What causes feather loss in breeding chickens? Detailed prevention measures
Breeding chickens are an important source of reproductive capacity for a chicken farm, but during the production process of breeding chickens, feather loss often occurs. Feather loss in breeding chickens can affect egg production and egg quality to a certain extent, and affect the commercial rate of the flock. So what causes feather loss in breeding chickens? How should it be prevented? Let's take a look with Qinnongwang.
1. Nutritional causes
During feather growth, breeding chickens consume a large amount of nutrients. Any deficiency of nutrients related to chicken feather growth will make the feathers brittle and easily broken, and nutritional deficiency can also induce skin inflammation, leading to feather pecking. At present, research on the nutritional needs of chickens is relatively mature, and the nutrients in general feed can also meet the growth needs of chickens, so feather loss caused by nutrition generally does not occur. However, if the feed is mixed by yourself, this situation may occur.
Prevention measures: When mixing feed, nutrition must be balanced, and the nutrients needed for the growth of each type of chicken must be ensured. If nutritional feather loss occurs, the feed formula must be checked and adjusted and replaced in time.
2. Environmental causes
In high-temperature environments in summer, chickens may lose feathers in order to release body heat; and frequently changing the light time and duration can also cause feather loss in chickens. During seasonal transitions, especially at the transition between spring and summer, the sudden increase in light intensity and duration causes an unsuitable stress response in chickens, resulting in feather pecking and feather loss. In artificial breeding, frequent power outages, forgetting to turn off lights, and changing lighting times can all cause discomfort, hence feather loss.
Prevention measures: During high-temperature periods, cooling measures must be taken to keep chickens in a temperature environment suitable for growth, reduce breeding density, and strengthen ventilation. Lighting time must be fixed. If it needs to be changed, it should be done slowly, not suddenly fixed, and the light duration should be provided according to the growth stage of the chickens. Different growth stages should be provided with different light durations to promote their growth.
3. Management causes
Management mainly involves feeding. Restricting feed intake of breeding chickens during the laying period will cause the breeding chickens to be unable to eat enough, resulting in feather pecking and feather loss. Along with this phenomenon, egg production rate and egg quality decline. In addition, insufficient drinking water for chickens, being in a long-term state of water shortage, will cause a strong stress response and feather loss. In daily management, stress responses caused by fright and other reasons will also lead to feather pecking and feather loss.
Prevention measures: Provide sufficient feed and drinking water. During daily management, keep the environment quiet to avoid frightening the chickens, do a good job in feeding management, and try to prevent stress responses in chickens.
4. Disease causes
After chickens contract certain diseases, feather loss is often accompanied, such as parasitic and viral diseases, influenza, etc.
Prevention measures: During breeding, strengthen disease prevention and control measures to ensure the safe growth of chickens. After discovering diseases, treat them in time to prevent the disease from worsening.
The above are the causes of feather loss in breeding chickens and prevention measures brought by Qinnongwang. The content about chicken feather loss is introduced here. For more information, please follow Qinnongwang.