In the process of broiler cage chicken breeding, many farmers will adopt restricted feeding methods to raise broiler chickens. Because broiler cage chickens have a small range of activities, weight gain is mainly used to feed broiler chickens to prevent them from gaining weight. Too fast and cause obesity to affect the health of chickens, summarized the significance of using restricted feeding for broilers, and now I will share it with farmers.
Advantages of broiler feed restriction
- Restricted feeding of broilers can reduce the abdominal fat deposits of broilers by 20% -30%, thereby reducing the incidence of prolapsed anus and difficulty giving birth, and can improve their heat resistance and prevent heat stroke.
- Feeding broilers using restricted feeding methods can effectively control the body fatness of broilers and make their weight conform to the standards of this breed. If farmers adopt free-feeding methods to feed broilers, the weight of broilers at 20 weeks of age can be increased. It reaches more than 3.5 kilograms, but the standard weight of broiler chickens at this stage is only about 2 kilograms, so it is necessary to adopt restrictive feeding to prevent overweight from affecting health.
- Farmers can restrict the period of sexual maturity of broiler chickens by restricting feeding, and synchronize their sexual and body maturity, which can allow the bones and internal organs of broiler chickens to develop fully in the early stage, maintain proper weight, and avoid excessive growth.
early sexual maturity, so that the sexual and physical maturity of all individuals in the group are achieved substantially simultaneously. Broiler breeders generally start laying eggs at about 24 weeks of age, the egg production rate can reach 50% by 27 to 28 weeks of age, and the peak of egg production can be reached from 30 to 32 weeks of age.
According to technical requirements, broiler breeders should not lay eggs earlier than 21 weeks of age, nor later than 27 weeks of age. Reasonable restriction of feeding can make the breeding chickens start to tidy at a relatively old age, timely production, rapid rise in egg production rate, long duration of peak egg production period, and high qualified egg production rate.
- The implementation of the restricted feeding method can also save breeding costs for farmers. Restricted feeding can slow down the growth rate of broiler weight, reduce feed consumption by about 10% -30%, and reduce the breeding cost by about 8%.
Methods of restricting feeding in broilers
The methods of feeding restriction can be divided into time-limiting method, quality-limiting method and limited-feeding method. In production practice, various feed restriction methods are not used alone, and some methods are often used in combination according to specific conditions.
- The time-limited method mainly controls the feed intake by controlling the feeding time of the breeder. It can be divided into three forms: daily feeding restriction, every other day feeding restriction and weekly feeding restriction.
Daily feeding restrictions. Depending on the breeder’s age, body weight growth and nutritional needs to maintain growth and development, the daily feeding can be limited or the feeding can be limited by limiting the number of feedings or the time of each feeding. This method is less stressful to chickens, and is suitable for breeders in the late brooding, early breeding and 1-2 weeks before transferring to the laying hen house or throughout the laying period.
Feeding is limited to every other day. The two-day-restricted feed was concentrated on one day, that is, one day was fed, and one day was stopped. This method is more stressful to breeders, but it can alleviate the phenomenon of competition for food, so that each chicken eats roughly the same amount of food, so as to obtain chickens with higher body weight uniformity and meeting the target requirements. This method is suitable for chickens in the stage of rapid growth and difficult to control, but the total amount of feed for two days in the implementation stage should not exceed the amount of feed during the peak egg production period.
Feed weekly. Feed 5 days a week (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday), and stop for 2 days (Wednesday, Sunday), that is, 7 days of feed are evenly distributed to 5 days of feeding.
- The quality restriction method mainly restricts the nutritional level of the feed, so that the content of some nutrients in the breeder’s diet is lower than the normal level. Usually, the method of reducing the energy or protein level of the diet, or reducing the level of energy, protein and lysine, achieves the purpose of limiting the growth and development rate of the breeder. However, it should be noted here that other nutrients in breeder diets, such as vitamins, minerals and trace elements, still need to be supplied.
