The correct diet for feeding roosters: several important nuances. Chicken nutrition What does a rooster eat

Many people prefer dietary chicken because it contains the following beneficial substances:

In order to obtain such healthy meat, the farmer needs to know how to fatten chickens quickly, and what products are best to use for this. Usually, for fattening, they choose between two options - ready-made feed or self-prepared food. Some farmers even prefer to mix these two feeding methods. Let's figure out what their advantages and disadvantages are, and what to feed chickens for meat.

First of all, it is necessary to select those birds that will be suitable for further fattening. These include:

1. Culled chicks
2. Old roosters
3. Old chickens
4. Broilers
5. Young animals

Chicken mass set will go quickly if you know the main rules of good fattening:

1. Give food three times a day
2. Use grated raw vegetables, wheat bran, oat or barley flour for fattening, make mash, feed food waste.
3. After feeding, artificially reduce the amount of light in the room where the chickens are kept so that their activity decreases, and thereby gain weight faster.

There are several types of feeding poultry for meat, and they depend on the type of nutrition that the farmer can provide for the chickens.

The easiest way to feed a bird is by self-pecking, when it eats the food on its own. In addition, there is a machine method that requires special equipment. When birds eat food on their own, the following rules must be observed:

1. Feed must be given in the form of a mash
2. Up to 40% of the daily feed intake should occur between 6 am and 6 pm. At lunch, no more than 20% of the feed should be given.
3. Before feeding, the bird should be given millet or small corn, and during feeding, vitamins and useful elements – chalk and gravel – should be added along with food.

Fattening broiler chickens

As you know, broilers are a breed of chicken that is specially raised for meat. These birds grow very quickly and gain weight in just a few months, so they can be sent for slaughter. Most often, compound feed is used to fatten broilers; for example, when a bird is just born, you can give it Prestarter compound feed. With its help it is produced fattening chickens for meat from 0 to 10 days of life, and it helps to absorb calcium, phosphorus, proteins, zinc and other useful elements in the chick’s body. Thanks to this feed, the survival rate of livestock increases by 3 times. After this, Grover compound feed is used, which promotes weight gain and consists of natural ingredients. In addition to the main feed, it will be useful for broilers to be given dairy products, which contribute to the good development of the bird. So, in the diet of broilers you can include:

1. Milk
2. Serum
3. Yogurt
4. Skim cheese

These dairy products should not be consumed raw by birds; it is better to feed them as part of their feed.

After the birds have already grown, they need to be helped to gain weight. For this purpose, Finish feed for Broilers is used, which consists of organic ingredients and helps the bird gain up to 3 kg in a week.

Fattening laying hens - what should be given in addition to feed

Laying hens' main job is to lay eggs, but they can also be fattened for meat. Of course, it will not be as tasty as broiler meat, but it can also be eaten. The main feed for laying hens can be either factory-produced products or mash prepared by the farmer himself. As already mentioned, chickens need to be fed grain, fresh vegetables and meat and bone meal. However, there are other, no less important elements that grain-fed chicken must be received with food. These include:

1. Protein
2. Calcium (chalk)
3. Hay flour
4. Cake
5. Lemon acid
6. Gravel

All these substances are already included in ready-made feeds, but they can also be added to birds’ food on their own, but you need to strictly monitor their quantity so as not to create an excess or deficiency of a certain element in the bird’s body.

Fattening roosters for meat -

If a farm needs eggs from laying hens for incubation, then it is worth taking care of fattening the roosters. They can also be given food that is suitable for laying hens, but roosters will also need food such as:

1. Sprouted grain
2. Fish fat
3. Different types of grain
4. Vegetables

In addition, you can use ready-made feed, which contains all the substances that are beneficial for roosters. You should also know the rules for feeding roosters - usually they are fed before laying hens, installing feeders at a height of 40-50 cm from the floor so that the bird can reach the food. Feeding frequency can be the same as for laying hens.

How to feed chickens before slaughter?

