Growing broilers at home: maintenance and care, feeding

Chicken meat is considered one of the best in terms of quality, benefits for humans. To have a pure product, it is advisable to grow broilers at home. This is within the power of everyone, even a novice poultry farmer. The main thing here is to properly maintain the chickens, feed them. Then, after a short time, tasty meat is obtained.

Features of growing broilers at home

Broilers are prepared from the 1st day for meat, because it is not for nothing that the name of the bird is translated from English as “fry on fire”. But meat is best taken from chickens. Chickens are needed to lay eggs. They are mated so as to continue breeding the breed.

For large farms, it is important to quickly build up meat, so hybrid crosses are bred. They can only be grown in an artificial environment.

In an individual farm, you can successfully grow broilers if you do not ignore the recommendations for keeping and feeding chickens. Do not delay the process of slaughtering chickens. And for breeding the breed, they take roosters and hens in the same proportion.

Bred broilers by an extensive method. Chickens are bought in the spring, and after 2 months they are sent for slaughter. Year-round intensive rearing aims to purchase young animals every 3 months.

For beginners, growing broilers requires some knowledge. But they are available, uncomplicated.

Advantages and disadvantages

You should raise broilers in your backyard because:

• gaining 3-5 kilos quickly;
• care for them is easy;
• supply with tender and juicy product;
• do not require a large area for walking;
• when slaughtered, they are easily plucked.

You can keep a bird in different ways, depending on the ability of the owners. Broilers are calm, do not create problems for summer residents. The disadvantage of the breed is that chickens lay few eggs. But broilers were created for meat production, and not for egg production.

Choice of breed and chicks

Begin breeding poultry with the purchase of chickens. It is best to purchase both roosters and hens, so that later you can breed the bird yourself. It is necessary to choose chickens from reliable producers. They must be 10 days old. By this time, the young growth is already strong, it will hurt less.Younger chickens require special care, special conditions of detention. They are more likely to die from disease. When buying chickens, they choose those that are distinguished by activity and mobility. You need to carefully examine the appearance of the chickens.

If the eyes do not shine, but dull, and the plumage is unevenly distributed, then these chickens should not be taken for breeding.

Of the breeds, ROSS-308 broilers are best suited for growing. Six months later, these white undersized individuals grow to a weight of 2.5 kilograms. Hens are laying well.

The COBB-500 broiler is famous for its rapid weight gain. The breed should be raised for meat and for eggs. In the breed, the change in mass gain is quite fast. Chickens easily tolerate adverse living conditions, rarely get sick. Popular breeds include Cornish, Cochin, Faverolle.

Broiler management practices

Wherever chickens are kept, they need to be dry. Ventilation is installed in the room, but birds should be protected from drafts. The bird must rush in a specially designated place.

Outdoor breeding

It is necessary to keep broilers on the floor by arranging a deep litter for them. Choose a room of such an area that there are up to 12 individuals per 1 square meter. The method is suitable for maintenance both in summer and in winter. The main conditions are temperature and humidity. Before settling the chickens, the room is heated to 26 degrees. This is the optimal temperature below which chicks will begin to have he alth problems. Gradually it should be raised to 30-35 degrees.

Young animals of ten days of age are preparing a room where the humidity will be 60%. As the broilers grow, the humidity should be at 70%. The light is on in the chicken coop for days.

To make it easy for the bird to adapt to the conditions of detention, prepare the room in advance with:

• washing, disinfection of walls and floors;
• drying;
• filling the floor with lime, using 1 kilogram of substance per square meter;
• installation of lighting;
• laying on the floor bedding of sawdust, shavings.

All the time when keeping broilers, the condition of the litter is monitored. In winter, do not forget that the litter should be thicker than in summer. It should be changed as it gets dirty. Do not place water containers on the bedding. After all, raw, it will lead to the reproduction of pathogenic microorganisms, diseases of the bird.

Cell Breeding

Broilers can be successfully bred in cages, as they are inactive, they are comfortable in a limited space. It is necessary to prepare a place, taking into account the fact that up to 18 chickens or 9 adult chickens will fit on 1 square meter.

If there is not enough space on the site, the cells are arranged in 2 tiers. The advantage of growing in cages is that natural ventilation occurs there. The bird is protected from rain by a reliable roof. Maintenance includes compliance with air temperature control. Broilers do not tolerate sudden changes in temperature. Chickens grow better at 30-35 degrees Celsius.

The litter is laid on the floor of the cages, which must always be dry and clean.

Broiler breeding in an incubator

To reduce the cost of buying chickens, summer residents try to breed birds themselves in an incubator. And here you need to correctly approach the choice of eggs:

1. Material should be taken only from hens over 2 years old.
2. Laying hens should be he althy and strong.
3. On examination, no damage is found on the shell. They take the average size, the usual form.
4. Before laying, the breeding material should be stored for no more than 3 days in a dark and cool place. It is possible to determine whether an egg is fertilized by transilluminating it. A dark dot is visible in the center.

