Grower finisher is a nutritionally complete and balanced ration designed to help broilers reach maturity by day 36 and turkeys by week 12. At 22% protein, Grower Finisher can help your birds realize their genetic potential for show.
Coccidiosis Prevention Food can come in either crumble or pellet form and contains amprolium to protect your chicks against Coccidiosis.
Contents
Protein
Commercial operations raising chickens for egg laying tend to use a specific feeding sequence with their chick starter and grower feed. Chick starter is typically high in protein content to jump start feathering and body development before switching over to grower food which may have less protein, yet still enough nutrition to ensure growth.
Once chickens have reached maturity for several weeks, they switch to finisher feed, which contains more maize and energy ingredients while having lower protein concentration. Since chickens are designed primarily to produce eggs rather than meat products, less protein will be necessary until egg production commences.
Feeds come in either crumble or pellet form and may contain amprolium or Lasalocid to help combat coccidiosis; some varieties even feature Alltech technology for gut health enhancement in birds.
Calcium
Chickens depend on calcium for healthy bones, skeletal development and to make their eggs hard. Chickens get some of their calcium needs met through eating grass when free-ranging and their layer feed, which contains an ingenious balance between protein and calcium to promote top egg laying abilities. Some layer feed may have up to 4% protein with more than double the calcium of typical starter or grower feed; feeding this much calcium could lead to kidney issues as the body cannot process all that extra calcium at once.
Chickens need an additional source of calcium in the form of shell grit which they can freely access from a separate dish. Be mindful when giving dolomite limestone as this contains 10% magnesium which competes with calcium for absorption sites in their intestine and may lead to poor bone growth and egg shell quality issues; choose natural sources like ground oyster shell, calcite powder or limestone chip/flour instead for maximum health and egg shell quality benefits.
Vitamins
This ration contains all the vitamins and minerals essential for growth in quail, pheasants, turkeys and game birds. Formulated with a balanced amino acid profile to support dynamic turn-over of bones, muscles and skin tissues while protecting feathers from cocci bacteria growth, it includes Amprolium as a coccidiostat. A recent study conducted by Skinner et al found that removal of vitamin premix did not adversely impact performance or meat quality in broiler chickens (29-43 days).
Ingredients include corn, soybean meal, wheat middlings, meat and bone meal, salt, calcium carbonate, DL-Methionine Hydroxy Analogue, Choline Chloride and Sodium Sesquicarbonate are included as ingredients in this feed, in addition to yeast culture for fermentation, Niacin Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement Folic Acid Vitamin A Supplement D3 Vitamin B12 Biotin Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex Inulin plus Dried Enterococcus Faecium Fermentation Product; Dried Enterococcus Faecium Fermentation Product as well as Dried Bacillus Reuteri Fermentation Products are included for fermentation processes.
Minerals
Dietary minerals are necessary for optimal metabolic activity and bodily balance. Unfortunately, an excessive consumption of trace minerals such as Fe, Cu, Zn, Mn, Se, Co, Cr Pb Cd can lead to toxic levels that negatively impact consumers [1, 2] as well as cause environmental problems [3, 4].
Pullets should be fed this feed for several weeks prior to commencing laying and switching to a complete Layer ration containing higher levels of PKC, wheat offal and maize for rapid growth.
The starter broiler diet had an ME value of 3150 kcal/kg, with 22.3% crude protein (CP), 0.9% methionine + cysteine, 1.2% lysine, and available phosphorus of 0.45%. Finisher broiler litter contained the highest concentrations of Pb and Cd, followed by starter and grower diets, while liver of laying hens contained high concentrations of essential trace elements (except Se and As which were undetectable in fresh and frozen meat).
