Every broiler farmer desires to achieve the desired weight at the expected time, but sometimes this is not the case.
Slow growth in chicken can occur due to health of the chicken, management of the chicken and low feed quality given to the chicken. In the past, broiler farmers used to mix feeds with antibiotics to boost growth but this has many advantages like high costs and negative health effects on both the chicken and humans and also leads to development of antibiotic resistant bacteria in both humans and animals.
Growth boosters
Garlic; this has been found to be a natural growth booster because it increases on growth, feed conversion ratio, decreases mortality in chicken and increases growth of important gut bacteria. The recommend rate is 3g of garlic powder per kg of feed.
Bitter kola: this has vital nutrients like iron, calcium, fibre and anti oxidants and also a growth promoter. This is used by sun drying and grinding them into powder then adding 25g of the bitter kola per 1 kg of feed.
Tumeric: this belongs to the ginger family. This has anti microbial, anti coccidiosis, anti inflammatory properties. Also promotes growth and the recommended rate is 7.5g powder for every kg of feed.
Cloves: On top of being growth promoters, these have antibiotic properties and aid in digestibility of feeds. The recommended rate is 0.15g of powdered cloves for every kg of feed.
Thyme: adding 1g of powdered thyme per kg of feed boosts growth in broilers. Ginger; this improves digestion and also kills parasites. Adding 2% of supplementary ginger improves growth performance in broilers ie add 20g of powdered ginger per kg of feed.
Cayenne pepper: this increases birds‘ appetite hence improving on the feed consumption hence boosting growth. It also kills gut worms and is a treatment for coccidiosis. Dosage is 0.5g for every 100g of feed.
Black pepper: this has growth promoting properties in broilers at a rate of 10g of powdered black pepper per kg of feed.