Fattening chickens before slaughter- one of the most important parts of the poultry raising process. It is during this period that she should gain maximum weight. To do this, the birds are kept without walking, in cages, so you will need to equip a feeding area. You need to feed the bird more often and more than usual. You can determine that a bird is ready for slaughter by the fat deposits in the chest and wings. For fattening, 15-22 days are usually sufficient. The slaughter itself is carried out before or after molting, so that the bird does not have time to lose weight.

The basis of the diet for roosters is the same products that are used to feed chickens, but there are some peculiarities. It is necessary to know and take them into account depending on what kind of roosters you are raising - breeders, fighting ones or individuals intended for slaughter.

Standard

The optimal diet for roosters includes::

• grain crops;
• vegetables: fresh and boiled;
• animal feed;
• greenery;
• calcium supplements: fish meal, bone meal, crushed shells or chalk.

Moreover, the daily diet of roosters can include minerals, fruits and other sources of vitamins.

Farmers often base their rooster rations on household table waste, such as side dishes and bread. Thus, they want to save a lot on feeding the roosters. But with this approach to feeding, it is difficult to maintain the required proportions and provide balanced food.

There is also an alternative option - feeding with ready-made mixed feed, which is selected depending on the age of the rooster.

In addition to a balanced diet, it is also important for poultry to maintain a drinking regime. The water requirement for one adult is 200 ml daily. The volume of water should be increased if the birds' diet includes mainly dry food, and they are rarely fed wet gruel or fresh vegetables, which are also a source of life-giving moisture.

For breeding roosters

For the fertilization of hens, the quality of the rooster’s seminal fluid plays a very important role; it, in turn, strongly depends on the bird’s diet. IMPORTANT! The diet must be balanced to prevent roosters from gaining excess weight. Obese roosters become lazy, sedentary and inactive in matters of mating.

A balanced diet and optimal portion sizes have a beneficial effect on:

• sperm quality;
• mating efficiency.

It is necessary to enrich the diet of feathered males with ready-made balanced feed compositions from non-standard containers, which will stimulate an increase in sexual activity.

The feeder is arranged as follows: V-shaped feeders are attached to the wall approximately 40-50 cm from the floor. They are filled with a nutritious composition: cereals with sprouts in a volume of approximately 50 grams, a calcium-containing additive - cottage cheese or bone meal - 7 grams, raw carrots - 20 grams, as well as yeast - 5 grams and fish oil in the amount of 1 gram.

Moreover, you can purchase supplements for roosters that increase the quality of seminal fluid.

For individuals for slaughter

The diet for roosters destined for slaughter is also changing. In this case, the bird’s diet should be enriched with protein foods - boiled eggs, cottage cheese or other dairy products.

In order for roosters to quickly gain weight, it is necessary to provide constantly full feeders. They should be filled with grain or other dry food. Roosters that will be slaughtered will actively gain weight if fed with ready-made broiler mixtures.

For fighting cocks

For special breeds of fighting cocks, it is important to provide a special diet. The basis here is compound feed, selected depending on the age of the bird. Ready-made mixtures can have different forms: granules or crumbly appearance. Since such foods are developed by specialists, all the necessary substances are included in their composition. Such nutrition ensures healthy growth and strength of the bird.

Fighting breeds of roosters require increased levels of proteins and vitamins. For this reason, in addition to ready-made food, they are given:

• boiled eggs;
• dairy products;
• meat;
• greens, sprouted wheat and other cereals.

Feeders

Roosters often take food from hens. When kept together, feeders are equipped in such a way that the birds do not interfere with each other during feeding.

Special strips attached to chicken feeders allow you to reduce the size of the feed opening to 15 cm. This way, the rooster will not be able to get to the chicken feed.

Restrictive sides are installed on the feeders for roosters. Their size: 50cmx10cmx10cm. The sides are placed at a height of 55 to 65 cm. This distance from the floor to the feeder allows only roosters to feed from them. One feeder is enough for 15-20 cm of the feeding front.

If you have a large farm, a smart solution would be to purchase an industrial rooster feeder. This adaptation takes into account the height of the birds, their temperament and behavioral characteristics.

