this case) with a high protein feed.
Here is the protein content of some potential chicken food ingredients:
IMPORTANT… WHEN FEEDING PEAS OR BEANS!
Grain legumes such as peas and beans contain Trypsin inhibitors that not only reduce the availability of protein in the feed, but can also damage the bird’s pancreas causing chronic illthrift.
To use grain legumes you must first prepare beans or peas in such a way that you destroy the Trypsin inhibitors. This is usually done using heat – keeping them at or above 180°F (82°C) for at least 15 minutes.
The most effective method is:
1. Soak enough legumes to feed your chickens for a few days overnight in water.
2. Bring the whole lot to the boil then simmer for 15 minutes.
3. Cool and refrigerate.
4. Feed directly to your chickens (e.g. a heaped tablespoon of boiled soybeans per bird per day).
Here is a sample ration (parts are by weight):
52 parts Wheat24 parts prepared (boiled) Lupins or Soybeans 14 parts Meat Meal13 parts Corn9.5 parts Lime Sand (38% Ca)9.4 Skim Milk powder4.7 parts Sunflower Seeds0.4 parts Iodized Salt
What do chickens eat for vitamins and minerals?
Essential vitamins and minerals can be provided either in the form of a special proprietary preparation, or as dried kelp collected from the beach, as well as daily nutritious weeds, herbs and vegetables picked from your garden (see the home grown section below for more details).
Self Sufficient, Home Grown Option
What do chickens eat when, like us, you are striving to be as self sufficient as possible? The question is more important than you might at first believe.
Bought chickens food (as well as humans’ food!) of all kinds is destined to become increasingly scarce and expensive due to the twin influences of peak oil and climate change.
Add global economic collapse to the mix and it makes increasing sense to plan for self sufficiency now rather than for continued dependence on purchased inputs to your system.
And if your aspiration is raising organic chickens, it is even more crucial to grow as much of their food (organically of course) as you can.
So how do you grow your own chickens food?
We must start by reconsidering their nutritional needs (outlined above) for protein, carbohydrate, calcium, minerals, vitamins and grit and how we might meet them.
What do chickens eat for Protein?
There are several options on what to feed chickens to meet their protein needs at home.
Earthworms
Do chickens eat worms? Absolutely! And just as well, as they are a rich source (28%) of high quality protein as well as “good” fats and other nutritious yummies.
Earthworms are also easy to grow, converting almost any organic waste material – from used tea bags, paper and potato peels, to horse manure, weeds, hair and vacuum cleaner dust - into a primo poultry food ingredient.
Under ideal conditions earthworms reproduce rapidly. Grown on horse manure, one square meter can yield 1.7 kg of earthworm protein a year, enough to exceed the protein needs of 1 hen.
You can either grow your earthworms in special worm farms and feed them out to your gals, or grow them in the rich soil of your specially designed organic vegetable garden system and let the hens help themselves, while doing valuable work for you at the same time.
Other High Protein Fodders to Grow
• Alfalfa (Lucerne):
High protein and a good source of several vitamins and minerals, Lucerne is a perennial plant that can yield 0.3 kg of protein per m2 per year when irrigated.
We grow it specially for our hens and chop a good handful of the young fresh growth each day into their feed.
• Duckweed:
If you have greywater you wish to purify, duckweed (Lemnaceae) will do the job for you. Duckweed is a valuable feed supplement.
It has high concentrations of trace minerals, and its protein is extraordinarily rich in the essential amino acids, lysine and methionine. Each square meter of pond would yield around 0.4 kg of protein per year.
• Comfrey:
Comfrey provides a protein and mineral-rich feed which can effectively replace some costly concentrates in the poultry diet.
In summer four to five comfrey plants per hen can meet much of their protein and calcium needs. In winter, when the plant dies down, alternative sources need to be found.
Being less fibrous than Lucerne, it is much better suited to the digestive system of chickens.
With a dry matter protein content of between 15% and 30%, comfrey is as valuable a protein source as legumes. It is also rich in vitamins and minerals, particularly calcium, potassium, phosphorus and iron, as well as magnesium, sulphur, copper, zinc, selenium and germanium.
What do chickens eat for Carbohydrates?
All animals need carbohydrates for energy. For the laying hen about 80% of the diet should be carbohydrate. The most concentrated sources are the grains – wheat, barley, rice, oats, as well as vegetable seeds that chickens integrated with Permaculture vegetables can access.
Unless you are growing these yourself, or can get a steady supply of stale bread from your local baker, you’ll need to purchase grain locally. Luckily it is relatively cheap.
Hens totally unsupplemented with commercial rations may need from 50 to 100 grams of grain each per day, depending on what else they are eating and the season (feed more in cold weather).
What do chickens eat for Calcium?
Calcium is best made available to laying hens ad lib as crushed oyster shell or cuttlefish, or sprinkled in appropriate quantities on other feeds as crushed limestone (lime sand).
Various foods are rich in calcium and can also be included in your chickens’ diet. These include many green leafy vegetables (e.g. collards or mustard greens), brewer’s yeast, oats, milk, kelp, cooked beans and peas, sunflower and sesame seeds.
Herbs and vegetables you can grow for your girls which are known to be high in calcium include: dandelion, chickweed, mustard greens, kale, cabbage, dandelion, watercress, parsley, comfrey, plantain, nettles, raspberry (leaves), alfalfa, red clover, horsetail and chamomile.
Many of these can be served fresh, dried or sprinkled over fresh food.
Fresh watercress (Nasturtium officinale) in particular is highly nutritious, providing 4% calcium, 3% protein, just over 1% phosphorus, and a very good source of other important vitamins and minerals.
What do chickens eat for Minerals?
Your hens will get much if not all of their mineral needs from the many herbs and vegetables they get access to from your organic garden system.
If you are, however, keeping them in a simple run, kelp fronds make a very good source of essential minerals in the right combination for good health.
Simply collect some from a clean beach, then hang whole from a sturdy clip inside the run for the chickens to help themselves.
We make up our own inexpensive multimineral multivitamin preparation for supplementing all our animals and even ourselves.
Here is our recipe:
• 1 part (by volume) Torula or Brewers Yeast powder
• 1 part Lecithin granules
• 1 part Kelp powder or granules
Combine ingredients and store in the fridge in an airtight container. Give at the rate of 1 flat teaspoon per hen twice a week mixed into other food.
What do chickens eat for Grit?
On your travels, look out for deposits of sharp grit of granite, gravel or other hard rock and collect a variety of sizes. Offer the smallest to young chicks and the larger ones to adult birds.
