Methods of Poultry Feed Formulation

 Methods of Poultry Feed Formulation.In poultry farming business, the feed is the major overhead cost.You can get poultry feeds by buying from reputable producers who produce what we call ‘factory processed or ready made feeds’. These feeds are usually of excellent quality, containing all the relevant nutrients in the correct proportions required for healthy growth and development of the chickens.
The major ingredients in an ideal ration be it chick marsh, growers marsh or layers marsh are as follows:

Yellow maize: provides vitamin A and carbohydrate.
White maize: provides carbohydrate.
Rice bran: provides carbohydrate and acts as midlings.
Wheat offals: provide carbohydrate and act as midlings.
Guinea corn: provides carbohydrate
Palm kernel cake: provides lipids, vitamin, proteins
Coconut cake: provides lipids, vitamins, proteins.
Bean meal:  provides proteins, carbohydrate, lipids.
Groundnut cake: provides protein, lipids, vitamins.
Pigeon pea: provides protein, lipids, vitamins.
Bone meal: Provides minerals like calcium and phosphorus.

Oyster shell and grot: Minerals like calcium and phosphorus.
Blood meal: Provides protein, minerals like iron and copper.
Cotton seed meal: Provides protein, carbohydrate, vitamins and lipids.
Linseed meal: Provides protein, carbohydrate, vitamins and lipids.
Fish meal: Provides proteins, lipids and vitamins.
Common salt or salt lick: Provides mineral salts like sodium, iodine, chlorine and so many others.

Methods of Poultry Feed Formulation

In poultry farming business, the feed is the major overhead cost.You can get poultry feeds by buying from reputable producers who produce what we call ‘factory processed or ready made feeds’.These feeds are usually of excellent quality, containing all the relevant nutrients in the correct proportions required for healthy growth and development of the chickens.However,many Nigerians think they are too costly.

An alternative,more cost effective approach, is for you to compound your own feed for your chickens.This is done by assembling the various feed ingredients in their right proportions and processing them at a miller’s.

However,your production cost will be determined by market conditions and factors such as the sources of purchase of the feed ingredients,cost of the feed ingredients,transport costs,your scale of purchases,the miller’s production costs etc.

To be able to produce a feed equal in quality to factory processed feeds,you must have a knowledge of the Compounded feed plan indicating the various feed ingredients and their formulation ratio(correct nutritional proportions) for the different stages of development in the chickens.

The objective here is that you can make more profits and spend much less on feeding the birds if you compound your own feed for your chickens.If you decide to make use of the factory feeds, no problem. You will make good profit too, no doubt.
The feed mix for

Methods of Poultry Feed Formulation

Layers
Starter Mash 0-8 weeks
Grower Mash 9-20 weeks
Layer mash 20 weeks to end of laying period

Broilers
Starter Mash 0-5 weeks
Finisher Mash 6-12 weeks


poultry feed mill with millerWith the rising cost of poultry feeds, farmers rearing chickens are increasingly finding it difficult to make profit from poultry keeping. While it is difficult for farmers to formulate feeds for hybrid chickens such as broilers and layers, they can do so for their indigenous chickens or dual-purpose breeds such as Kenbro under intensive management system. This can be done using the PearsonSquare method.

However, this is only possible if farmers have the right quality of ingredients or raw material for formulating feeds. The Pearson Square method relies on the Digestible Crude Protein (DCP) as the basic nutritional requirement for feed. The most common ingredients used are whole maize, maize germ, cotton seed cake, soya beans, sunflower or omena (fishmeal).

Example 1: Feed for Layers
Assuming that the farmer wants to make feed for their chickens using the Pearson Square method, they have to knowthe crude protein content of each of the ingredients used in feed making. The farmer may use whole maize (8.23 % DCP) Soya (45 % DCP) Omena (55 % DCP) and maize bran (7 % DCP) Sunflower (35 % DCP). To make a 70 kg bag of feed for layers, a farmer would require the following ingredients:

34 kg of whole maize
12 kg of Soya
8 kg of omena
10 kg of maize bran
6 kg of Lime (as a calcium source)

Methods of Poultry Feed Formulation

Each category of chickens has its own requirements in terms of nutrition. For example, feed for layers should have at least 18 per cent crude protein. If one were to formulate feed for layers, then they would have to calculate the percentage of digestible crude protein in each of the ingredients to ensure that the total crude protein content is at least 18 per cent to meet this nutritional requirement. To find out if the feed meets this standard, a farmer can do a simple calculation as follows:

Whole maize = 34 kg x 8.23 ÷100 = 2.80 kg
Soya bean = 12 kg x 45 ÷ 100 = 5.40 kg
Omena = 8 kg x 55 ÷ 100 = 4.40 kg
Maize bran = 10 kg x 7 ÷ 100 = 0.70 kg
Lime = 6 kg x 0 ÷ 100 = 0.00 kg
(Total crude protein 13.30 kg)

To get the total crude protein content of all these ingredients in a 70 kg bag, you take the total crude protein content of the combined ingredients, divide by 70 and multiply by 100 thus, (13.30÷70) x 100 = 19.0 %. This shows that the crude protein percentage in the above feed formulation is 19.0 % which is suitable for layers. Before mixing the feed, whole maize including the other ingredients has to be broken into the rightsizes through crushing or milling to make it palatable for the chickens. Add 250 g of table salt on every 70 kg bag of feed.

Feed for chickens meant for meat
Chickens meant for meat production require feed with a higher content of DCP. From the first to the fourth week, the chicks require feed with a DCP content of between 22 to 24 per cent. From the fourth to the eighth week, the chicks require feed with a protein content of 21 to 22 per cent crude protein. To attain this requirement, farmers can formulate feed using the same method given above. To make a 70 kg bags of feed, they will need to have all the right the ingredients in the proportions given below:
Whole maize = 40 kg x 8.23 ÷ 100 = 3.20 kg
Omena = 12 kg x 55 ÷ 100 = 6.60 kg
Soya beans = 14 kg x 45 ÷ 100 = 6.30 kg
Lime = 4 kg x 0 ÷ 100 = 0.00 kg
(Total crude protein 16.10 kg)

To determine if a 70 kg bag of feed has adequate crude protein content for birds meant for meat production, the same methods is used: (16. 10 ÷ 70) x 100 = 23 %. The feed given in this example has a total crude protein content of 23% which is adequate to feed chicken in this category. In every 70 kg bag of feed, add 250g of table salt.