Why do chickens eat?
Published: February 11, 2025
Summary
All commercial poultry eat with reasonably good precision to balance nutrient intake with requirements. Short term, there can be some variation in feed intake related to local situations, but long-term, the mechanisms of feed intake regulation are quite precise. Matching nutrient needs with intake is an obvious inherent evolutionary necessity to ensure survival and reproduction. A bird’s da...
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Harbro Limited
24 de febrero de 2025
An excellent presentation. At what stage do you think that a laying hen would be able to self-select for calcium intake by taking oyster-shell or granular limestone from pan feeder? Would it make sense to offer such a mineral supply alongside a Pre-Lay ration, with ~2% calcium, in order to prevent any immediate shell quality issues when the first eggs are aid?
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24 de febrero de 2025
@Kevin Stickney In theory yes, you could offer feed and oysterhell etc and they would balance their nutrient needs. The practical issue is that birds invariably take too much oyster shell because of its novel texture. We see this in small flocks where a calcium feeder is set up. Birds consume 8-10g/d of oyster shell and then soft shelled eggs appear because of an induced P deficiency. You could give two diets, High and Low in Ca and they would balance themselves,but that becomes a logistics challenge. A pre-lay diet with most Ca as large particle will work, assuming it’s a mash diet.
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25 de febrero de 2025
Excess calcium is consumed by birds which are on controlled feed (feeders are empty) when grit is offered on free choice basis. Layer hens which are on full feed (feeder has feed) the hens eat as they need. They don't over consume the grit
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