Easiest steps to make chicken feed or pellets for your chicken involves the use of feed hammer mill to grind the ingredients so that they become fine powder ingredients/mashed potatoes. After, mix all the ingredients in the feed mixer and wait until the mixture is even.
The moist viscous mixture shall be the final mixture. It is now possible to transfer the mixture to the feeder of the pelletizer and then to the roller press and die press.
The average moisture content of extruded feed should be about 16-17%. The final step is to dry the wet pellets until the moisture content is less than 12%.
To grow animals you must feed them; and to feed them, there has to be one form of nutritional provision or the other.
If you can grow everything your chickens eat, you don’t have to purchase feed at all. And, if you mix feed from bulk ingredients, at least you know the composition of the feed. This is good for farmers who want to avoid to many expenses.
Three Types of Chicken Feed
Before you know the easiest steps to make chicken feed or pellets, it important you understand the different types of chicken feed. They includes:
1. Mash Chicken Feed:
It is simply crushed and mixed into a loose chicken feed. It’s completely nutritious feed. It’s the best chicken feed on the market today, and its texture is similar to potting soil.
Because it is easy to digest, it is used on young chicks. This type is suitable for chicks from the first 1 to 6 weeks.
2. Crumble Chicken Feed:
Crushed feed is usually produced by crushing, mixing, pelleting and broking. It’s easier to manage than mash feeds.
Its texture is mainly similar to oatmeal. This type of feed supports the growth of the chickens after the first six weeks until the hens start laying eggs.
3. Chicken Feed Pellets:
Feed pellets are made by grinding, mixing and pelleting processes. This type of Feed is the most common type. They are designed for high-yield hens.
This egg-laying has the right mineral, energy and protein ratios, as egg-laying consumes their energy.
It takes about 24 to 25 hours for a chicken to produce an egg, so your chicken should have pellets all day.
Laying hens need calcium, which is used to make eggs. Oyster shells are usually used because they are a source of calcium.
If the chicken’s digestive system is empty, she can’t make any eggs, so make sure your chicken rests with full crops at night.
Easy Process To Making Chicken Feed
Livestock is one of the most lucrative businesses in Nigeria today. Many people who were before unemployed have found rearing of animals especially chickens a means of income generation.
Chickens are quite easy and affordable to rear if a farmer learns to know and do what it takes. Here’s the details and easiest steps to make chicken feed or pellets in Nigeria or anywhere in the world.
1. How to Make 50 Kg Bag Of Broiler Feed
Broilers have different feed requirements in terms of energy, proteins, and minerals during different stages of their growth.
Therefore, it is important that farmers adapt feed rations to these requirements for maximum production. Young broilers have a high protein requirement for the development of muscles, feathers, etc.
As the broilers grow, their energy requirements for the deposit of fat increase and their protein requirements decrease.
The following guidelines can help the farmer to make the right feed at each stage of growth:
- 7.2kg of whole maize
- 11.9kg of maize germ
- 9.5kg of wheat pollard
- 7.2kg wheat bran
- 4.3kg of cotton seed cake
- 3.4kg of sunflower cake
- 2.1kg of fishmeal
- 1.4kg of lime
- 2.5kg of soya meal
- 45g of bone meal
- 10g of grower PMX
- 5g of salt
- 5g of coccidiostat
- 5g of Zincbacitrach
- Broiler starter feed (1-4 weeks)
- 28.6kg of whole maize
- 8.6kg of fishmeal
- 10kg of soya bean meal
- 2.9kg of lime
- 70g of premix
- Amino acids to add
- 35g of lysine
- 35g of threonine
2. How to Make Layers Chick Mash (1-4 Weeks)
Layers chicks require feed with Digestible Crude Protein (DCP) of between 18 to 20 per cent. Amino acids are important nutrients in all feeds in order to make a complete feed for all animals.
The following ingredients can be used to make a 50 Kg Bag of Chick Mash:
- 22.5kg of whole maize
- 6.5kg of wheat bran,
- 5.0 kg of wheat pollard,
- 12 kg of sunflower (or 12 kg of linseed),
- 1.1 kg of fishmeal
- 1.25 kg of lime
- 30g of salt
- 20g of premix
- Amino acids to be added
- 70g of tryptophan
- 3.0g of lysine
- 10g of methionine
- 70 g of threonine
- 50g of enzymes
- 60g of coccidiostat
- 50g of toxin binder
3. How to Make 70 kg Bag of Layers’ Mash (18 weeks)
The following ingredients can be used to make a 70 kg bag of layers’ mash for 18 weeks and above chicks:
- 24.3kg of whole maize
- 8.6kg of Soya
- 5.7kg of fishmeal
- 7.1kg of maize bran, rice germ or wheat bran
- 4.3 kg of lime
- 180g premix
- Amino acids to be added
- 70g lysine
- 35g methionine
- 70kg threonine
- 35g tryptophan
- 50g toxin binder
Things to Add to Chicken Feed
Now that you know the easiest steps to make chicken feed or pellets, here’s the things to add to chickens feed.
- Aragonite or feeding limestone (for calcium, not absolutely necessary)
- Oyster shell (calcium, free feed)
- Grit
- Salt
- Probiotic
- Crab meal (small amounts provide protein and minerals)
- Flaxseed (omega-3, feed whole to avoid rancidity)
- Broad-spectrum mineral supplement
- Kelp (a mineral source)
- Fish meal (helps boost protein and omega-3s)
- Cultured yeast (B vitamins, minerals, and digestive enzymes)
Main Feed for Chickens
- Alfalfa meal (high protein, good for winter)
- Corn (a mainstay for chickens, store whole)
- Field peas (for protein, to avoid soybean use)
- Wheat
- Oats and/or barley (less than 15 percent of the total diet together)
Chickens Feed Making Equipment
Making your own feed for more than a handful of chickens requires a commercial, heavy-duty feed or flour mill. With this, you can freshly grind the grains you purchase for your hens.
You will also need to think about storage for the bags of grains you buy. Consider building a storage bin with partitions for each of your grains and a lid on the top.
If you can use a sliding gate at the bottom to dispense the grain, you can naturally rotate the grains. You may need to clean the bins out completely once or twice a year to prevent pest infestations.