Organization of feeding

The main and basic rule for organizing the feeding of roosters is the following - they need to be fed separately from the hens. The former should not take food from the latter and vice versa. When birds are kept together, this problem can be solved by placing feeders for roosters higher. Chickens will not be able to reach them if they are at a height of 45 cm above the ground.

The roosters are fed first and only after they have eaten do they give food to the chickens.

Feeding can be carried out according to two schemes:

• give food several times a day without leaving it in the feeders after the birds have eaten;
• ensure the availability of dry food throughout the day, giving supplements to the diet (greens, wet mash, etc.) several times a day.

Important! Chicks up to 10 days old are fed every 2 hours. The break in feeding young roosters should not exceed 6 hours.

Thus, with proper feeding, roosters will quickly gain weight, and the likelihood of developing diseases will decrease. They will also be able to effectively fertilize a large number of chickens.

A properly selected diet is one of the foundations of success, which will allow you to achieve good results with minimal costs when keeping and breeding poultry.

We bring to your attention a useful video

Feeding roosters has several features related to their role in the reproduction of the flock. When kept together, feeding must be organized so that the roosters cannot take food from the hens.

To increase the fertility of eggs, scientists have developed special additives for feeding roosters. The maximum variety of feeds, their high quality, taking into account the characteristics of breeding roosters will allow you to achieve good results to obtain the largest number of fertilized eggs. Table of contents:

, being a variety of the famous Brahma, has retained its high performance.

Not many poultry farmers in Russia are familiar with such a breed of chickens as Castellana. At: you can view it.

Diet

On private farms, a chicken flock is kept in one enclosure. There are no special requirements for feed consumed by roosters. What to feed the roosters?

Cereals

Barley, wheat, oats, corn, buckwheat, millet, and crushed peas are necessarily included in the daily diet. Grains provide protein for poultry. In winter, grain provides energy and keeps the bird warm. Quantity per 1 head – 50g.

Green feed

Without fresh herbs, vitamin-rich grass meal or juicy tops, birds cannot fully develop. The comb turns pale, the rooster stops gaining weight, and its activity decreases. If the rooster is free to leave the coop, he can feast on grass as much as he wants. If this is not possible, provide 40g of greens per head daily.

Advice: Experienced poultry farmers advise giving sprouted oats to the breeding rooster. This type of cereal contains important vitamins A and E. Regular inclusion of sprouted oats in the diet improves the quality of seminal fluid and increases the fertility of eggs.

Be sure to feed the roosters root vegetables: beets, rutabaga, carrots. They are rich in vitamins and minerals and allow you to replace some of the fresh green food in the winter. Red carrots contain provitamin A, which improves immunity.

Beet and cabbage leaves contain many vitamins. In winter, cabbage and root vegetables are indispensable. Pumpkin is rich in vitamins. The seeds prevent the development of helminthic diseases.

Specialized stores sell ready-made vitamin feeds. If you prepare this food yourself, add pine and grass flour, vegetables, and an oil solution of vitamins A, E and D to the grain crops in the wet mash.

Table salt is required in the diet - 0.5g. It is added to the bulk of the feed.

Protein feed

The rooster needs to receive, just like laying hens, meat and bone and fish meal, ground chalk and shell dust. This way the birds will receive calcium, phosphorus and proteins. Dairy products are required - cottage cheese, yogurt.

Boiled potatoes and peelings, black bread, watermelon rinds, leftover soup, and fish broth are eaten with pleasure by birds and add variety to the diet. Leftover porridge will also work. Do not feed your bird sour food waste.

The diet of roosters should include earthworms rich in protein. In the summer, the bird itself will find them at the walking site. In winter, buy worms in specialized stores. This option involves high financial costs. It is cheaper to breed worms on your farm.

Some owners pamper their birds with grape snails. They are also rich in protein and minerals.

Special feed additives for roosters

The fertility of eggs depends on the quality of the seminal fluid. Sperm activity should be at the level of 80-90%, and the fertilization rate should not be lower than 95%.

Special feed mixtures will help to achieve good reproductive rates. They are prepared from ordinary products and vitamin supplements.

