Chicken feed can consist of an intricate combination of grains, seeds and nuts as well as grit (typically limestone or granite), which helps the chicken’s gizzard digest grass eaten by its eaters.
Starter and grower feed are important in supporting chick development while layer feed provides a balance of protein, vitamins, and minerals for egg production. Although some people supplement their commercial feed with table scraps or kitchen waste from home kitchens, this may result in too low a protein and calcium diet for proper egg production.
Contents
Protein
A complete poultry feed should include proteins, energy sources, vitamins and minerals to provide your birds with everything they need for healthy eggs or meat production. Commercial rations have been tailored specifically to provide these essential elements in an appropriate ratio to achieve this end.
Carbohydrates are an indispensable source of energy, providing our bodies with glucose for metabolism and cell growth. Most carbohydrates come from grains like corn, wheat or sorghum – the latter is particularly popular as poultry feed as it provides high levels of starch energy.
Protein is essential to egg production and muscle development. It provides essential building blocks for cell activity, providing essential amino acids like methionine and lysine for cell activity. Commercial feeds commonly include various protein sources like soybean meal, lupins and peas – with some even including animal byproducts such as bone meal, fish meat meal or feather meal as part of their protein sources.
Fats provide energy as well as benefits such as skin and internal organ health, blood clotting and absorption of fat-soluble vitamins like A, D, E and K. Commercial feeds often incorporate fats such as lard, beef tallow and poultry fat as components of their ingredient profile.
Fiber
Chickens differ from humans in that they require only small amounts of fiber for optimal digestive and microbial health, unlike humans who need large amounts of the substance. Commercial products fortified with all the micronutrients birds need, including vitamins A and D as well as minerals such as calcium and phosphorus, are readily available on store shelves.
Fiber content of poultry feed typically takes the form of cellulose and serves as an important source of nutritional energy. Fiber may either be in soluble or insoluble forms depending on its composition and how it’s processed, providing various levels of dietary satisfaction for poultry.
Studies have demonstrated the efficacy of high fiber diets to lower FI and FCR rates. Furthermore, the soluble fraction of dietary fiber – pectin polysaccharides specifically – increases proventriculus size while simultaneously aiding digestion of nutrients.
Similar to soluble fiber, insoluble dietary fiber increases total bile acids in the gizzard and improves starch digestion. Traditional methods for evaluating fiber (crude fiber and neutral detergent fiber) only recover a variable portion of what actually gets digested by chickens during digestion.
Vitamins
Like humans, chickens require vitamins and minerals in order to remain healthy and perform at their optimal level. Chickens require protein for muscle building and feather growth as well as carbohydrates for energy and vitamins and minerals for function – most commercial feeds now provide essential supplements in this regard.
Amino acids, fatty acids, and vitamins are the three essential nutrients for chickens. Amino acids provide the building blocks of proteins, and come from legumes, grains, and oilseeds; one amino acid known as lysine in particular can assist birds by helping produce their feathers; methionine and threonine are also often added as nutritional supplements in poultry feed.
Vitamins are necessary because poultry cannot produce them on its own. These include fat-soluble vitamins such as A, D, E and K as well as water-soluble ones such as biotin, folic acid, pantothenic acid riboflavin and thiamine.
Minerals are essential in our diet because poultry cannot synthesize them themselves. These include calcium, sodium, phosphorous and iron.
Minerals
Chickens require an array of minerals for optimal health. Some are macrominerals such as calcium, phosphorus and sodium; others such as iron manganese and zinc require smaller quantities that should be provided to them at lower concentrations in their diets to ensure an appropriate balance. If given at too high a concentration, however, interactions may occur which negatively impact one another and must therefore be carefully balanced in their nutritional blends.
Grains tend to be deficient in many essential minerals for egg laying hens, so supplementation must take place to ensure they receive sufficient amounts to build strong bones and produce robust eggs. Without enough minerals available, your laying hens may suffer from disease, poor growth or shell deficiency and cause shell deficiency issues in their shells.
Commercial chick feed differs significantly from mash feed in that it contains various grains mixed together with animal protein meal and mineral supplements, while commercial chick food is fortified with essential vitamins and minerals that contribute to good bone health and egg production, such as vitamins A, D, E and B complex and calcium, phosphorus, magnesium sodium potassium (CPMNK).
