Composition and rules for using premixes for chickens, types and best brands of mixtures

Every farmer knows that the health and productivity of birds depends on the quality of food. Feed - both for laying hens and broiler chicks - must be balanced and contain an optimal range of nutrients. The best way to enrich feed with vitamins and minerals is to use premixes for chickens. But in order not to harm the birds, you should follow the dosage indicated in the instructions.

What are premixes and what are they for?

The chicken diet is approximately 70% based on cereal grains, so it needs to be enriched with vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and amino acids. It is difficult to add these substances in free form to feed due to their low concentration. The best option is to use premixes.

Premix is ​​a homogeneous mass that includes bioactive substances combined in a filler. The dietary supplement is needed for:

• improving metabolism in chickens;
• normalization of feed absorption in the digestive tract;
• full development and functioning of internal organs;
• increasing egg production and hatchability of chickens;
• reducing the likelihood of pathologies of bones and joints;
• prevention of baldness and intraspecific cannibalism;
• maintaining immunity during molting;
• reducing susceptibility to infectious pathologies.

Advantages and disadvantages

Positive aspects when feeding laying hens with premixes:

• increased fertility (up to 280 eggs per year);
• reducing the cost of purchasing feed (premixes have high nutritional value);
• increasing the nutritional value of eggs;
• maintaining normal reproductive capacity of chickens;
• improving the presentation of eggs.

Benefits of feeding broilers:

• significant annual weight gain;
• reduction of the fattening period;
• prevention of skeletal pathologies in young animals.

There are few disadvantages of using premixes, but poultry farmers consider them significant. This:

• relatively high cost;
• the need to carefully calculate the dosage (overfeeding is harmful);
• difficulty in choosing a quality product (many fakes);
• uniform composition (chickens, accustomed to food variety, often refuse food).

Types of additives

Manufacturers are constantly working to improve the composition of premixes. Today the following types of additives are sold according to their composition:

1. Vitamins - to eliminate hypovitaminosis in chickens during the winter months.
2. Mineral - includes minerals important for the proper functioning of the digestive organs and the formation of egg shells.
3. Complex - a combination of vitamins and minerals.
4. Medicinal - intended for the elimination and prevention of pathologies in chickens.
5. Protein – complements carbohydrate foods.

What should be included?

Premixes differ in their use for chickens of different purposes and age categories. Preparations are produced for laying hens, broilers, week-old chickens, young chickens, and meat breeds.

For laying hens

An additive intended for laying hens must include:

• vitamin E (necessary for the formation of egg white);
• group B (to maintain a healthy nervous system);
• selenium (to improve the functioning of the reproductive organs);
• iodine (to maintain the hormonal system);
• copper (for the full formation of the chick in the egg);
• amino acids lysine and methionine.

For broilers

The premix for broilers must include:

• vitamin A (for active growth);
• D (for skeletal development);
• group B (to normalize digestion and metabolism);
• zinc (to maintain heart function);
• iron (to prevent anemia);
• manganese (to prevent pathologies of leg joints).

How to choose a quality product?

The quality of the premix is ​​determined by its composition written on the packaging:

1. If the composition does not contain components of animal origin, then it must contain amino acids.
2. A high-quality product contains antioxidants that prevent the oxidation of vitamins.
3. Vitamins A, E, D, K, group B should be present.
4. The mineral composition should include zinc, selenium, copper, manganese, iron, calcium, phosphorus. It is advisable that the sources of minerals be natural ingredients.

The quality of the product decreases over time.

Vitamins and minerals are quickly destroyed, so after the expiration date the drug is useless.

The best brands and manufacturers

A large number of domestic and imported premixes for chickens are sold. They are practically the same in composition, but the difference in price can be significant.

Ryabushka, LLC "Agrovit"

One of the most popular domestic brands. Contains 12 vitamins, 7 minerals. No hormones. The product is suitable not only for chickens, but also for other types of poultry, it helps prevent premature molting, cannibalism, rickets, and degenerative changes.

Zdravur Laying hen

Contains 11 vitamins, 7 minerals, enzymes, amino acids, no GMOs. The product normalizes digestion, promotes the full development of birds, and increases the fertility of laying hens.

TechKorm, Trouw Nutrition International

Imported food is based on 8 vitamins, contains calcium and phosphorus, methionine, lysine, choline, and crude protein. The best option for large poultry farms. The product promotes rapid weight gain in broilers, normalizes digestion, and increases hatchability of chickens.

Country courtyard

Designed for feeding meat chickens and broilers, promotes active weight gain, and also prevents anemia, hypovitaminosis, cannibalism, rickets, eye and hormonal pathologies.

The components are selected taking into account the metabolism in the bird's body, so the premix allows you to reduce the amount of feed consumed and save money.

Megamix

The premix can be used both in large farms and in private farmsteads. Improves the overall health of chickens, promotes rapid body weight growth, and increases the number of surviving chicks. Contains 12 vitamins, important nutrients, mineral sources (limestone, diatomite).

How to properly feed chickens with premix?

Feeding instructions are written on premix packages. The standard daily amount is 0.5 or 1% of the weight of feed consumed per day (5 or 10 g per 1 kg of feed mass).

Egg direction

The premix is ​​added to the feed at the rate of 0.5-1 grams per layer. But most manufacturers have a recommended additive to feed ratio of 1 to 100.

Meat direction

The dose of the drug is calculated based on the total daily volume of feed. For most manufacturers, the recommended amount of premix is ​​1% of the weight of food (10 g of the drug is consumed per 1 kg of feed).

DIY premix

You can make nutritional supplements yourself, but their effectiveness will be lower than store-bought products. The ingredients used are:

• shell rock is a source of calcium and iodine (about 8% of the feed weight);
• a mixture of limestone, chalk, eggshells - to replenish calcium, iron (1-3%);
• cereal sprouts (up to 30%);
• greens - clover, root leaves, nettles (1-3%);
• table salt is a source of chlorine and sodium (no more than 2 g per individual per day).

Using premixes, the farmer not only provides the chickens with the necessary nutrients, but also saves on feed. With such nutrition, birds remain healthy and active, their susceptibility to infectious diseases decreases, and productivity increases.