Game chickens are an imposing breed used for show purposes, boasting long necks and sharp beaks with fearsome eyes.
Proper game bird feed can make your poultry stronger and healthier while improving the quality of their feathers and wings.
Contents
Starter feed
Game chicken feeds are high-protein rations specifically tailored to meet the nutritional requirements of non-domestic birds such as wild game such as pheasants, turkeys and mallards or domestic species such as game hens. These diets typically offer greater levels of protein as well as other essential elements like calcium than traditional poultry food products.
Chick starter is a complete feed designed to give chicks all of the protein and vitamins necessary for optimal development. Additionally, it contains coccidiostat – which can prevent coccidian protozoa, an infectious disease affecting baby chicks – helping protect them against coccidian protozoa infection. Chicks find this feed easy to consume and digest.
Grower feed is the next level up and usually comes in pellet form to reduce bulk density, improve feed intake and limit waste. It contains less protein than starter but more than layer food while boasting reduced calcium concentration levels.
Maintenance feed
Game birds like pheasants, turkeys, quails and ducks require high protein intake as their fast and strong bodies require lots of energy. Furthermore, these birds need a diet rich in essential vitamins and minerals for proper growth; show birds may receive this food to create brighter feathers or to strengthen wings.
This feed is ideal for mixed flocks with both hens and roosters or young and old chickens, including egg laying hens. It does not contain too much protein which could harm young egg layers but still provides them with essential energy-sustaining protein sources. Made up of 8 quality grains and pellets.
Conditioning pellets
Nutritional contents vary with feed products, with pellet quality often playing an essential role. Conditioning processes play an essential part in attaining an exceptional level of pellet quality; during conditioning, feed mash must be softened and heated in order to prepare it for pelleting at optimal steam pressure and temperature conditions – this allows us to produce top-grade pellets.
Raising conditioning temperature can improve pellet quality, but it is important to remember that heat-sensitive components will degrade at higher temperatures. The ideal conditioning temperature depends on factors like initial mash feed moisture content and ambient conditions.
Maintaining game bird diets with adequate levels of protein are vital for developing ideal muscle mass in game birds and providing premium feathering qualities. Furthermore, such feed provides energy, minerals and vitamins essential for their maintenance.
Oyster shell
Oyster shell is an often underestimated soil amendment, providing long-acting calcium release for plants to flourish. Crushed shells also make an excellent grit source for game chickens to help break down food in their gizzards more effectively.
Communities across the U.S. have established oyster shell recycling programs through partnerships between local restaurants and restoration practitioners. Miami-Dade County’s UF/IFAS Tropical Research and Education Center (REC) collects oyster shell from participating restaurants in buckets that are returned when full. Once collected, this shell is then cured outdoors for an agreed-upon amount of time, away from residential areas to reduce organic material build-up and unpleasant odors.
Curred shell is then distributed to restoration projects for use in living shoreline construction, acting as an essential resource to replenish lost oyster reefs.
Grit
Grit is an essential supplement that aids poultry in breaking down food. They store shell grit in their gizzards to help pulverize rougher foods like pellets and poultry scratch grains more effectively, while it also supplies important calcium for hardy eggs to hatch from.
Gritty people persevere towards long-term goals with commitment and persistence. Angela Duckworth calls this their “ultimate concern”, which gives meaning and structure to their lives compared to passion or infatuation, which are fleeting emotions that won’t remain with them over time.
Duckworth’s research demonstrates that grit is the single greatest predictor of success over talent or luck. For more information about character education and grit, visit MSU Extension’s website.
