In order that your chickens are developed properly minimum requirements should be fulfilled. As for every other animal these minimum is food, water and environment. It is believed that chickens are very convenient for having as a pet, as they can eat much of the leftovers, especially vegetables and corns.
Of course, this is not true from many reasons. Firstly, the feed you are giving to your chickens must be fresh and dry. That’s why it is really important to keep the bags with the feed on a dark and cold place, away from any kind of moisture. And what do we have in mind when saying it should be fresh. Experts advise that you shouldn’t use one bag of the food more than two months. Even if it is still up to date and you haven’t used the entire amount, just threw it away, as it will bring just more harm to your flock.
Secondly, there are five types of nutrients that your chicken need for a daily consumption. As you can guess these are carbohydrates and fats that supply our chicken with energy. First one can be mainly found in all sorts of wheat, corn and sorghum and fats as usual in vegetable oil and tallow. The second one are protein sources, that are found in meat products, soybean, canola and fish meal and that supply our flock with amino acids. Equally important are minerals (salt, limestone, calcium carbonate, calcium phosphate, oyster shell, mineral mix) and vitamins.
It is very important that all of these nutrients are combined in sufficient and right proportion, so we it is not usually advised that you mix it by yourself, but to decide for the feed from reputable manufacturer. No matter you choose a feed in a form of pellet, crumble or mash, it is important that it the producer can guarantee the quality of the feed. If this is the case, you don’t have to give your chickens any of extra feed in a form of vegetables, 10 days diet with vitamins and electrolyte supplements or some medicines.
There are certain rules even when it is about feeding equipment and their proper installation. In order to keep feed safe and dry it is advised that you keep the feeders away from free flying birds, other animals and moisture, so you should choose the place for the feeders inside the chicken’s house. You should take care that it is raised off to the ground and good protected so the chickens cannot get inside the feeder.
