Chicken feeds accounts for 70% cost of poultry production. Making own feeds at home helps to cuts cost and increase profits.
It is important to feed birds on quality nutritious feeds for proper growth, egg production and good health management. It is also important to add proteins to feeds to help chicks grow faster. Additionally chicken fermented feeds are recommended since they are easy to digest but these should be supplemented with greens. Avoid using rotten materials to make feeds as these may contain toxins which are harmful to birds.
Whole meal method
This involves mixing 20kg maize, 12kg sunflower, 13kg millet/wheat, 5kg soya, 200kg salt in order to meet chicken nutritional requirements.
Additionally, these should be grinned or fermented for 3 days to facilitate easy feed consumption.
Premix method
This method is recommended for all types of birds. It involves mixing concentrates with grinned corn in the ration of 3 tins of bran to 2 tins concentrates, these ingredients should be thoroughly mixed to enable birds uniformly receive the ingredients.
Home made chicken mash
This is the cheapest method of formulating chicken feeds. However this is not suitable for broilers and layers but rather for free range chickens. It involves mixing maize bran, wheat and sunflower in ratio of 3:2:1. Also when feeding give every chicken 0.13 kg per day and multiply feeds needed per chicken. Lastly ensure to store chicken feeds in a cool dry place, check feeds for insects before serving to birds.