Compound:

• sprouted wheat, oats or corn – from 50 to 60g;
• fish meal or cottage cheese – 7g;
• red carrots or fresh herbs – from 15 to 20g;
• fish oil or oil solution of vitamins E and A – 1g;
• fresh yeast - from 2 to 3g.

All components are crushed and mixed thoroughly. The feed mixture is placed in separate feeders (corners). They are fixed at a height of about 45 cm from the floor. For one head - 10-15 cm of the stern front.

Advice: many farmers and industrial poultry farming specialists believe that under no circumstances should you overfeed roosters. This leads to a deterioration in the quality of seminal fluid and decreased activity. A 10-15% lack of male body weight does not affect the proportion of fertilized eggs.

Scientists have long been engaged in research to answer the question: how to increase the fertility of eggs and strengthen the immunity of roosters. For private households, farmers, and industrial poultry farming, scientists have proposed using microalgae as an effective food additive.

Spirulina platensis rich in easily digestible and nutritious substances. It is often called a green superfood. The composition of algae is impressive:

• carotenoids;
• minerals;
• vitamins;
• wave-valued proteins;
• polysaccharides;
• sulfolipids.

Farmers and poultry producers who add spirulina to their bettas' diets are already seeing results:

1. the reproductive capacity of breeding roosters has increased;
2. birds have become more active;
3. live weight increased compared to birds that did not receive spirulina.

Zootechnical and economic indicators are improved if up to 2.5% of spirulina biomass is introduced into the diet of cockerels. All chicken breeds, without exception, will benefit from a green food supplement given by nature itself.

Roosters often take food from hens. When kept together, feeders are equipped in such a way that the birds do not interfere with each other during feeding.

Video: Ovoscopy of a hatching egg

Special strips attached to chicken feeders allow you to reduce the size of the feed opening to 15 cm. This way, the rooster will not be able to get to the chicken feed.

Restrictive sides are installed on the feeders for roosters. Their size: 50cmx10cmx10cm. The sides are placed at a height of 55 to 65 cm. This distance from the floor to the feeder allows only roosters to feed from them. One feeder is enough for 15-20 cm of the feeding front.

If you have a large farm, a smart solution would be to purchase an industrial rooster feeder. This adaptation takes into account the height of the birds, their temperament and behavioral characteristics.

Advantages:

• the grille has wide windows;
• it is easy for the bird to get to the food;
• the line rises to a height unattainable for chickens;
• the feed is evenly distributed throughout the feeder;
• a reliable clamp will not allow the device to swing;
• the feed always remains in the center;
• The rooster quickly remembers the location of the feeder and does not interfere with the chickens’ feeding.

1. enrich the diet of roosters bran, cake, meal, legumes. They contain various vitamins and nutrients;
2. make sure there is enough water in the drinking bowls. One head needs from 200 to 300 g of water per day. Clean drinking bowls regularly;
3. will increase the reproductive capacity and accelerate puberty of roosters artificially lengthening daylight hours. In autumn, when the day length decreases, molting may begin. Light bulbs installed in the chicken coop will allow you to increase daylight hours to 12 hours.

Learn the nuances of feeding roosters. There is nothing complicated in creating a diet for breeding roosters. Special feed additives are easy to prepare. Using the “correct” feeders will help avoid theft of feed from laying hens. The use of bio-additives will allow your poultry to become stronger, more active, and increase the productivity of the flock.

Feeding roosters has several features related to their role in the reproduction of the flock. When kept together, feeding must be organized so that the roosters cannot take food from the hens.

To increase the fertility of eggs, scientists have developed special additives for feeding roosters. The maximum variety of feed, its high quality, taking into account the characteristics of breeding roosters will allow you to achieve good results in obtaining the largest number of fertilized eggs.

Diet

On private farms, a chicken flock is kept in one enclosure. There are no special requirements for feed consumed by roosters. What to feed the roosters?

Cereals

Barley, wheat, oats, corn, buckwheat, millet, and crushed peas are necessarily included in the daily diet. Grains provide protein for poultry. In winter, grain provides energy and keeps the bird warm. Quantity per 1 head - 50g.

