29.03.2024

Growing chickens at home

Many owners of suburban areas over time, there is a desire not only to grow vegetables and fruits, but also feed my family nutritious and tender chicken meat and eggs. Growing chickens at home is a fairly lucrative occupation that pays for itself quickly.

However, one desire can sometimes not be enough. Any new business should start with learning all the nuances of keeping and breeding chickens at home.

The best time to buy chickens for farming is considered to be April or may. It is advisable to purchase day-old Chicks.

Buying Chicks at the poultry farm ensures that the chickens will be strong and healthy. And if they are new to breeding chickens, it is best to seek the assistance of a more experienced poultry farmers.

To acquire healthier day-old Chicks need to pay attention to a number of external signs:

  • Should look active and healthy. To be completely obsahom.
  • Must not have matted fluff, dirt and foreign debris, i.e., it should be yellow and fluffy.
  • At the time of sale the umbilical cord daily home chick should completely overgrown.
  • The umbilical cord should be tested definitely. From chick with any secretions on the umbilical cord should be immediately abandoned, because it is the first sign of the presence of infectious diseases in domestic Chicks.
  • A cesspool should have a clean look with a damp structure pink. Dirt and traces of litter on it to be completely absent.
  • Chicks should respond to the sound of something.
  • Must have a straight back.
  • Head daily chick needs to be smooth.
  • The bill is correct from a pigmented structure, is smooth.
Choice week Chicks

To save time and money on the rearing of chickens the poultry farmers sometimes prefer to buy Chicks weeks of age. However, this may not always be justified. The body of these chickens fragile and weak that can cause some diseases.

But if the decision to purchase week Chicks still need to pay attention to the following criteria:

  • The presence of the fluffy tail no traces of litter and dirt.
  • The chickens should look healthy and be active.
  • To touch the belly should be soft.
  • Chick must have a proportional and smooth head.
  • The beak should be straight with a pigmented structure.
  • The kid in the weekly age has a good reaction to the sound.
  • At this age already should be developed reflex pecking.
  • Week the chicken should be tightly held to the body wings.
  • The cloaca should be clean, without secretions and dirt. Have a pink color.
Choice monthly of chickens

For divorce monthly Chicks are becoming rare. Some farmers believe that these chickens have already developed immunity to the infectious diseases, so the health and survival of household monthly Chicks are much better than in Chicks at an earlier age.

But still when you select monthly chickens need to pay attention to some indicators:

  • Mobility and activity.
  • The soft structure of the abdomen to the touch.
  • Fluffy tail with a smooth structure, without the mud.
  • The reaction to the sound must be good.
  • Proportional and smooth head.
  • The beak is smooth with pigmented structure.
  • Reflex pecking should be well developed.
  • The wings tightly held to the body.
  • Cloaca without spots of excreta and dirt, clean pink.

Some poultry farmers prefer to raise Chicks yourself, rather than buy them from other farmers. Then the question arises, how to grow? Many experienced poultry breeders hatching eggs under a hen prefer, because it is a natural process.

How to raise chickens at home with the hen

Special difficulties the definition of a chicken that is ready for the eggs, will cause even the novice birder. Just need to pay attention to the behavior of chickens. If the hen woke up the instinct of motherhood, she sits in the nest and often stays there for the night. But no need to put under her eggs. It is better to follow the behavior of the hen some time to give her, as they say, to sit around. If the chicken is ready to hatching, then removing it from the nest, she rushes back. Making a bubbling sound.

The place where the hen will hatch the eggs must be separated from the other chickens. Preferably the nest for hatching set in a dark corner of the house, it’s best to use a separate cage. Depending on the weight of the hen it is possible to put from 11 to 21 eggs.

That the hen died from exhaustion and hunger, her need to feed. For this it is necessary to forcibly remove her from the nest and feed and water twice a day.

The process of the emergence of the Chicks begins to occur at 20-21 days after laying eggs. It happens that a hen without waiting for all of them, throw the remaining egg and is going out with Chicks already hatched, while eggs in the nest can cool down. To avoid such problems, you have Chicks that have hatched, to transplant into a pre-prepared warm place. Somewhere in the 22-23 day a family should be merged.

In breeding chickens with the hen does have its positive side:

  • The survival rate of offspring is high.
  • The process of withdrawal of natural.
  • At the time of withdrawal and in the future, the Chicks stay with the hen.
  • This method requires no financial outlay, so is considered to be economical in growing Chicks.

But there are also disadvantages in using this method of conclusion Chicks:

  • The duration of the withdrawal process.
  • The number of Chicks bred a season low.
  • The probability of pecking of eggs by the hen during the hatching.
  • The opportunity to hatching only once per season, during the warm time of the year.
How to raise chickens at home in an incubator

Recent high demand the removal of the chickens in the incubator.

This can be judged on the basis of a number of advantages of using this method:

  • The ability to use the incubator up to 10 times in one season.
  • Easy handling with the device. There is no need feeding and watering of hens, as well as concern for the integrity of the eggs.
  • A large number of eggs that can be placed in the incubator for one bookmark.
  • The ability to display of chickens all year round.

Incubators can be manual or automatic.

