Feeding Tips for Broilers in Winter

In winter, broiler chickens are prone to many diseases due to negligence in feeding, and may even die from insufficient warmth. Farmers must do a good job of feeding management to ensure their growth. Below, I will introduce some winter broiler feeding techniques. Let’s take a look.

1. Keep warm and protect against cold

The climate is cold in winter, and the required temperature inside the house is very different from the outside temperature. The main problems to be solved are ventilation and maintaining the temperature inside the house. When ventilating, be careful not to cause the temperature in the house to fluctuate, and prevent stress reactions caused by large temperature differences from causing diseases. The ventilation holes should be at least 1.5 meters above the chicken's back. Chicken farms must grasp climate changes and do a good job of preventing cold and keeping warm. The chicken coop must be well maintained to prevent drafts and draughts from attacking the chickens. Broiler flocks raised on flat ground should have thicker litter, which can be used to increase the indoor temperature.

2. Pay attention to ammonia discharge

The climate is cold in winter, and we cannot ignore ventilation in order to keep the chicken house warm. If the feces and wet litter excreted by the chickens are not removed in time, ammonia will accumulate in the chicken house and the concentration will increase, causing ammonia poisoning in broilers or causing other diseases. In order to prevent the adverse effects of ammonia on broilers, feces and wet litter in the house should be removed in time. In addition, ammonia absorbing deodorants can be used to reduce the ammonia concentration in the chicken house. Commonly used ones are ferrous sulfate, superphosphoric acid, copper sulfate, and slaked lime .

3. Strengthen feeding

According to the different growth stages of broilers, daily diets are formulated according to feeding standards. Due to the low temperature in winter, broilers consume more calories. When preparing the diet, the standard of metabolizable energy in the feed can be appropriately increased, and the proportion of protein in the feed can be appropriately reduced. At the same time, special attention should be paid to the vitamin content in the diet to meet their needs. The raw materials used in the feed must be free of mold and impurities to prevent respiratory diseases.

4. Strengthen management

Before bringing in the chicks, the chick house should be strictly flushed, disinfected and fumigated. Control drinking water. Generally, drinking water is 2-3 times the amount of feed consumption, but do not supply too much water, because too much water will aggravate the moisture of the litter. Broiler flocks raised in the open are prone to non-infectious respiratory diseases, especially broilers around 25 days of age in winter. The prevention and control measures are to increase ventilation while maintaining the temperature in the house to ensure the oxygen content in the house. This is the basic condition for the chickens to avoid or reduce the incidence of diseases and recover as soon as possible after an illness.

5. Pay attention to hygiene

Feeding utensils and disinfection utensils should be strictly distinguished and disinfected regularly to prevent horizontal transmission of diseases. At the same time, neighboring chicken farms and the region should be monitored regularly for the occurrence of disease outbreaks and preventive measures should be taken. Regularly monitor the health status of the chickens in this farm and deal with any epidemics in a timely manner.

The above are the feeding tips for broiler chickens in winter. When raising broiler chickens in winter, it is necessary to resolve the contradiction between ventilation and insulation, maintain the air quality in the house, strengthen health management, and use drugs reasonably. In this way, the incidence rate will be greatly reduced and the growth and production of broiler chickens will be guaranteed.