Why does the winter egg production of free-range chickens vary with the environment?
How can the winter egg production of free-range chickens be greatly increased? The rearing environment of free-range chickens is a major issue.
Diversify the feed. The concentrated feed for free-range chickens should be mainly corn, sorghum, bran, etc., and the green feed should be mainly carrots, cabbage, spinach, etc. During the laying period, free-range chickens should also be fed some protein and mineral feeds such as soybean cake, cornmeal, shell powder and fish bone meal, and sufficient drinking water should be guaranteed every day.
Do a good job of disinfection and epidemic prevention. Frequently clean the manure and debris in the chicken coop, regularly replace the litter in the exercise yard or chicken house, keep the chicken house dry and hygienic, and usually pay attention to frequently disinfecting with Lysol solution and mixing Chinese herbal medicine into the feed, or use a 0.5% potassium permanganate solution for drinking water.
Add heat preservation and lighting facilities. Put up windbreaks around the chicken house, keep the floor inside the house clean and spread straw litter, at the same time seal the doors and windows well, and at night lower straw curtains for insulation or light a fire for heating, so that the room temperature is always kept above 10°C. If the number of free-range chickens raised is small, they can be driven back indoors at night.
Strengthen management. There should be an exercise yard outside the chicken house, and perches for resting should be set up inside the chicken house. The stocking density should preferably be 5 birds per sq m. Before letting the chickens out in the morning, pay attention to adjusting the temperature difference between inside and outside the house. You can first open the doors and windows of the chicken house to let the flock go through a process of adapting to the cold outside air, and then let them out into the exercise yard to prevent colds. Usually feed them by hanging feed, that is, place feed and vegetables high up to encourage movement, help digestion and make the chickens strong. Keep lighting for 13 to 14 hours every day; when natural light is insufficient, turn on electric lights for lighting. In winter, it is advisable to increase the number of feedings, feeding small amounts frequently, 3 to 5 times a day, to ensure that every chicken eats enough, which is good both for generating body heat and for gaining weight.
Mix white liquor into the feed for feeding. Add 30 to 40 grams of about 60-degree white liquor to each kilogram of feed, mix well and feed, which can increase the laying rate of free-range chickens by about 18% and also enhance their disease resistance.
Make full use of feed additives. Adding 0.05% choline chloride, 0.15% methionine and an appropriate amount of natural yeast essence to the feed can increase the laying rate by about 3%.
What should be noted when raising free-range chickens in spring?
Spring has come, and all kinds of living things are reviving, and the same is true for raising free-range chickens. Various diseases are also breeding and spreading, so let us take a look together at how we should do a good job of disease prevention technology and epidemic prevention when raising free-range chickens in spring.
1. Strengthen immunization and disinfect regularly. In early spring, the ventilation volume in the breeding shed is small, the amount of water evaporation is reduced, and in addition the hot air in the shed condenses into many water droplets when it contacts the cold roof and walls, causing excessive humidity in the free-range chicken shed and creating conditions for the massive reproduction of parasites and bacteria. Therefore, management must be strengthened, the inside of the free-range chicken shed must be kept clean and dry, water troughs must be repaired in time, water should not be added too full, and splashing water on the floor of the shed is prohibited.
2. Immunization must be strengthened and disinfection must be done regularly. Do a good job of preventive inoculation, make good preparations for early spring, and carry out one deworming task. Immunization should be based on the age group of the free-range chicken flock to formulate an immunization plan and implement programmed immunization, and vaccines must be guaranteed to be of good quality; regular disinfection is an important task that cannot be ignored, usually twice a week. In addition to adding antibiotics to the daily ration, disinfection with chickens in the free-range chicken shed must also be maintained. Disinfectants should be selected that are broad-spectrum, highly effective, non-toxic and have no side effects, and attention should be paid to the concentration of the drug. Disinfection must be thorough and leave no dead corners. When the flock becomes ill, do it once each in the morning and afternoon every day.
3. Free-range chickens rely on the feed they eat to obtain heat energy to maintain body temperature. The lower the outside temperature, the more heat energy the chickens consume to resist the cold. According to measurements, the feed consumption of free-range chickens in early spring increases by 10% compared with other seasons. Therefore, in winter the feed for free-range chickens must ensure sufficient energy. In addition to ensuring a certain proportion of protein, high-energy feed containing more starch and sugars should be appropriately added to satisfy the physiological and production needs of free-range chickens.
4. In spring, the resistance of free-range chickens decreases, so special attention should be paid to doing a good job of epidemic prevention and disease prevention, and preventive inoculation should be carried out regularly. According to the actual situation, some preventive drugs can also be fed regularly, and the content of vitamins and trace elements in the feed should be appropriately increased.
In addition, use less medicine and disinfect more. Many breeders neglect disinfection. In fact, disinfection, especially disinfection with chickens present, is an effective measure to eliminate pathogenic microorganisms, block transmission routes, protect susceptible flocks and prevent the spread of infectious diseases. Some disinfectants that are highly effective, low in toxicity, non-irritating, non-corrosive and relatively cheap should be selected. Iodine-containing double-chain quaternary ammonium salts should be the first choice, and sodium hypochlorite, compound phenol, etc. can all be used alternately. When introducing chickens and transferring groups, electrolytic multivitamins should be given in drinking water. Before, after and during immunization, in order to strengthen the immune effect and avoid drug interference, all drugs except probiotics should be stopped. At this time, using electrolytic multivitamins to improve the flock's own immunity and resistance can enhance the immune effect.
Dead chickens should be buried deep in a centralized place or burned. Prevent the spread of the epidemic source to healthy flocks.
Pay attention to disinfection and hygiene. First, pay attention to the disinfection and hygiene of the site; second, pay attention to the disinfection and hygiene of feeding tools; third, unrelated personnel must not enter or leave the breeding farm casually, to prevent bringing in pathogens.