In order for domestic chickens to carry enough tasty eggs and to be healthy, they need a balanced diet. The main part of their food is cereals. What grain to feed chickens - below in the article.

What grain is best for chickens

For laying hens, grain mixtures are prepared from grain, they are given whole or crushed, they are made mash. To do this, you can use millet, wheat, buckwheat, corn, oats, barley, sunflower. The introduction of grain into the diet of chickens has a positive effect on their egg production, provides the birds with the most important vitamins and microelements for them.

The grain of each of the above crops has its own positive qualities:

  • Sunflower acts as a supplier of energy for the body of birds, increases their egg production. Experienced breeders recommend introducing its seeds in winter. This will increase the birds' immunity.
  • Barley is generally recommended for feeding beef birds such as broilers. Barley for chickens can be given throughout the year. The crop grain has sharp tips. This can damage the digestive system of birds. Therefore, barley is mixed with other feeds.
  • Millet. This grain contains a lot of fiber. Therefore, it is introduced into the diet of young chicks. Chicken can be given millet with boiled egg. Already grown chicks are prepared with a mixture of millet, eggs and chopped greens.
  • Wheat is high in calories. It contains protein that is easily and quickly absorbed by the bird's body. Experienced breeders give chickens not whole grains of wheat, but bran from it. During the summer, they should make up no more than 80% of the total diet of chickens, and in winter - 40%.
  • Oats. It contains many vitamins necessary for rapid growth and egg production in layers. How to give oats to chickens? Grains are also high in fiber. The body of birds spends a large amount of energy to digest it. Therefore, oats should not be more than 10% of the total diet.

Wheat is high in calories

Despite the beneficial properties of each of the above crops, you cannot dwell on one of them. The diet of birds should be varied.

Diet variety

At what age can chickens be fed whole grains?

Feeding chickens in winter and summer is slightly different. During the summer, birds have the opportunity to find a lot of food while walking. Therefore, experienced breeders do not include corn and barley in their diet.

Grain mixtures

Birds need a lot of extra energy in cold weather. In order not to freeze, their body fat must be thick enough. Therefore, grain mixtures are used to feed chickens. They can be purchased ready-made, but it is better to prepare your own grain mixture for laying hens. The composition must be balanced. How correctly the mixture is prepared depends on how the chicken will lay, how it will feel, what the quality of the meat will be. It is important to maintain a balance between carbohydrates, fats and proteins that make up this food. There is no single recipe for preparing a grain mixture. Breeders make a variety of formulations. For example, to prepare 30 kg of classic feed, you need to take the following components:

  • crushed wheat - 11 kg;
  • oats - 3 kg;
  • barley - 3 kg;
  • crushed corn - 3 kg;
  • shale sand - 1 kg;
  • the sediment obtained after the preparation of sunflower oil - 600 g;
  • sachet of flavoring additive in granules - 10 g;
  • bone meal - 3 kg;
  • crushed pea grains - 2 kg;
  • cake - 3.5 kg.

How correctly the mixture is prepared depends on how the chicken will lay.

All ingredients are thoroughly mixed. This grain mixture can be used to feed chickens 2 times a day.

There are many more recipes for the preparation of grain mixtures. The composition of the chicken crusher depends on the breeder's goal, but they are all aimed at increasing egg production, improving poultry health, and improving the quality of chicken.

Mash

When compiling a diet for birds, you cannot do without a mash. It is especially important for feeding chickens, since they cannot peck whole grain yet. The mash contains the following components: shredding, kitchen waste, vegetables or root vegetables, chopped greens, bone meal. Often, when preparing a mash, a variety of fortified supplements and complementary foods are included in it.

Important! It is necessary to calculate the portion of the mash so that the chickens eat it right away. If it remains in the trough after feeding, then it must be disposed of. Always wash the feed containers.

How to make a mash for laying hens? This is not difficult. All of the above ingredients are ground and blended. You can add small potatoes to the mash. Before that, it must be washed and boiled along with the skin. As a liquid base, meat or fish broths, whey or yogurt are used. The main thing to remember is that 1 part of the dry components of the mash should be combined with 3 parts of the liquid base.

Cooking a mash of laying hens

You can start feeding chicks with a mash 4 to 5 days after hatching. For adult birds, yeast components are also added to it. It is a source of protein, vitamin B and a variety of enzymes. The use of yeast improves the process of food digestion and decomposition of its components.

Sprouted wheat

The grain does not have to be crushed or given whole. Sprouted grains such as wheat are very popular today. Such food for chickens is extremely useful because:

  • strengthens the bird's immune system;
  • improves the quality of chicken meat (it becomes more elastic and not fatty);
  • increases the egg production of layers;
  • the skeleton of birds and their muscular system are strengthened;
  • improves the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract.
Broiler turkeys

Sprouted grain changes its chemical composition. This contributes to the intake of a large number of useful components into the body of birds. Chicken takes a lot of energy and time to digest dry grain of wheat. Only 50 - 60% of the product is absorbed in dry form. If we are talking about sprouted, it is absorbed by almost 95%.

