How to raise broiler chickens. How to quickly raise large broiler chickens? What is given to chickens for active growth

Broilers do not belong to special breeds of chickens. These are hybrids that almost do not produce eggs, but grow by leaps and bounds, although a lot of feed is not required. Broiler meat is considered a dietary product. It is for these purposes that broilers are grown. It takes a little less than three months to get a full-fledged bird, but the feed must be appropriate for the breed.

Before you start growing broilers at home, you need decide on the right material. Today, many producers are breeding and selling chickens from one day old. When buying, you should not pay attention to daily babies, because they need to create special conditions for survival, otherwise they may die.

Growing broilers requires healthy material. The best chickens to raise at home are those that are already ten days old. They have already matured:

The chicken should be active, mobile, and the eyes should be clear and shiny. If only cockerels are needed, then they are checked by feathers on the wings: they must have the same length.

In healthy chickens, the tummies are soft, not bulging. The fluff is not tousled, but even. There should be no feces on the buttocks. The wings are tightly pressed against the carcass.

There are breeds such as Cobb 500, ROSS-308, with an enlarged tummy. Paws and beak may be with a bluish tint.

At this age, small broilers must respond to sounds. It is worth lightly knocking on the box, as the kids drop their business and rush to the place of noise.

When chickens live in a poultry farm, for food use special food prepared by special technologies. They consist of:

• Wheat and barley.
• Peas and corn.
• Fish and meat and bone meal.
• Crushed eggshells or shells.
• Complex vitamin supplements.

To grow one full-fledged broiler, you will need at least 4 kg of feed. At home, a kilogram more.

The first days of feeding are the most responsible. From the first to the fifth day, chickens should be given chopped boiled eggs, cottage cheese, and a mash. For its preparation, special chicken feed is used or a mixture that includes oats, barley, boiled millet. If the chicken is weak and cannot feed itself, then you have to force-feed. To do this, take a pipette, into which they collect a mixture with egg yolk and cow's milk. Feeding is carried out at least 8 times.

At five days of age, you can add:

• Finely grated carrots, only five grams. Do not interfere with dandelion leaves, nettles. Every day, supplements increase, they should be from 20 to 30 grams in the diet.
• The food is saturated with chalk, ground shell rock. Broilers are not averse to eating eggshells, but they need to be fried in an oven and then chopped.
• At this time, the chicks are demanding on vitamins A and E, fish oil, in order to avoid rickets.
• In order for the feeding to be complete, the broilers received the right amount of protein, the chickens are watered back. Wet food is prepared with milk or curdled milk.

Feeding twenty day old chicks

From this age, chickens begin to feed six times. The diet also changes. Broilers need food with fish or fish waste, sunflower or soybean cake, boiled potatoes. In addition, it is required to introduce into food, when grown at home, yeast (at least two grams), which is used in the bakery.

There should always be food left in the feeders so that the bird can eat at any time. In the daily diet of broilers products will be:

• Crushed wheat - 200 grams.
• Crushed oats - 100 grams.
• Tear from corn - 400 grams.
• Crushed barley or sunflower cake - 150 grams each.

From these components, a mash is prepared. For kneading, yogurt is used.

With proper feeding, broilers grow from small chickens in 30 days, weighing 0.5-0.7 kg. From now on, special chicken feed is not required.

Features of feeding monthly chickens

Broilers at the age of one month can already be given whole grains: barley, wheat. More complete nutrition when growing chickens at home is obtained if sprouted grains are used for feeding.

After 30 days, the final mixture becomes the main one in the diet, consisting of:

• Wheat -25%.
• Barley - 10%.
• Peas - 5%.
• Sunflower cakes - 20%.
• Corn - 20%.
• Soybeans - 20%.

You can use store mixes or make your own. The feed should contain fishmeal, chalk, shell rock, yeast. Food needs to be fortified.

Various greens, cabbage leaves, zucchini and pumpkin are added to the feed. Everything that remains after the host's meal is also a great addition. Dietary diversity is an important part of feeding broilers. You need to feed the bird with a fresh mash, if after two hours they have not eaten it, select it from the feeders, replace it with a new portion. Old food can lead to problems with the gastrointestinal tract.

Water must always be available, but its cleanliness must be constantly monitored.

It is not bad at this age to feed chickens with boiled eggs, millet, cottage cheese. Be sure to drink a solution of potassium permanganate. It should be pale pink in color. Especially if the chickens are weak.

Vitaminization - important point raising healthy chickens. Vitamins and minerals should be given to babies from the age of five days. First, vitamins A and E are drunk. Equally important is the presence of chalk, bone meal, shell rock. But the bird receives calcium from dairy products: yogurt, cottage cheese. They can be fed to chickens throughout the growing period. Not bad eat these products and already grown chickens.

