What is the best time for chicks to start eating?
If you want to keep raising chickens efficiently on a continuous basis, then you need to do a good job with tasks such as keeping breeding stock and buying in chicks. Whether you keep your own breeding stock or buy chicks in, the rearing and management of the chicks is very important. When raising chicks, the time at which they start eating is crucial. It directly affects the chicks' later growth. So what is the best time for chicks to start eating? And how should you get them started? Let's take a look together below!
1. Time to start eating
The time at which chicks start eating is very important, and the best time is within 24 hours after the chicks hatch. If long-distance transport is needed, then the job of getting them started eating must also be completed within a day and a half. The time to start eating should not be too late; if it is too late, the chicks will consume a large amount of their own nutrients and are prone to dehydration and weakness, which lowers the survival rate and affects their growth and development. Before the chicks start eating, they should be given water to promote intestinal movement, expel the meconium, and increase the chicks' appetite. For the first drink, the water temperature should be similar to room temperature, and they should only be given tap water after about 7 days.
2. Steps for starting to eat
When the chicks take their first drink, an appropriate amount of glucose, antibiotics and other substances should be added to the water, which is very beneficial to the chicks' growth. Make sure there is enough drinking water and that it is clean enough, and clean the drinkers once at set times every day. Set up multiple drinkers in the house to ensure every chick can drink normally. When they are drinking, avoid the chicks drinking excessively because of long-term water deprivation, as this is very bad for their growth. As for the starter feed, make sure it is fresh enough and rich in nutrients; do not feed too much each time, and feeding for about 7 days is enough.
When the chicks start eating, for the first three days try to let them eat from colored containers or on plastic sheeting, sprinkling the feed evenly on the plastic sheeting so the chicks eat freely. Then from the fourth day, use feed troughs to hold the feed; for chicks within 10 days of age, feed them at least about 6 times a day. Then from the 20th day, let the chicks eat freely. Set up enough feed troughs to ensure every chick can eat at the same time. In the early stage of feeding, do not feed too much; letting the chicks eat to about 80 percent full is enough, to prevent the chickens from being picky eaters and causing an imbalance of nutrients in the chicks' bodies.
3. The reason for water before feed
Drinking water first is a physiological need of chicks after hatching. This is because after hatching, the chicks' yolk sac still has some yolk that has not been fully absorbed. The nutrients in this yolk are an essential nutrient for chicks as egg-laying animals. And because the speed of yolk nutrient absorption is directly related to water intake, drinking water first is mainly to speed up the absorption of yolk nutrients. The earlier they drink, the better the yolk absorption effect will be. It also helps clean out the chicks' intestines, promotes metabolism, and enhances the chicks' growth capacity.
The above is a brief introduction to the best time for chicks to start eating. That is all for today's introduction; this article is for reference only, and we hope it can help you!