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Vitamins Poultry require Vitamins A, B2, and D3 for normal growth and development. In birds under free range management, sunlight and green grass or green fodder normally provide Vitamin A and D, whereas Vitamin B may come from fresh cow dung. In birds under intensive management, multivitamins should be added to their feeds.
Water
Water plays a very important role in poultry nutrition. It is needed by the bird for digestion of feed, absorption of nutrients, and excretion of waste products and regulation of body temperature.
In addition to these nutrients, poultry feeds also contain salt and non-nutrient feed additives such as antibiotic, anticoccodiosis.
5.2: Poultry Feed Formulation and Ration
In this section you will learn about the points to consider when formulating poultry feeds and the types of rations that you should give to layers and broilers.
Principles of Poultry Feed Formulation
When formulating poultry feeds, you should be guided by the following principles:
1. Feeds must contain all essential nutrients in the right amount and proportion needed to meet the requirements of your poultry;
2. Chickens of different ages require different level of nutrients. Therefore when formulating feeds, you should be guided by the acceptable standards for the particular age of the bird;
3. The ingredients chosen for the preparation of poultry mashes must be palatable;
4. When selecting ingredients for preparation of poultry mashes, you should consider the nutritional value of each ingredient vis-à-vis the costs;
5. Chicken have no teeth to grind grains or oil cakes, hence all the ingredients should be crushed into the appropriate sizes in keeping with the age of chicken;
6. Micronutrients and non-nutrients feed additives should be chosen carefully and mixed up well for effective results;
7. Include agro-industrial products to minimize the cost and select a variety of ingredients to make good deficiency of one by the other;
8. While selecting an ingredient you should judge its optimum level of inclusion as many of the ingredients are likely to be dangerous at higher level;
9. Always avoid fungal infested ingredients;
10. Ensure that your feed has the correct carbohydrates /protein ratio required for the age of the bird. For example, chicks from the age of 0-8 weeks require a higher percentage of protein than that of carbohydrates. Birds from the age of 9-20 weeks on the other hand require a higher ratio of carbohydrate in order to provide them with energy;
Before you formulate poultry feed, you should first find out the nutritional requirements of the bird so that you can select the ingredients that provide those nutrients. Table 5.1 below gives two different methods of formulating layers mash.
Poultry Keeping & Management
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Table 5.1: Methods of formulating layers mash
Method 1 Method 2 1. Protein rich supplement: Vegetable portion supplement 15-20% Animal portion supplement 65-80% 2. Energy rich supplement cereals, millets 60-80% 3. Mineral supplement: Calcium 5% Standard mineral mixture 4. Vitamin supplement: Standard vitamin AB2 D3 1. Maize - 46 parts 2. Wheat - 20 parts 3. Fish meal – 6 Part 4. Ground nut cake – 15 parts 5. Sunflower cake – 5 parts 6. Calcite – 5 parts 7. Any standard mineral mix – 2.5 8. Dicalcium phosphate /bone meal – 0.5 9. Rovimix (vitamin AB2D3) @ 25.8gm/qH 10. Rovibe (B complex) @ 20gm /qH
Types of Rations
When calculating the rations for poultry feed you should consider the following two things:
their maintenance requirements;
their production requirements, that is, for egg or meat production
The following are the feed rations for different poultry birds:
Broilers starter mash contains 21-22% protein. It is fed to broiler chicks of 3-6 weeks;
Broiler finisher mash has 19-22% protein. It is fed to broilers over 6 weeks. It also contain more fat and xanthophylls pigments that aids in the development of the uniform yellow skin colour;
Chick mash contains 21-22% protein or 16% digestible protein. It is given to layers from 1-8 weeks;
Grower’s mash contains 15-16% digestible protein. It is fed to layers of 9-19 weeks;
Layers mash contain 11-12% digestible protein. It is given to layers from 19 weeks and during the laying period. Each bird should receive 113g per day.
Table 5.2 shows the amount of feed in grams for birds at different ages.