Before placing the eggs in the incubator, they are washed in a solution of potassium permanganate. The incubation period lasts 21 days. At this time, the temperature is maintained at 37.5 and 37.2 degrees, humidity - 50-65%. In the first week, the eggs are turned several times a day.

Feeding Features

Hybrid crosses make up a clear feeding pattern. Each period of life of broilers requires a certain set of nutrients. Someone buys ready-made complexes for poultry nutrition, others make their own proportions. Broilers need fresh water all the time. Its temperature is within 30 degrees. Occasionally add sugar or potassium permanganate to the water.

From the early days

The resulting day-old chicks are particularly affected by lack of water. This must be taken care of. They are given water with sugar dissolved in it. A teaspoon is dissolved in a liter of water. Many poultry farmers advise using boiled eggs for the first feeding, finely chopping them. Others mix millet with egg powder.

Maize is included in the pre-launch feed. It is the basis of nutrition along with wheat or bran, milk powder, barley, soybean meal. One chicken is en titled to 10 grams of feed per day. By 2 weeks, its amount increases to 25 grams.

The drinking bowls are constantly filled with fresh water. It is useful with 1-3 crystals of potassium permanganate or sugar.

Eight day old chicks are given whey mash. It is necessary to add cottage cheese, chopped egg, crushed shells, chopped onions to it. A little later, the amount of greens in the feed is 10%.

Chicken food is based on corn - 48%, soybean meal - 20%. Wheat is enough 12%, fishmeal - 7%, brewer's yeast - 5%. Be sure to add chopped greens, a little chalk, as well as fodder fat.

Feed young animals up to 8 times a day. If everyone does not peck, then the feeders are cleaned of food debris by washing.

No antibiotics

The debate about whether antibiotics should be used in growing broilers or not has not ceased for a long time. At home, they try to exclude medicine from the diet. But it is believed that without antibiotics, the mortality of broilers increases. Regularly incorporating small amounts of drugs into the feed of the bird ensures growth acceleration and rapid weight gain.

Whether or not to give antibiotics to broilers, everyone decides for himself. But when a disease occurs, you can’t do without them.

Mixed feed

Combined feeds are given to chickens from birth. Only the ratio of feed components changes. First you need a pre-start mixture for chickens. Ready, it contains all the necessary vitamins and amino acids. You can mix your own.

As the chicks grow, the ratio of crops changes. Be sure to include corn and wheat, cake or soybean meal in the diet of broilers. It is useful to mix a little bone or fish meal, chalk. It is necessary not to forget about the greens, which are successfully represented in the feed by fresh nettles, previously scalded and chopped.

The frequency of feeding is important. If at first it reaches 8 times a day, then gradually reduce to 6-4.

Transferring young stock to chicken coop

It's time to move the grown chickens to the chicken coop. The room is prepared in advance, washed, bleached, and disinfected.The floor is sprinkled with lime, sawdust with a layer of 10 centimeters. Containers for food and water are washed clean. They must be hanging in order to properly care for them. An adult bird will need bathing containers. They are covered with wood ash. Shell rock, ashes are cooked in feeders.

Before placing the young, the chicken coop is heated to 27 degrees Celsius. Broiler chickens need to feel comfortable. They need light, warmth and dryness.

Broiler disease prevention

An artificially bred hybrid needs protection from disease. It is imperative to carry out preventive measures in order to get high-quality meat from poultry.

For 5-day-old chickens, it is better to take Enroxil in solution for soldering. Feed for 10-day-old young should be fortified. 1 milliliter of Vitasol is diluted in 2 liters of water.

Vaccination is carried out for broilers on the 11th day of life. Repeat it 2 more times every 5 days.

To protect against coccidiosis, you need to give the drug "Tromexin", 2 grams of which is diluted in 1 liter of water. It is important to vaccinate chickens on the 23rd-28th day of life.

How long does a broiler chicken grow before slaughter

Keep broilers until a certain time. It is advised to slaughter the bird in 2-2.5 months. Otherwise, over time, broiler meat will become stiff and dry. Leaving broilers out longer than usual will not reduce their appetite, but they will stop gaining weight.

Common mistakes

Mistakes in the maintenance of broilers lead to the fact that individuals die or stop growing. The main thing is to prevent rotting of the litter. Mold will form on it if drinkers and feeders are placed on a layer of sawdust.

It is necessary to constantly clean the premises, cages from litter. At the same time, it is worth disinfecting the walls, the floor, and drying them to prevent the development of diseases.

When the nutrition of broilers is not balanced, there are few vitamins, microelements in it, then the birds begin to peck each other's head. Weak specimens suffer the most from attacks.

You need to feed the young at the same time. Do not forget about clean warm water. Broilers often die due to dehydration.

Thanks to mandatory vaccination, all birds can be saved if some individuals show symptoms of the disease.

A profitable business will be successful when raising broilers competently.

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