Features of caring for chickens, creating conditions

Growing broilers requires the creation of special conditions. Except proper nutrition, need to adhere to the rules of care:

Create temperature conditions for chicks that have just hatched from eggs. They can exist if the temperature is not less than 30 degrees Celsius. The room is illuminated around the clock, preferably with an electric lamp, for 14-15 days. This will create an opportunity to grow quickly.

Starting from the 15th day, in the room where the broilers live, the temperature drops: no higher than 20 degrees. Lighting should not be constant, the chicks begin to distinguish between light and dark times of the day. Alternate turning off and on the light after two hours.

The room must be clean, ventilation must be installed in it. It is best to keep broiler chickens in specially equipped cages. In them, bird care is more convenient. If rearing is outdoors, then maintain a certain air temperature in the place where the chickens are kept. It is imperative to take the chickens outside on sunny days, because under the influence of sunlight vitamins are absorbed better, therefore your wards will be healthy.

Raising chickens is not easy. You will have to make a lot of work, but the result is always pleasing: after six months you can enjoy delicious dietary meat.

Wanting to start own business, the person is considering various options, and one of them is often the cultivation of broiler chickens to obtain meat in large quantities.

This business, with the right approach, turns out to be quite profitable, and up to a certain amount is feasible even in subsidiary farm if there is a plot of sufficient size to build a poultry house on it. Non-farm-raised poultry meat is in special demand, since its quality is much higher, and there is also no risk of getting a portion of antibiotics with it.

Where to start a business?

Growing poultry for meat in order to generate income begins with the fact that a business plan is drawn up, which is a guideline.

Before starting to grow broilers as a business, it is recommended to make sure that there are no competitors in the area yet, since it is extremely difficult to get a noticeable profit if they are. It is thought in advance what type of broiler chickens will be selected, what will be their maximum amount on the farm and what source of income (main or additional) this occupation will be regarded.

The bird is ready for slaughter already at the age of 45 days, and therefore it is necessary to decide whether the business will be year-round and whether a warm barn is required.

Since broilers are hybrids, then start adult bird in order to obtain eggs from her for incubation is useless. You must immediately acquire either an egg or day-old chicks.

Since the incubation of eggs requires additional costs for the incubator, it is best to buy chickens for growing for a trial time. This avoids additional complications. You should not make a trial batch of birds very large, investing heavily in it. The best option is the first batch of poultry in the amount of 30-50 heads. Some mortality in chickens is normal and should not be regarded as any kind of error.

Breed selection

In order for the venture to be profitable, it is necessary to choose the right breed, depending on what main direction the economy will be engaged in.

In the event that you plan to receive eggs, you need to buy egg crosses, such as high-sex (high-sec), broken classic or rhodonite.

When is meat required? the best option there will be broilers that are distinguished by the fastest precocity. No other breed of chickens, even for meat, gives such indicators as these hybrids.

When it is planned to obtain both eggs and meat, then meat and egg poultry should be purchased for breeding.

Chicken coop device for broilers

When only seasonal chicken breeding is planned, capital buildings are not required. In such a situation, a light house is enough, in which chickens can spend the night and take cover from the rain.

The main requirement for such a poultry house is the absence of drafts and cracks through which predators can enter it. For the overnight stay of a broiler, it is necessary to arrange a nest with hay, since it cannot sit on a perch due to its large mass.

Capital poultry house

When it is planned to grow poultry for meat all year round, broiler chickens should be provided with a capital poultry house. During its construction, a foundation is made at least 50 cm deep with a pillow under it made of sand and gravel 15 cm thick. The walls of the house should be made of foam blocks or bricks. The roof at the discretion of the breeder is made single-pitched or gable. Windows in the house must be mandatory, but small so that in cold weather, the chicken coop does not cool down through them.

The building is equipped with a small exit to the corral for walking. The size of the exit is 30 cm by 30 cm. It must have a door that is usually closed at night. The poultry house is insulated in without fail . Windows should have shutters so that they can be easily closed at especially low temperatures.

It is necessary to conduct electricity in the chicken coop so that the bird receives enough light in winter. For broiler chickens, since they do not tolerate low temperatures quite well, the use of heaters may be required.

Bird equipment

High-quality equipment will reduce the time spent on caring for the livestock and prevent unnecessary feed consumption, since the bird will not scatter it from a properly made feeder. Broiler chickens do not require expensive equipment, and therefore this item of the business plan is not very costly.

