Pellets are convenient feed that are easily assimilated and stored, making them the perfect solution for busy chicken owners.
However, some producers also offer mash and crumbles as forms of commercial poultry feed for baby chicks. Mash feed provides more loosely formed nutrition.
Contents
Grain Meal
Chicken feed pellets are composed of raw materials like protein, supplements and crushed grain that have been combined into one nutritionally complete ration before being mixed, heated and compressed into pellet form.
Some of the most frequently used raw materials include soybean, cottonseed cake, corn, brown rice and sorghum. Other ingredients may include various grains, seeds and minerals; there are even specialty feeds designed to meet specific needs such as meat bird pellets for rapid weight gain and layer pellets containing extra calcium for strong shells.
Your choice of chicken feed depends on the ages and sexes of your flock members. Young chicks, for instance, need to start off eating mash as their digestive systems are still developing while their beaks cannot accommodate larger items. Pellet feed may provide more convenient and sanitary mealtime solutions as it prevents birds from cherry picking their favorite pieces of grain.
Feed Additives
Feed formulation uses numerous additives to ensure proper nutrition and preservation. These may include acidifiers, adsorbents or binders; all essential elements for poultry feed that enhance performance.
Feed-grade fats provide energy. Sources include rendered pig or beef fat and linseed, sunflower or soybean oil as sources. Fats also serve as sources of proteins and vitamins.
Antinutritional factors in feedstuffs interfere with the utilization of nutritional benefits by binding or inhibiting enzymes responsible for digesting them, leading to reduced protein digestion and binding vitamins, minerals and amino acids in our diets. Antinutritional factors may be produced during storage and processing of raw feedstuffs or by microbes breaking down plant cell walls during fermentation (Iyayi, 2009). Commercial enzymes may help overcome antinutritional effects (Iyayi 2009).
Feed Premixes
Feed premixes are blends of additives added to feed to increase its nutritional value, such as amino acids, antioxidants, antibiotics, vitamins and minerals. Feed premixes make chicken feed pellets healthier and more nutritive for poultry.
The most commonly fed premixes to laying hens typically include DL-methionine and L-lysine to enhance synthetic efficiency of protein intake, along with enzymes to assist feed conversion, reduce wet droppings, aid digestion and increase egg color enhancement. They may also include natural yolk pigments to promote better egg coloring.
Growing chicken feed is tailored specifically to meet the nutritional needs of young chickens aged six weeks to twenty weeks old. Packed full of proteins and featuring higher calcium concentration than layer feed, growing chicken food also contains vitamins and trace minerals designed to aid growth while protecting against pathologies such as anemia, hypovitaminosis, cannibalism, rickets and eye and hormonal diseases.
Grain By-Products
Chicken feed pellets are composed of an assortment of grains, seeds, protein sources, vitamins, and minerals combined into one cohesive diet that meets the dietary needs of different ages, sexes and types of flocks. Ingredients are mixed together before being heated and compressed into pellets that can easily be dropped from feeders; unlike mash forms of feed delivery which allow birds to displace it onto the floor by kicking around food pieces with their feet, creating an unsightly mess on the ground.
Cereal grain is the staple ingredient of most animal feed, including wheat, barley, and sorghum varieties. While these grains primarily provide energy sources such as carbohydrates and proteins, they also contain proteins and fiber for more comprehensive nutrition. Other energy sources may include soybean and canola oilseeds or animal fats such as rendered pork or beef fat for additional energy needs.
Protein can be obtained either through animal byproduct meals or plant proteins like lupins, alfalfa and sunflower. Since poultry cannot produce their own amino acids, these must be provided through diet. Methionine can be provided through adding fish meal or dried brewer’s yeast into their ration.
