What to Do If Chicks Have Low Feed Intake? Cause Analysis and Solutions

Chicks are physically weak after birth and often develop many problems. Recently, many farmers have reported the issue of low feed intake in chicks. If a chick's feed intake is too low, it cannot obtain sufficient nutrients to promote its growth, which will affect its later growth and also lead to low disease resistance, making it susceptible to diseases. So what are the causes of low feed intake in chicks? How should it be solved? Let's take a look with Qinnong.com.

1. Brooding temperature

Chicks are relatively sensitive to temperature. If temperature and humidity are not properly regulated in the early brooding period, chicks will be in a hot, humid and stuffy environment, which makes them weak and suppresses their nervous system, leading to reduced feed intake, and severe cases can be fatal. In addition, in a high-temperature environment, feathers grow poorly, are dry and lusterless and unevenly distributed, and the toes are shriveled, with slow growth and development. Therefore, the brooding temperature must be well controlled, neither too high nor too low.

2. Water quality reasons

Chicks are physically weak and have low resistance to diseases and parasites, and drinking water is the main route by which diseases break out. Generally, the drinking water for chicks needs to be cleaned through the water line, but conventional cleaning methods cannot completely remove the biofilm in the water line of the drinking water, so the drinking water is prone to breeding bacteria, causing chicks to develop diarrhea and loose droppings, and feed intake will continuously decrease. Therefore, water quality must be cleaned thoroughly to ensure no bacteria breed.

3. Improper feeding

Many farmers, in order to save time and effort, fill the feed trough to the brim at one time when feeding, and one feeding can last several days. In this way, under high temperature and high humidity, the feed will clump, then slowly ferment and deteriorate, and eventually become moldy. After chicks eat it, it will cause inflammation of the gastrointestinal system, leading to a gradual decline in feed intake. When feeding, you must be patient and not take a shortcut by putting in too much feed. When feeding, you must feed at fixed times and in fixed amounts to ensure the freshness of the feed, and also regularly clean feeding tools such as drinkers and feed troughs.

4. Lighting reasons

It is in the nature of chickens to like growing in dim light environments, and chicks are no exception. If the lights in the chick house are unevenly distributed, or the light intensity is too weak or too strong, it will cause uneven distribution of the flock, leading to low feed intake in some chicks. The lighting distribution for chicks must be even, neither too strong nor too weak, and the conditions required for chick growth must be maintained so that they can grow quickly and economic income can be increased.

The above are the causes of and solutions for low feed intake in chicks brought to you by Qinnong.com. All the content about low feed intake in chicks is introduced here. I believe everyone now understands its causes and solutions. For more information, please stay tuned to Qinnong.com.