For feeding the birds buy feeders and drinkers. Their number depends on the number of heads in the poultry house. Each hen should calmly approach food and water without jostling. At the same time, empty areas of the feeders should not remain.

In order to raise chickens, you also need to buy special red lamps for heating young animals, thermometers to determine the correct temperature in the chicken coop, as well as medicines to prevent a number of diseases and vaccines for vaccinations.

Features of the content from 1 day for meat

Growing broilers from 1 day for meat at home should be done correctly, otherwise it will not be possible to get a quality product at the output.

Chicks up to a month old need warmth, and therefore they need to be heated with a red lamp. It is best to raise young in a box specially prepared for him, which is raised to a height of 70 cm from the floor. It is most convenient to cover the bottom of the cage with paper, as this allows you to spend a minimum of effort on cleaning.

In the first week after hatching, the chick is kept at a temperature of 30 degrees, illuminated throughout the day. Further, the temperature is reduced every 3 days by 2 degrees until there is no need for heating.

It is very important to remember that young animals of different ages are strictly forbidden to be kept in the same cage.

The older chicks will peck the younger ones, although broilers are very calm birds. You can connect chickens only when the youngest are 1 month old.

Care

Caring for young animals is not as difficult as it may seem to a beginner at first. To a chick meat breed rapidly gaining weight, it is required to provide him with proper care.

It is important to ensure that the floor of the cage is completely dry, as the birds begin to get sick and die in dampness. You need to clean the box 3 times a day.

Stuffiness also harms the young, and therefore the room where the garden is located should be regularly ventilated, but without allowing a draft, which is fatal for chickens.

If one of the chickens becomes lethargic and inactive, it must be placed in a separate cage to avoid pecking. Most likely, the chicken will die anyway, but if the others start pecking at it, then after tasting the blood, they can become too aggressive, and then fights will regularly break out between them.

diet

Proper feeding of a chicken is very important for its rapid and high-quality development. From the first days of life, pets should receive everything they need.

To do this, the easiest way is to purchase a ready-made starter mixture for chickens. Such nutrition without the addition of foreign feed is used for up to 2 weeks, after which they begin to add chopped boiled vegetables and root crops.

From the 20th day, young animals are introduced into the diet of grass and compound feed intended for fattening broiler chickens. It is also possible to raise a bird on grain, but it is much more expensive and, due to the peculiarities of the development of hybrids, is not always effective, since it is not uncommon for a bird to develop vitamin deficiency or a lack of minerals with such feeding.

The water in the drinking bowl should be clean and fresh, for which it is better to change it in the morning and evening. If this is not possible, then it is necessary to change the water once a day without fail.

Broilers should have constant access to food and water., since these birds have a very fast metabolism, therefore, if they cannot satisfy their hunger immediately after it occurs, their growth slows down, and the meat at the exit turns out to be quite tough and suitable only for cooking.

As a treat, the bird can be given bread or soaked crackers, then only no more than 15% of the weekly diet.

You can stimulate weight gain in chickens with yeast. When added to the diet, chickens gain weight especially quickly.

All feed for broilers must be fresh and of high quality.

Disease prevention

In the event that a bird is seen that is characterized by lethargy and an unhealthy color of the crest, and if there is discharge from the nostrils or eyes, it is urgent to isolate it from the rest of the herd. Timely detection and isolation of a sick individual can prevent an epidemic.

To prevent infectious diseases, when the number of birds is more than 100, it is necessary to vaccinate chickens.

Preparations for her are inexpensive and give a reliable result.

Expenses

The cost of the case consists of several items. In order to imagine how much money you need to get started, you need to consider the following expenses:

• construction of a warm poultry house - depending on the size and whether labor will be involved, it will cost from 70 to 150 thousand;
• paperwork for business - 15 thousand;
• chicken coop equipment - up to 30 thousand;
• purchase of feed - from 8 thousand;
• the purchase of a bird - the cost of an egg is from 30 rubles, a chicken - from 100 rubles.

With the seasonal content of broilers, the initial costs are significantly reduced, since there is no need to build a capital chicken coop.

financial benefit

Raising chickens for meat is different high profitability. Broilers reach slaughter weight in 45 days, having consumed about 8 kg of food in all the time.

The cost of 1 kg of domestic chicken on the market starts from 200 rubles. Her giblets also go on sale at a price of 250 rubles.

An additional source of income is chicken manure, which is in good demand among gardeners, as it is the best organic fertilizer.

Video

The business of growing broilers for meat, if properly organized, is profitable and can be the main source of income. There is not much fuss with the chicken, and if everything is debugged, then there will always be enough time to do it.