Manual incubators the process of flipping the eggs is carried out manually, and to do this operation with each egg separately. Control temperature and humidity in the incubator is happening with the direct participation of man. Therefore, the process of withdrawal of the offspring becomes complicated.

Automatic incubator process of the coup eggs at a time, after a certain period. The use of the thermostat allows you to maintain a certain temperature and humidity in automatic mode, which greatly simplifies the control of these parameters.

The disadvantage of this method of breeding is the need for uninterrupted electric power supply, because of its lack of even for 4 hours, can disrupt the entire process of breeding chickens. Application of emergency power supply automatic incubators helped to solve the issue.

The contents of chickens

To Chicks grow up healthy, you need to create them comfortable. The first week of life of Chicks are the most responsible, because in this period they are especially vulnerable to many infections.

Of particular importance in the first days of life the Chicks is:

  • The creation of the optimal temperature and humidity.
  • High quality, well-balanced diet.
  • The availability of fresh water for drinking.
  • The creation of good conditions of detention.
The room

After the Chicks hatch, they need time to dry. Then the Chicks out of the incubator is deposited in a specially prepared wooden or cardboard box, which is placed in a warm and dry place. This unpretentious dwelling will allow to get stronger and adapt to the Chicks.

The bottom of the box was covered in a soft cloth. The use of paper is unacceptable, since weak legs will slide on the paper surface, which can cause dislocation of the limbs. In straw small Chicks can become entangled. The use of sawdust is also prohibited, because the birds can peck the remains of a small wooden.

After a week the Chicks moved to the chicken house being on permanent residence. In this room should always be clean, warm and dry. Remember that the remnants of spoiled feed, the presence of litter can lead to the development of infectious diseases.

Requirements:

  • Be sure to carry out the disinfection of the premises.
  • It is important to protect the premises from possible penetration of the cats or rodents (rats, mice).
  • The humidity in the chicken house being should be not more than 70%.
  • 1m2 is not more than 12 chickens, to avoid crowding of young plants.
  • The presence of a litter layer of absorbent material, preferably hay with no mold.

With weeks of age you can do one-hour walk, because the sun’s rays can improve metabolic processes and are an excellent prevention of rickets. Next, the chickens will be outside most of the daylight hours. So you need to make for them a special pen from the grid. The presence of such a pen will protect the Chicks from cats and birds of prey. Well if you make a roof over the corral so that the chickens could hide from the rain.

Temperature and light regime of detention

In Chicks, weak thermoregulation, so for a comfortable stay in the first days of life the Chicks need to create a temperature close to the hatchery, and then gradually reduce it. For room heating the chicken house being poultry farmers often use incandescent bulbs, which hung at a height of 40 cm from the floor. Modern zaplatnikov found broad use of infrared lamps, with the device of smooth adjustment capacity, which makes it impossible to set the required room temperature.

Temperature control is done by the thermometer attached at a distance of 10 cm from the floor.

The magnitude of the temperature depends on the age of Chicks:

  • Daily Chicks up to five days of age is optimum temperature to 32℃.
  • 6 through 9 day of life the temperature is reduced to 28℃.
  • Another three degrees, reduced the temperature from 10 to 20 days of life, up to 25℃.
  • Further, the temperature regime is maintained in the range of 20-24℃.

The behavior of chickens can be judged on comfort mode in the chicken house being. If chickens are at ease while relaxing, eating, actively move, comfortable environment. But if the Chicks are pressed against each other, huddling together, then, the temperature in the chicken house being low, which can lead to disease and death of children.

The compliance light regime is a prerequisite quality of growing Chicks. Long-lasting illumination contributes to the rapid growth of the Chicks, because they can always find food, unable to move actively, which promotes good bone development.

With the first day of life, the duration of coverage shall be not less than 18 hours a day. Then gradually the duration of the light period is reduced to 10 hours up to 4 months of life of chickens.

Feeding the chickens

The key to the rapid growth of chickens and their health is varied and complete feeding. After eight hours after hatched, they are able to peck at food.

The main food for young Chicks is:

  • For daily kids main food is considered to be finely chopped boiled egg. They feed up to four days of life.
  • The next day you can give the cooked millet. Grain size is optimal for small beak, and she grits are well absorbed by the chicken. First, give the grits along with the eggs, in small quantities.
  • Further, when growing, you can add the corn and the wheat.
  • It is advisable not to apply for the nutrition of Chicks oats and barley, because film is difficult to digest months of age chicken.
  • Quality feed mixture can only be used on the third day of baby’s life.
  • From this period in the diet to introduce green feed. Chopped alfalfa, nettles, clover, onions, carrots, facilitate proper digestion.
  • Gradually into the mash, you can add dairy products – skim milk, cheese, milk.
  • Put in box on day 4 , the container of gravel, the chickens need it to improve digestion.
  • Meat and bone meal should be present in the diet of the chick.

In the first ten days of life, feeding should occur with an interval of 2 hours. Then decreases the number of feedings to 6 times a day, then reduce to 4 times. First, it is desirable food, simply sprinkle in place of feeding the Chicks do not push and do not interfere with each other. If the chick is sleeping peacefully after a meal, so he’s well-fed and healthy.

Remember that attentive to the little chickens will allow you to continue to receive a healthy and productive chickens which will delight you with delicious eggs and tender, nutritious meat.

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