Diary of a Poultry Farmer: Beware, there is no single mash for all Kienyeji chickens

A chicken farmer with his flock in their housing unit. Different poultry types have different nutritional requirements in terms of energy, proteins and minerals. FILE PHOTO | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Unlike layers and Kienyeji birds, broilers have unique feed requirements in terms of energy, proteins and minerals during different stages of their growth.
  • Chicks, growers and layers, whether of exotic breed or Kienyeji have different nutritional requirements in terms of energy, proteins and minerals.
  • Broilers have a high protein requirement for development of muscles, feathers and other body organs, but as they grow, their energy needs for fattening up increase, while their protein requirements decrease.
  • When starting to formulate your own feeds, test on a few birds for some few weeks and compare with a commercial ration to see the performance.

By now you probably know two topics that just won’t disappear from this weekly treat.

First is feed formulation and second is disease control. Last week, an ardent reader Andrew Shitakha, a large-scale poultry farmer, asked me a challenging question.

“I want to reduce the cost of feeding my 10,000 birds and would like to know how much I can save by formulating my own feeds.”

He further wanted to know if at his scale of production, it would be advisable to formulate his own feeds to save between 30 and 40 per cent of the cost of production as he had read somewhere.

“What type of chickens are you rearing?” I enquired.

Sounding angry at my question, he imploded, “Does it matter?”

“Yes,” I said, “Making feeds for broilers, layers or Kienyeji birds involve use of ingredients differently and the savings will depend on the scale of production, cost of raw materials and transportation.” He intimated that he was rearing broilers.

Now, one of the many things I have learnt from Dr Silas Obukosia, an agricultural biotechnologist who mentored me into the art and science of poultry feed formulation, is that unlike layers and Kienyeji birds, broilers have unique feed requirements in terms of energy, proteins and minerals during different stages of their growth.

Their feed rations should, therefore, support maximum production.

During the feed formulation classes I ran on my farm in Njiru, Nairobi, the first thing I tell participants before we even get into costing and savings is that for all birds, nutritional requirements for chicks (1-8 weeks), growers (9-18 weeks) and layers (above 19 weeks) are very different.

DIFFERENT NUTRITIONAL REQUIREMENTS

One farmer who had been buying a compounded formulation from an agrovet was taken aback when I told him that for Kienyeji chickens, there is no such thing as ‘Kienyeji mash’ that serves chicks, growers and layers.

You see, chicks, growers and layers, whether of exotic breed or Kienyeji have different nutritional requirements in terms of energy, proteins and minerals.

‘Kienyeji mash’ is one compounded feed formulation for the three different stages of growth.

Interestingly, some commercial feed companies are now formulating the mash for the chickens.

To know what makes feeds for broilers fundamentally different from other chickens, I consulted Dr Obukosia.

“Young broilers have a high protein requirement for development of muscles, feathers and other body organs, but as they grow, their energy needs for fattening up increase, while their protein requirements decrease,” he started.

“As a result, they require high protein content of between 22 and 24 per cent in their starter rations (1-4 weeks) than in the grower and finisher rations. Chick mash (1-8 weeks) for layers and Kienyeji, on the other hand, require a CP of 18-20 per cent.

The broilers require more protein compared to layers and Kienyeji chicks because they mature at six to eight weeks.”

Protein requirements in birds is expressed as Crude Protein (CP) and connotes the total protein, including nitrogen from both protein and non-protein sources.

Another thing he told me was that feed formulations for broiler starter (1-4 weeks) should use whole maize for energy and soya cake and fishmeal for protein.

“Although whole maize is more expensive and contains less protein that other cereal by-products like maize germ, it is preferred for making broiler starter because of its high energy value and lower fiber content.”

TEST AND COMPARE FEED RATIONS FIRST

From my experience, if I use whole maize, soya and fishmeal to formulate a 50kg bag of broiler starter mash, it costs me about Sh2,674 and considering a 50kg bag of commercial starter mash retails at Sh3,190, I save Sh516 per bag (16 per cent).

Now, for broiler finisher, the savings are as high as 50 per cent. In my case, a kilo of maize retails at Sh34, while that of soya and fishmeal (omena) retail at Sh75 and Sh107 respectively.

Here is why the scale of production matters when it comes to savings. A farmer making 10 tonnes of starter mash at ago saves Sh103,200 compared to one making a bag (Sh516).

The savings on transport are also higher when materials are transported in bulk. Another thing is that before you start formulating your own feeds, be clear whether the objective is to reduce costs or control quality.

In my experience, and using the right technique, one can formulate feeds for 10,000 birds by mixing on the floor or with the aid of a drum-mixer. But this may require hiring a part-time worker to specifically formulate the feeds.

When starting to formulate your own feeds, test on a few birds for some few weeks and compare with a commercial ration to see the performance.

Poor outcomes can result from bad quality of raw materials, poor mixing or wrong choice of raw materials.

For me, feed formulation has been a moving target, subject to experimentation and constant learning and the results have been good.

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Making feeds

  • Exercise requires energy sources (cereals and cereal products like whole maize, maize germ and wheat bran), proteins (fishmeal, soya and sunflower cake) and micronutrients.
  • Other ingredients include amino acid supplements (lysine, methionine and tryptophan), coccidostat and mycostatin.