Boiler chicken meat is of high quality and tender, which is why it is in demand.

Farmers of large and small farms often grow broiler chickens, as this type of chicken is extremely beneficial for breeding: in a couple of months, you can grow individuals weighing under 2.5 kg, and their precocity and excellent taste of young meat give broilers popularity.

But in order for the growing broiler chickens to gain weight faster and grow better, it is necessary to create certain conditions for them, as well as a special feeding ration. And more and more farmers (especially beginners) have recently been interested in the issue of breeding this particular variety of chickens. But before buying broiler chickens, you should still be familiar with how to keep this bird, what to feed, and when you can slaughter broiler chickens for meat.

For 2 months, young broilers can gain weight up to 2-2.5 kg, so if you wish, you can grow at least two batches of chickens “for meat” during the summer period.

Proper care and a properly formulated diet are the two main points that poultry farmers should focus on when breeding broiler chickens. If it is not planned to leave part of the young for further breeding of the breed, then it is not profitable to grow them for more than 2-2.5 months. Indeed, after they turn 2.5 months old, body weight gain is reduced, and broilers continue to absorb feed at the same level. Therefore, their further maintenance becomes unprofitable.

In order for chickens to grow up healthy and strong, quickly gain weight and keep up with development, they must be kept in proper conditions, provided with proper care and feeding.

The key to providing normal conditions keeping - a poultry house in which optimal conditions are maintained for a comfortable stay of chickens, and it is also necessary to maintain sanitation in the room. Correct content, care and the right diet must be established from the first day of the stay of the young, since non-compliance with the complex of these conditions will lead to a massive loss of chicks.

Important to remember! On the floor in the chicken coop where broiler chickens are placed, there should be a thick bedding that is not changed until the chickens are slaughtered for meat. In extreme cases, remove its top layer and replace it with a fresh clean one. But for growing broilers, cage content can also be used.

When raising broiler chickens in a poultry house, it is necessary that this room is warm and dry, and the birds are protected from drafts. The floor should not be cold and damp. As a thick bedding, dried sawdust, but you can use other materials as bedding. The main requirements for them: they must be constantly dry, loose and clean.

Maintaining a constant temperature in the room where broiler chickens grow is one of the main conditions for their maintenance. If it is cold in the chicken coop, the chicks will flock and squeak, in which case the food they eat will go to heat them. If it is too hot in the house, then the chicks will suffer from overheating, drink more water, and practically will not touch the feed.

The optimum temperature in the room where broiler chicks are kept should be about 25⸰С.

In chickens of the first month of life, thermoregulation is imperfect, so the temperature in the room where they are kept should be slightly increased:

• for chickens of the first 5 days of life - about 25⸰С;
• from 6 to 12 days - 23⸰С;
• at the age of 2 weeks - 22⸰С;
• up to three weeks - 21.5⸰С;
• up to 4 weeks - 20.5⸰С;
• in the future, the temperature in the room can be from 12 to 19⸰С.

Until the age of one month in winter, in the room where the chicks are located, it is imperative to install heaters, the temperature near which should be 5-7⸰С higher than in the room.

Broilers gain weight the fastest in the first 30 days of life, so the feeding ration during this period is extremely important for them. The volume of dry food by day of life should be (per day):

• in the first 5 days - 15 g;
• from 6 to 10 - 20 g;
• from 11 to 20 - 45 g;
• from 21 to 30 - 65 g;
• from 31 to 40 - 85 g;
• from 41 to 50 - 100 g;
• from 51 to 60 - 115

In the first days of newborn broiler chickens, you should feed the same as chicks of hens of other productivity. Their menu includes:

• finely chopped boiled eggs;
• boiled millet;
• milk;
• crushed wheat groats.

When the chicks are 3 weeks old, their diet changes. Instead of millet and wheat groats, boiled potatoes are introduced into the food of broiler chicks, they are boiled for 1.5 minutes, finely chopped and added to the mash.

Also, after 3 weeks of age, mixed feeds are introduced into the diet of young animals, which are produced specifically for chickens. different ages. They also add foods containing proteins to their food:

• serum;
• fresh cottage cheese;
• curdled milk;
• reverse

From 1.5 weeks, fish waste is added to the food of broiler chickens, starting from 6 g per individual, gradually increasing the mass of this product to 15 g.

Chopped greens are introduced into the feed for chicks from the third day of their life. Usually it is added to the mix. The amount of greens - 5 g per individual. From the fifth day of the life of the chicks, grass flour is added to their food, at first its amount should not exceed 3 g per individual, gradually its amount is increased to 5 g.