Green feed

Without fresh herbs, vitamin-rich grass meal or juicy tops, birds cannot fully develop. The comb turns pale, the rooster stops gaining weight, and its activity decreases. If the rooster is free to leave the coop, he can feast on grass as much as he wants. If this is not possible, provide 40g of greens per head daily.

Advice: Experienced poultry farmers advise giving sprouted oats to the breeding rooster. This type of cereal contains important vitamins A and E. Regular inclusion of sprouted oats in the diet improves the quality of seminal fluid and increases the fertility of eggs.

Vegetables

Be sure to feed the roosters root vegetables: beets, rutabaga, carrots. They are rich in vitamins and minerals and allow you to replace some of the fresh green food in the winter. Red carrots contain provitamin A, which improves immunity.

Beet and cabbage leaves contain many vitamins. In winter, cabbage and root vegetables are indispensable. Pumpkin is rich in vitamins. The seeds prevent the development of helminthic diseases.

Vitamin supplements

Specialized stores sell ready-made vitamin feeds. If you prepare such food yourself, add pine and grass flour, vegetables, an oil solution of vitamins A, E and D to the grain crops in the wet mash. Table salt is required in the diet - 0.5 g. It is added to the bulk of the feed.

Protein feed

The rooster needs to receive, just like laying hens, meat and bone and fish meal, ground chalk and shell dust. This way the birds will receive calcium, phosphorus and proteins. Dairy products are required - cottage cheese, yogurt.

Food waste

Boiled potatoes and peelings, black bread, watermelon rinds, leftover soup, and fish broth are eaten with pleasure by birds and add variety to the diet. Leftover porridge will also work. Do not feed your bird sour food waste.

The diet of roosters should include earthworms rich in protein. In the summer, the bird itself will find them at the walking site. In winter, buy worms in specialized stores. This option involves high financial costs. It is cheaper to breed worms on your farm.

Some owners pamper their birds with grape snails. They are also rich in protein and minerals.

Special feed additives for roosters

The fertility of eggs depends on the quality of the seminal fluid. Sperm activity should be at the level of 80-90%, and the fertilization rate should not be lower than 95%.

Special feed mixtures will help to achieve good reproductive rates. They are prepared from ordinary products and vitamin supplements.

• sprouted wheat, oats or corn - from 50 to 60g;
• fish meal or cottage cheese - 7g;
• red carrots or fresh herbs - from 15 to 20g;
• fish oil or oil solution of vitamins E and A - 1g;
• fresh yeast - from 2 to 3g.

All components are crushed and mixed thoroughly. The feed mixture is placed in separate feeders (corners). They are fixed at a height of about 45 cm from the floor. For one head - 10-15 cm of the stern front.

Advice: many farmers and industrial poultry farming specialists believe that under no circumstances should you overfeed roosters. This leads to a deterioration in the quality of seminal fluid and decreased activity. A 10-15% lack of male body weight does not affect the proportion of fertilized eggs.

New food additives

Scientists have long been engaged in research to answer the question: how to increase the fertility of eggs and strengthen the immunity of roosters. For private households, farmers, and industrial poultry farming, scientists have proposed using microalgae as an effective food additive.

Spirulina platensis is rich in easily digestible and nutritious substances. It is often called a green superfood. The composition of algae is impressive:

• carotenoids;
• minerals;
• vitamins;
• wave-valued proteins;
• polysaccharides;
• sulfolipids.

Farmers and poultry producers who add spirulina to their bettas' diets are already seeing results:

1. the reproductive capacity of breeding roosters has increased;
2. birds have become more active;
3. live weight increased compared to birds that did not receive spirulina.

Zootechnical and economic indicators are improved if up to 2.5% of spirulina biomass is introduced into the diet of cockerels. All chicken breeds, without exception, will benefit from a green food supplement given by nature itself.

Feeders

Roosters often take food from hens. When kept together, feeders are equipped in such a way that the birds do not interfere with each other during feeding.

