I recently visited the market and found that the feed intake of chickens in some farms is too high. Let's talk about the reasons why the feed intake of laying hens increases.
energy problem
The feed intake of laying hens is affected by feed energy. In general, the energy requirements of laying hens average 300 kcal/day. If the energy of the feed is increased by adding soybean oil within a certain range, the feed intake of the chickens will be reduced. Conversely, feed energy decreases and flock feed intake increases. This year, the cost of raising laying hens is high, in large part because the price of corn, the main energy raw material in the feed, has risen by almost 50%, which makes farmers complain. The rise in soybean oil prices has also made things worse for farmers. In order to reduce the cost of breeding, some farmers could not resist the temptation of low prices and chose to buy low-priced corn. Under normal circumstances, low-priced corn will have high moisture or low test weight, which will greatly reduce the energy level of corn and make it less than normal feed usage standards. Insufficient feed energy, chickens will increase feed intake in order to meet their own energy needs.
physical problems
When the laying hens are in the wild, every spring, the laying hens will increase their feed intake to reserve nutrients for a new production cycle and to survive the harsh summer. Although the natural egg-laying cycle of laying hens that changes with the seasons has been changed after years of research and exploration by genetic breeders and the improvement of the breeding environment, some wildness is still retained in the genetic factors of chickens, which is also some One reason for the sudden surge in feed intake of chickens in the spring.
intestinal problems
As the temperature rises, the number of various bacteria, parasites and other pathogens begins to increase. The activity of coccidia and tapeworms makes bloody stools, diarrhea and other problems become increasingly prominent. Therefore, deworming in spring has become an indispensable part of laying hen farming. The climate in spring is changeable. The temperature has just risen for a few days, and a burst of cold air has invaded, and it has turned sharply down again. At the same time, the temperature difference between day and night outside is large, and chickens are prone to cold stress. It can be said that spring is a difficult season to control the environment of the chicken house. On the one hand, cold stress will increase the energy required by the chickens to resist stress. On the other hand, cold stress can easily lead to intestinal problems in chickens.