On the 5th day of life, the following ingredients are added to the feed for the chicks:

• red carrot, which is a very valuable product for these kids - it contains many vitamins and other useful substances for their growth and development. It is crushed and added to the mash for chickens from the 8th day of life (up to 5 g per head); vitamins A, E, which are added to the food of chicks from the 5th day of their life;
• trivitamins;
• mineral feed, including crushed chalk, shells, bone meal. These additives are added to the mash for chickens from five days of age (no more than 3 g per individual).

You should know that young animals should not be given coarse river sand.

To disinfect the esophagus of young animals, a solution of potassium permanganate is poured into their drinkers. Such a procedure should be carried out from the moment they turn 21 days old, and it should be repeated at intervals of 21-28 days.

The number of feedings for newborn chicks should be eight times a day, after a while the number of feedings is reduced to 6, from the third week of life their number is adjusted to 4.

Near the feeders should always be drinkers with warm water, the temperature of which should be about 29⸰С. Hotter water should not be poured - young animals do not drink it well. Daylight lamps should be placed near places with food and drink so that young animals can see them at any time. Water is changed as it gets dirty, but at least once a day. Feeders are cleaned daily, once a week they should be thoroughly rinsed under running water using laundry soap(or boil).

Feeding and drinking chickens in the first days of life: video

To give or not to give antibiotics to young animals is a matter of dispute among poultry farmers. Some say that these drugs are harmful, and broiler chickens should be raised without these drugs. But others argue that if the chickens are not given these drugs for preventive purposes, then the chickens will begin to die from infections, and the livestock can no longer be saved by any medicine.

These drugs quickly destroy pathogenic organisms that can enter the body of young individuals. In addition, regular intake of antibiotics accelerates the growth of chicks, young animals gain weight faster. With regular intake of a small dose of antibiotics, mortality among chicks is reduced.

However, it is up to the owners themselves to decide whether to give these drugs to their chickens or not. One thing must be remembered - if the chicks are already sick, then it will not be possible to do without taking these drugs.

The composition of the purchased compound feed contains grains, as well as products with a large amount of proteins, amino acids, proteins, fats, minerals and vitamins. At each stage of development of the young, he needs a different feed (depending on the age of the individuals).

Usually, farmers buy ready-made mixtures, but you can prepare feed yourself - in this case, the poultry farmer knows exactly what components are included in its composition. And it is easy to prepare such food for your chickens, moreover, the price of such feed will be lower than that of purchased ones.

Most often, broilers are fattened with compound feed in two or three stages.

The two-stage method for fattening broilers includes:

• from the moment the chickens are born and up to a month they are fed with a special starter mixture;
• then the diet changes - the finishing mixture is gradually introduced into it, which helps the young to gain muscle mass faster.

The three step method includes:

• Initially, broilers are fed with a pre-start mixture, which strengthens the immunity of birds and helps them start their growth faster. Such compound feed is given to chickens from the moment of birth and up to 21 days;
• the subsequent stages are similar to those when feeding young animals with a two-stage method.

Important! More than three months of age, fattening broiler chickens is unprofitable, since it is at this age that they gain the bulk, and further fattening is useless.

Usually, the following ingredients are included in the composition of feed for young animals:

• wheat;
• corn;
• cake (which is sometimes replaced with meal);
• bone meal (can be replaced with fish meal);
• salt.

As the young grow, the ratio of these components in the feed changes. This is done to ensure that at each stage of development, the chickens receive a balanced amount of all the necessary substances for growth and weight gain. But you need to give young animals as much food as they need in this moment. Underfeeding leads to a decrease in height and weight, and overfeeding can lead to disturbances in their digestive system.

Chick care should begin with house preparation before buying young. It is necessary to carry out a thorough cleaning, disinfect the floor and walls, install clean feeders and drinkers, lay deep bedding. It is equipped as follows: first, a layer of slaked lime is placed on the floor - 1 m2 up to a kilogram of the drug, and sawdust is laid on top - their layer should be at least 9-11 cm.

Also, the chicken coop should have good ventilation, but so that the chicks are not cold.

The number of chicks in the chicken coop is calculated as follows: no more than 18 heads per 1 m2.

If necessary, install heaters so that the young do not suffer from the cold - this can lead to illness. The litter is not changed until the chicks are fully grown.

Also in the chicken coop you need to install additional lighting. One-day-old chicks need lighting throughout the day, then the daylight hours in the chicken coop are adjusted to 17-18 hours. Feeders and drinkers must be illuminated throughout the day so that the young can see them.

Important! When raising chickens, they do not equip a place for walking - broiler chicks do not need it.