How to germinate grain for chickens:

  1. High quality wheat is selected that is not rotted and not old.
  2. A container for soaking grain is selected. For this, it is better to use glass or ceramic dishes. It is not recommended to soak wheat in metal or plastic containers. This will lower its nutritional value.
  3. Wheat is placed in a bowl and filled with warm water, the temperature of which should be within 35 - 40 ° C. It should cover the grain by 2 - 3 cm.
  4. The container is covered with a lid and left in this state for 14 - 18 hours.
  5. After this time, excess water is drained, and the grain is scattered on a clean oilcloth. It is necessary to germinate wheat or other grain in a special room, where there are no drafts and low air humidity.
  6. Next, the grain is covered with a damp cloth, which must be moistened as it dries.
  7. After 2 - 3 days, strong shoots will already be clearly visible.

Important! It is not recommended to germinate large amounts of grain immediately. Its shelf life is short. If mold begins to form on the surface of the wheat, it should not be given to chickens.

Sprouted wheat

Before germinating wheat for chickens, you should know that it can be not only beneficial, but also harmful to birds. For example, giving chickens large amounts of wheat germ per day will lead to hypervitaminosis.The maximum amount of such feed per day should not exceed 30% of the total diet.

It is better to include sprouted wheat in the diet of poultry in winter or autumn. This is due to the fact that it is at this time that the hens have a lack of vitamins, which negatively affects their egg production. In this case, they are recommended to give wheat germ 2 to 4 times a week.

You can sprinkle such a top dressing directly on the floor of the house or on the territory of the walking enclosure. This way the chickens will be able to chew the feed faster, which will prevent it from rotting.

Experienced breeders are converting obese chickens to a low-calorie diet. Its essence lies in the fact that birds eat different types of sprouted grains. The duration of such a diet should not exceed 14 days. Otherwise, chickens can become weak and sick.

Steaming grain

How to give yeast to broilers at home

Some breeders use the grain steaming technique. For this, they take different crops, but mainly wheat grain is used for steaming. This is due to the fact that in dry form it is rather difficult and takes a long time to be digested by birds.

Preliminarily, the wheat must be chopped. For this you can use household mills. It is better to steam the grain in glass or ceramic dishes. The dry mixture is filled with water, the temperature of which can be from 30 to 45 ° C. The dishes are covered with a lid. When all the liquid has been absorbed, the feed can be considered ready. It should crumble in your hands.

If the chicken is not rushing, experienced breeders recommend steaming crushed grain with it. This feed helps to increase the egg production of layers. An important condition is that you cannot immediately steam a large amount of grain. It deteriorates quickly.

Other useful grains

In addition to wheat, it is recommended to include millet, barley and rapeseed in the diet of chickens.

It is recommended to include cereals in the diet

Millet

Young breeders are interested in whether it is possible to give millet to chickens? Millet is considered a very healthy cereal. It contains vitamins such as B1, B2, B5, PP, as well as phosphorus, magnesium, iron and other useful components.

She is a leader among the grains used for feeding poultry. It is even recommended to introduce boiled millet into the diet of chicks. The grain is pre-soaked in hot milk and then mixed with a boiled egg. Millet diet in adult chickens increases their egg production rate. If you introduce millet and millet into the diet of chickens, the shells on the eggs will be strong, and the hen will feel strong and healthy.

Important! In large factories, millet groats are not cleaned, but given in their natural form.

Pearl barley

As for pearl barley, downtime is necessary for chickens. It contains a large number of amino acids, as well as lysine, which prevent feather loss in birds. For feeding chickens, it is recommended to use the most common pearl barley that has undergone preliminary preparation. In this case, the upper hard skin is removed from the grain. Since chickens do not chew food, it is this cereal that will be quickly digested in their stomach.

Pearl barley

Barley can be given in crushed form, or it can be steamed like wheat. You need to know not only how to give barley to chickens, it is important to have information on how much grain to give. Barley should not exceed 20% of the daily diet of the bird. Otherwise, disruption of the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract of birds cannot be avoided.

Rape

One should not forget about such a valuable and useful culture for birds as rapeseed. This plant contains many vitamins and trace elements necessary for the normal growth and development of birds. It is also important that it contains only 1% fat. This prevents the development of obesity in chickens. Raw rapeseed is used for the production of oil cake, flour and meal. All this can be put into poultry feed.

Important! Under no circumstances should rapeseed derivatives be poured with cold or hot water. In feed, it is used only dry and raw.

Almost all grain crops are suitable for feeding chickens. Each of them differs in its composition and useful properties.You should not stop the choice on any one, as monotony can harm the birds. A varied and balanced diet is the key to the health of poultry, as well as a high level of egg production.