Special strips attached to chicken feeders allow you to reduce the size of the feed opening to 15 cm. This way, the rooster will not be able to get to the chicken feed.

Restrictive sides are installed on the feeders for roosters. Their size: 50cmx10cmx10cm. The sides are placed at a height of 55 to 65 cm. This distance from the floor to the feeder allows only roosters to feed from them. One feeder is enough for 15-20 cm of the feeding front.

If you have a large farm, a smart solution would be to purchase an industrial rooster feeder. This adaptation takes into account the height of the birds, their temperament and behavioral characteristics.

Advantages:

• the grille has wide windows;
• it is easy for the bird to get to the food;
• the line rises to a height unattainable for chickens;
• the feed is evenly distributed throughout the feeder;
• a reliable clamp will not allow the device to swing;
• the feed always remains in the center;
• The rooster quickly remembers the location of the feeder and does not interfere with the chickens’ feeding.

Some tips

1. enrich the diet of roosters with bran, cake, meal, and legumes. They contain various vitamins and nutrients;
2. Make sure there is enough water in the drinking bowls. One head needs from 200 to 300 g of water per day. Clean drinking bowls regularly;
3. artificially lengthening the daylight hours will increase the reproductive capacity and accelerate puberty of roosters. In autumn, when the day length decreases, molting may begin. Light bulbs installed in the chicken coop will allow you to increase daylight hours to 12 hours.

Learn the nuances of feeding roosters. There is nothing complicated in creating a diet for breeding roosters. Special feed additives are easy to prepare. Using the “correct” feeders will help avoid theft of feed from laying hens. The use of bio-additives will allow your poultry to become stronger, more active, and increase the productivity of the flock.

AUTUMN IS COMING- the time when Russian peasant farms traditionally began fattening poultry. Broilers were not known at that time and adult breeding and young chickens culled at the end of summer were used for meat.

It seems that our readers will be interested in their views, a description of which we found in the works of I. Abozin, a famous poultry farmer at the end of the last century.

In the fall, birds are put to fattening, that is, intensive feeding in order to quickly deposit as much meat and fat as possible.

Meat gain during fattening occurs only in young birds, and it is layered with fat and turns out more tasty. In old and generally adult birds, only the amount of fat in the meat increases - it grows with fat and becomes juicier, but at the same time the meat is not as tasty, the weight increase is not achieved as when fattening a young bird, and more fat is deposited under the skin and in the internal cavity.

Not all poultry breeds equally suitable for fattening and capable of producing equally tasty meat. Thus, meat and meat-bearing chicken breeds produce immeasurably better meat than purely meat-bearing breeds.

Preparing poultry for fattening should begin in early youth, from the time of hatching from the egg, and only a bird that is well fed during rearing produces meat that is well sprouted with fat and rich in nutritious juice.

Usually goes for fattening a young 4-6 month old bird. Well-fed chicks in their youth are suitable for the home table without special fattening, which is produced only for the needs of the market and which, in skinny birds, is usually preceded by feeding in the wild with food richer in carbohydrates - potatoes, beets, carrots, etc.

Feeding poultry It is carried out either by self-pecking, if the bird takes food itself, or by force, if the bird is force-fed.

In the first case the bird is free or locked up in a more or less cramped room, and in the second it is always subject to restriction of freedom and is confined in groups, for example, 8-9 chickens per 1 square arshin of floor, or more often individually in close cages, the front walls of which are made of slats, with at intervals of 1.5 inches to insert the bird's head.

Sometimes The front slats are made on hinges or inserted so that the bird can be removed from the cage from the front if the cages are located in several tiers.

For turkeys and geese The width of the cells is made up to 1 arshin 1 vershok, and the height is 1 arshin. 2nd century; for 6 chickens, the cage is 1 1/4 inches long and 9 inches wide. and height 10-12 in. (the cages are partitioned with transverse walls into 3-4 compartments of 5-6 inches each, if they want to place each bird separately).

Bottom of cells It is better to arrange it from slats 1 - 1.5 inches wide with gaps between them of 2 - 2.5 inches and place a retractable plank bottom under the slats. When the bottom is stationary, the birds have to be transplanted into empty cages to clean the cages.