When all the requirements for the care and feeding of young broilers are met, it is quite profitable to grow this breed of chickens - during the summer season you can provide meat not only for your family, but also sell broiler carcasses on the market. Therefore, many poultry farmers so actively began to breed precisely broiler breeds chickens.

Growing broilers at home: video

Broilers in the household: how to breed, feed, care

Chicken meat that we buy in supermarkets is broilers. A broiler is a breed of chickens that is bred artificially. There are several types of broiler breeds that have excellent meat and egg qualities. However, they all have distinguishing feature compared to simple chickens - fast growth rates.

Growing broiler chickens will help our practical advice, which is on the site. Anyone can buy chickens or adult birds to raise for meat or eggs. We will talk about a breed like the Ross 308, which is rapidly gaining muscle mass. During the day, the chicken increases the mass by 60 grams. You will find breeds that are ready for slaughter after 10 weeks.

However, in order to grow a broiler, you need to follow certain rules, which professional farmers will tell you about. If you buy birds from chickens, then you need to monitor the conditions in which the bird is kept. Improper care leads to the fact that more than 35 percent of young animals die. You will learn about the diseases of broilers, about the features of their cultivation. Although broilers are rarely grown in incubators at home, we will try to convey to you all the rules of this delicate matter.

Maintaining a constant regime for protecting poultry from bacteria and diseases is the basis for growing broilers. Professional farmers recommend taking care of the conditions of keeping the birds long before the young are bought. You will learn how to keep broilers in winter.

Particular attention should be paid to the feed that is used to grow broilers. Experts will point to the most the best views feed for poultry.

In order to constantly have fresh chicken meat on the table, it is not necessary to make tremendous efforts and a lot of finances. The main thing is to follow the rules for growing broilers, follow the advice of experts. Only in this case it is possible to achieve positive results. If you want to build your business, then we suggest you use practical advice. So, raising chickens for yourself, you can sell some of the meat and get additional, and maybe the main income.

Much nicer to have own goods, which is grown on environmentally friendly products than buying in a store or on the market is unknown. Anyone who follows our recommendations can grow broilers.

Growing broiler chickens at home allows you not only to have constant access to fresh high-quality meat, but also to sell carcasses of chicks to various trading companies. The main feature that distinguishes broiler chickens from other young animals is the presence of a gene responsible for intensive growth and accelerated development. Some crosses by the end of the first month of life gain about two kilograms with a well-composed diet. As a rule, broiler chickens are slaughtered in the second month of their life. At the same time, some broiler hens are left on the farm to produce healthy young.

There are several ways to get broiler chickens:

• By ordering them at a poultry farm;
• Bought at the market from a private farmer;
• By placing breeding eggs in an incubator.

Each of these methods has its own pros and cons. Let's consider them in more detail.

poultry farm

You should focus on factories specializing in meat direction. As a rule, in order to purchase chickens, it is enough to determine their quantity, place an order, pay for it and arrive on the appointed day for the goods. The advantage of such chickens is full set vaccinations, which the factory provides chicks, since it is completely unprofitable for the owners to breed sickly individuals.

Of the obvious disadvantages of buying chickens at a poultry farm, one can name:

1. Long-term transportation. Due to the fact that factories are not always adjacent to your site, you have to think about transporting chickens and maintaining optimal conditions during transportation. Thirty-degree temperatures, air circulation, stocking density - all this must be taken into account when moving chickens. To what extent it is possible to ensure all the indicated requirements is a rhetorical question;

   

2. The need for a veterinary certificate. Transporting chicks from another region will require you to provide appropriate documentation, for which you will have to contact the veterinary department. As a rule, this formality takes a lot of time and effort;
3. Acquisition low-quality goods. It is believed that poultry farms do not strive to sell the best specimens. Of course, it is unlikely that you will get half-dead chickens that will die in a few days, but it will be naive to hope that you will be presented with the strongest and healthiest individuals. It will probably take some time to get the purchased chickens healthy and fit;

   

4. High price. If we compare the cost of a chicken from a poultry farm and a chicken from a private farm in terms of cost, then the price of the former will be an order of magnitude higher.

Private farmer

There are a number of farmers who sell chickens on a full-time basis. To purchase young animals from them, you need to contact the supplier and agree on a specific date. You may have to wait, because unlike a poultry farm, a private owner has a limited number of layers that acquire offspring.

The benefits of buying from the hands largely depend on the reliability of the supplier. If a farmer treats his chickens responsibly, then buying chickens from him will be a very good deal, with virtually no downsides. In addition, chickens walk in a private courtyard, they are not fed antibiotics in large quantities, which has a positive effect on the health of the young.

