Breeder Nutrition

Look for the word "Breeder" on the bag

Breeding birds have different nutritional requirements from birds kept for table-egg production. When purchasing feed, look for the word "Breeder" on the bag.

Commercial feed mills employ nutritionists who analyse the grains used in each batch and supplement them with the vitamins, minerals and trace elements required for successful reproduction, much as the nutritional information on a breakfast cereal packet reflects its composition.

This is important because grain is a natural product. Its quality varies from season to season, from region to region, and even from paddock to paddock. Two bags labelled identically may not contain grain of the same breeding value.

A grain mix that is perfectly adequate for maintaining adult birds or for producing table eggs may not contain sufficient nutrients for successful breeding and incubation.

A formulated breeder ration is designed to remove this uncertainty. The additional cost amounts to only a few cents per bird each day, yet it provides the developing embryo with the raw materials from which it must build itself.

Many problems blamed on the incubator have, in reality, begun weeks earlier in the feed bin.

Healthy chicks begin with healthy breeders.

Artificial incubation can provide the correct temperature, humidity, ventilation and egg turning, but no incubator can compensate for nutritional deficiencies in the parent flock. The embryo is built entirely from the nutrients that the hen deposits into the egg before it is laid. If those nutrients are lacking, the consequences may not become apparent until incubation, hatching, or even later.

Successful incubation therefore begins long before the eggs enter the incubator.

Feeding the breeders

An ordinary layer ration and a breeder ration are designed to achieve very different goals.

Egg-layer feeds are required only to meet the nutritional standards of an egg intended for human consumption while maintaining the health of the hen. A breeder ration, by contrast, must also supply everything required to construct an entire hatchling: organs, bone, muscle, skin and feathers.

For this reason, feed formulated for breeding birds contains vitamins, proteins, fats and trace minerals in carefully balanced proportions. Mixing vitamins into feed in an ad-hoc manner risks creating deficiencies in some nutrients and excesses in others.

Good egg production and good hatchability are not always the same thing.

The free-range myth

“Mine free-range – that provides everything they need, doesn’t it?”

Nature gives us an important clue. Wild birds breed only during a relatively short season, when food is abundant and varied. They are free to travel widely, selecting the plants, insects and minerals that they require.

Our domestic fowls live under very different conditions. They are flightless and restricted to the same patch of ground day after day, relying on whatever foods happen to be available there at the time.

And, like small children, poultry eat first what they find most palatable.

For this reason, six weeks before the breeding season, we begin feeding a formulated breeder ration ad lib or provide a suitable breeder supplement. Grain mixes and table scraps are best regarded as treats and are preferably fed sparingly, late in the afternoon, after the birds have already consumed their balanced ration.

Why six weeks?

Breeders are often surprised to learn that improvements in fertility and hatchability are not immediate.

The eggs being laid today began their development many weeks ago. Even after the diet has been corrected, the developing yolks inside the ovary still reflect the nutrition available in previous weeks.

And why six weeks?

It is not because vitamins take that long to work. Vitamins are organic compounds and are relatively fragile molecules, quickly broken down by heat, ultraviolet light and body acids.

Minerals are different.

Correcting a mineral deficiency is not simply a matter of adding a supplement for a few days. Absorbing a lacked mineral is like asking the body to absorb a rock. Minerals must be accumulated and stored before they can once again be deposited into the egg in the correct proportions.

Patience is essential.

Water-soluble breeder supplements

For breeders with large flocks who buy feed in bulk, or for those living in remote areas where formulated breeder rations are difficult to obtain, a water-soluble breeder supplement can be a practical alternative.

Because vitamins are sensitive to heat, ultraviolet light and contamination, the solution should be mixed immediately before use and replaced every twelve hours.

To preserve its effectiveness:

·         keep the solution out of direct sunlight;

·         prevent contamination by droppings, seed and organic matter;

·         clean containers thoroughly before and after use to remove bio-film;

·         use stainless steel, glass or glazed pottery containers where possible;

·         if using plastic, opaque containers are preferred.

Freshly mixed supplements are always best.

Deficiencies are not always obvious

Nutritional deficiencies do not always announce themselves dramatically.

A failed egg may reveal little or nothing when opened. The shell may appear normal. Fertility may appear satisfactory. The embryo may develop for much of the incubation period before the effects become apparent.

Later in this guide, we will examine some of the more common nutritional causes of failed hatches.

For now, remember this:

Before changing incubator settings or blaming the machine, first ask a simpler question:

What were the breeders eating six weeks ago?

Written by Bob Peel