Sometimes cells are placed one above the other. Then, in order for feces to fall down, the back of each upward row must protrude above the row below, and the bottom (or slats in the bottom) is only present at the front of the cage.

Bird feces To maintain air purity, they are removed daily or covered with a thin layer of dense, fine, dry earth or peat powder (sand is not suitable for this).

Room temperature maintained at 12.5-17.5°C. When there is a large number of birds being fed, there is usually no need for heating. And to freshen the air, exhaust pipes are installed.

For all fattening methods, cheaper feed is used, and for fattening they can serve:

1) various grains, both in whole form and in the form of cereals and flour;
2) potatoes, beets, carrots, nettles, various garden herbs, fruits;
3) whole and skim milk, buttermilk (buttermilk), cottage cheese, chicken eggs, beef and pork fat, cow butter;
4) residues from agricultural technical production - bran, mill dust, malt sprouts, cakes, sugar waste, etc.;
5) animal meat, meat meal and waste from slaughterhouses, blood and entrails of animals, both for direct feeding and for preparing worms;
6) fish and fish meal;
7) kitchen waste;
8) walnuts, hazelnuts and beech nuts, chestnuts, acorns;
9) May beetles and their larvae
10) various spices (juniper berries, cloves, cinnamon, etc.), used both to add flavor to the meat of fattened poultry and to stimulate its appetite.

Note- In 1 arshin - 71.1 cm, in 1 inch - 4.445 cm, in 1 ounce - 29.869 g.

In some areas, fattened poultry(chickens, turkeys, geese) are driven or taken in portable poultry houses to compressed fields, where she picks up the crumbled grain and is well fattened. Often this method serves as a preparation for force-fattening or is even combined with it.

Self-pecking feeding under ordinary conditions of keeping poultry in the yards, it consists of giving in abundance, 3 times a day, the best food, often also prepared by soaking, boiling, baking (porridge, bread), grinding (boiled potatoes), mixing several feeds together, mixing animal food ( meat, cottage cheese, milk, etc.).

This way it is possible It’s not a bad idea to fatten phlegmatic chickens (which are all heavy breeds), as well as turkeys, geese and ducks.

For best results and to speed up fattening, the freedom of movement of the bird is most often limited and food, mostly prepared and brought to a mushy state, is given to it 3 times a day in feeders placed or hung in front of the cage, in such quantities as can be eaten at a time. Residues are removed each time and the feeders are washed.

Fattening lasts 3-4 weeks, and darkness and absence of noise contribute to its success. And to eliminate sexual arousal, it is necessary to remove roosters from chickens. Force-feeding is carried out with solid, soft and liquid food.

If the food is given hard and dry or semi-dry in the form of grain, then it is poured into the bird’s throat through a metal funnel inserted into the mouth and throat, which has a beveled lower end, soldered with tin and with a short rubber tube put on so as not to cause injury.

Passage of grain before the goiter is relieved by pouring water or milk after each serving of grain and lightly stroking the throat from the bottom of the head to the goiter.

Flour feed mixed with milk, water or meat broth into a thick or liquid dough, the method of giving it depends on the thickness of the dough. The thick dough is rolled into finger-thick sausages and cut into oblong pellets (dumplings, dumplings). Such dumplings are pre-dried and prepared for 4-5 days.

For feeding dumplings to birds they take it out of the cage, squeeze it between their knees, open the beak with the finger of their left hand, and with their right hand they put a dumpling in it and push it with their finger into the food intake throat.

Galushka in front of the dacha dipped in lukewarm water or milk, melted fat, or cow butter. The passage of dumplings into the crop is assisted by hand and care is taken to ensure that the food does not stop in the esophagus.

Feed 3 times a day, with intervals between feedings as even as possible, during which the bird is left in complete peace and in the dark. Liquid food, consisting of a mixture of flour with water, milk and fat, is poured into the mouth with a spoon through a funnel.

I. Abozin. St. Petersburg. 1895