The disadvantages of buying chickens from hand include:

As you can see, all these disadvantages rest on an unscrupulous private trader. It is most convenient to find a good supplier through reviews of familiar poultry farmers who have already dealt with a particular farmer. Also, remember that low price is often a cause for concern. When buying broiler chickens, chasing cheapness is at a loss.

egg incubator

In order to grow eggs in an incubator, you will need to take care of buying a breeding egg and, accordingly, a high-quality incubator. Breeding eggs can be bought exclusively at a broiler poultry farm. Note that to increase hatchability, eggs should be placed in the incubator for the first six days after they have been laid by the hen.

Another indicator of hatchability is the height of the airbox. The higher this chamber is located, the lower the percentage of hatchability will be. The optimal height of the chamber is up to two millimeters. To view the air chamber, it is necessary to bring the blunt end of the egg closer to the light source.

When purchasing an incubator, focus on new factory models. Such specimens are not cheap, but if your task is to grow thoroughbreds, then spending more will allow you to keep more chickens, and, accordingly, get more profit. The use of hand-assembled incubators can have unpredictable consequences. How to choose a quality incubator and what parameters you should pay attention to when buying a mechanism can be read below.

Own breeding herd

If you already have a certain amount of broiler chickens, then you can get the coveted young from them. In order for the offspring to be born healthy, you should take up the formation of the parent herd:

1. For the herd, you need to select the most viable and strong individuals. Neither hens nor roosters must be seriously ill or have any external defects;

   

2. On average, ten hens should have only one rooster. It is not advised to increase the number of roosters, as they may begin to compete with each other, which will in no way contribute to an increase in the productivity of laying hens;
3. For incubation, it is recommended to select eggs from mature broiler hens at the age of eight to thirteen months;
4. Throughout the laying period, the health of laying hens is carefully maintained, as only healthy hens can give birth to healthy young.

   

How to choose broiler chickens

The main concern of most beginner poultry farmers is that, due to their inexperience, they risk acquiring an ordinary chicken, passed off as a broiler. This concern is not groundless - such cases really take place when buying young animals from private traders.

To protect yourself from possible fraud, for the first time, purchase young animals at a poultry farm. As already mentioned, it costs more, but there is no doubt about its “breed” affiliation. You can read about the three largest and most popular crosses today in the table.

Broiler crosses

Table 1. The best broiler crosses

Cross	Description
	Chickens of this breed gain muscle mass very quickly. After two or three months, they can already be slaughtered to obtain good quality meat - by that time, the body weight of broilers increases to two and a half kilograms. The daily weight gain of these chickens reaches sixty grams. Among other things, laying hens ROSS-308 have excellent productivity and acquire chickens with strong immunity. The only feature of this cross is the characteristic pale skin color.
	ROSS-708 is an improved version of ROSS-308. Chickens belonging to this cross, as they grow older, gain up to three kilograms of weight in just one month. Due to the fact that these chickens are very easy to mistake for normal ones, some dishonest sellers like to speculate on the sale of "fake" ROSS-708. Broiler meat also has an unnatural pale color due to too rapid maturation of individuals.
	High productivity rates, combined with low appetites of individuals, quickly made this cross a favorite of many poultry farmers. In order for the chicken to gain one kilogram of live weight, he will need only two kilograms of feed. For a little over two months, the chickens of this cross increase to two kilograms. Thanks to strong immunity, the survival rates of young animals reach 97%
	This cross was finally able to overcome the main drawback of previous competitors and achieve a healthy skin color with a slight yellowish undertone. In this regard, the meat of these chickens is best sold and is in demand among retail chains. In one month, chickens of the COBB-500 cross gain two kilograms of live weight. The optimal period for slaughtering chicks is when they reach one and a half months

Chicks can be purchased the next day after their birth, and after two weeks. Beginning poultry farmers are advised to purchase more mature broiler chickens, as they are stronger, and besides, slightly older young are easier to care for.

Where to keep broiler chickens

The first home for chickens can be an ordinary cardboard box. In order to prepare the box for the settlement of chickens, a number of simple preparations should be made:

Step 1. Decontaminate the house with lime or creolin and dry the box.

Step 2 Lay an oilcloth on the bottom of the house, and sprinkle it with sawdust or hay on top. The layer of sawdust should be about three centimeters.

Step 3 Pick up drinkers and feeders for chickens and disinfect them.

Step 4 Prepare artificial lighting, which will also act as a heater.

Step 5 Place a thermometer in the box to keep track of any temperature fluctuations.

You can also use the following tips on the design and maintenance of the poultry house:

If we briefly summarize all the requirements for the poultry house and the conditions for keeping chickens, we will get three main parameters:

1. Dryness;
2. Warm;
3. Light.

If your plans include an independent construction, then the drawings and detailed instructions you can find in the corresponding article on our portal.

Growing broiler chickens

Now let's follow the development of broiler chickens from birth to three months. When raising chickens, it should be remembered that the smaller the chicken, the more carefully you need to approach the choice of feed and control the conditions for its maintenance.

First week

The highest percentage of mortality occurs precisely in week-old chickens, since any mistake by the poultry farmer can be fatal. Therefore, if you are not sure that you can handle fragile day old chicks, it makes sense to immediately purchase older individuals.

Feeding

The stomachs of newborn chickens are still quite weak, therefore, in order not to overload their esophagus, it is desirable to simplify the menu of young animals as much as possible. The first days it is allowed to give chickens one dry millet - it is easily digested and provides the chicks with all the necessary nutrients for growth.

Foods that day-old chicks cannot handle include:

• boiled eggs;
• Dairy products;
• Any wet food.

For preventive purposes, you can add a few drops of potassium permanganate to the water - this ritual will prevent the development of infectious diseases. Also, to strengthen the immune system, some poultry farmers give chickens a drop of trivitamin. This drug can be easily purchased at any veterinary pharmacy.

The end of the first week is the right time to start accustoming your chicks to store feed. To facilitate its digestion, the food should first be diluted with some liquid (for example, whey or light broth).

Important! Drinkers and feeders should not be empty - if the chickens have access to food all the time, then this will only benefit them.

Lighting and air temperature

In order for broilers to grow faster, during the first month, the brooder (or box) is illuminated around the clock. The air temperature should not fall below thirty degrees. In a word, the conditions for keeping the chicks should be as close as possible to those that took place in the incubator. Weaning chicks from constant lighting occurs at a more mature age.

Up to a month

A week is an important milestone, crossing which the chickens become more viable. From this age, some experiments with food and the introduction of new food elements are allowed.

Antibiotics and vitamins

When the chickens reach ten days, they can already be given antibiotics. Because antibiotics vary from region to region, it makes little sense to recommend specific names. To strengthen immunity, it is recommended to continue to give trivitamin to the chicks, as well as add ascorbic acid to the water (one package per three liters of liquid), which helps to normalize the digestive tract.

Feeding

At two weeks old, the chicks are ready to eat cottage cheese. Before serving, the cottage cheese must be carefully squeezed. In addition to cottage cheese, carrots, cabbage, boiled potatoes are introduced into the diet of chicks. It is not recommended to give beetroot to chickens, as it produces a pronounced laxative effect.

If you plan to transfer the chicks to crushed grain, then acquire in advance mineral additives, such as:

• ground eggshell;
• Yeast;

First month

Month old chicks have a stunning effect on many beginner poultry farmers. The fluff falls out by this time, while the feathers have not yet grown. While the chicks are somewhat "naked", make sure that they do not cross drafts and do not walk for a long time in the sun.

Feeding

Among the innovations regarding the menu of monthly broilers, highlighting the main ones:

By the way! If desired, you can leave the chickens on the feed. The use of mixers is preferred simply because it is cheaper.

Video - Caring for two-week-old broiler chickens

General conditions of detention

Two month

With a properly composed diet, two-month-old chickens reach a weight of two kilograms (certain crosses and three). Some farmers prefer to slaughter broilers already at this age. It is important to remember that chickens need to be prepared for slaughter, namely, stop giving antibiotics and any other medicines to the chicks a couple of weeks before this event.

Also, before slaughtering broilers, it is necessary to provide the most high-calorie and nutritious foods:

• Crushed cereals are replaced by whole grains;
• The proportion of legumes in the diet is increasing (they accelerate the growth of chickens);
• Pre-moistened corn will help the skin of the chicks to acquire the coveted healthy beautiful shade. It makes sense to include it if you plan to sell carcasses of chicks to trading companies in the future.

Suitable age for slaughter

It is up to each poultry farmer to determine at what age chickens should be slaughtered. If we talk about profitability and take the ratio of carcass weight to the resulting meat, then the recommended age of chickens is two to two and a half months. Some crosses also suggest an earlier slaughter date, which occurs already a month and a half after the chicken is born.

The further maintenance of broilers, of course, is also possible, especially if you plan to acquire chickens. However, if your goal is to obtain and sell chicken, then it does not make sense to delay the slaughter.

By two and a half months average weight birds is about two and a half kilograms. The subsequent development of broilers slows down and the weight continues to grow extremely reluctantly, which means that the cost of feeding such a chicken will not pay for itself.