Breeder Nutrition

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 effects may not become apparent until days or even weeks later, during incubation or after hatching.

For this reason, successful incubation begins long before the eggs enter the incubator.

Why breeder feed is different

A breeder ration is not simply an ordinary layer feed with a different label. It is specifically formulated to support embryo development.

While a laying hen requires nutrients to meet table-egg standards while maintaining her own health, a breeding bird must also supply everything required to construct an entire chick. Proteins, fats, vitamins and trace minerals are transferred from the hen into the developing yolk over many days before the egg is laid.

A hen can continue to lay eggs even when certain nutrients are deficient, but the embryo developing inside those eggs may suffer the consequences.

Good fertility and good hatchability are not always the same thing.

The six-week rule

One of the most common mistakes made by breeders is to change the diet and expect immediate results.

If birds have been fed an inadequate diet, it takes time for the body to rebuild its reserves and for the developing yolks inside the ovary to receive the correct balance of nutrients. Eggs collected only a few days after changing to a breeder ration may still reflect the previous diet.

As a general rule, allow at least six weeks after introducing a proper breeder ration before judging fertility or hatchability.

Patience is essential. The eggs being laid today began their development many weeks ago.

Vitamins and minerals behave differently

Vitamin deficiencies and mineral deficiencies do not behave in the same way.

Water-soluble vitamins can often be corrected relatively quickly with the aid of supplements. Improvements in hatchability may become apparent within a matter of weeks.

Minerals are different.

Many important minerals are stored in the bird’s skeleton and tissues and are mobilised gradually over time. Deficiencies in minerals such as manganese and other trace elements may take much longer to correct. Vitamins and minerals behave very differently. Water-soluble vitamins can often be replenished within days or weeks, but minerals are another matter entirely. A bird cannot simply "absorb a rock overnight". Trace minerals such as manganese, calcium and phosphorus must be accumulated and stored over time before they can again be deposited into the egg in sufficient quantities. Even after the diet has been improved, the effects of earlier deficiencies can persist for some time.

For this reason, breeders should resist the temptation to constantly change incubator settings when hatchability declines. Sometimes the problem began in the feed shed many weeks earlier.

The hidden cost of deficiencies

Nutritional deficiencies do not always announce themselves dramatically.

The eggshell may appear normal. Fertility may appear satisfactory. The embryo may even survive for much of incubation before problems emerge.

Poor breeder nutrition can contribute to:

·         poor hatchability

·         late dead-in-shell embryos

·         skeletal abnormalities;

·         poor vigour after hatching;

·         reduced resistance to stress.

When nutrients are inadequate, the embryo has no choice but to redistribute its limited resources, prioritising the development of some organs at the expense of others.

Many apparent “incubator problems” are, in reality, breeder problems.

The foundation of successful incubation

Breeders naturally focus on incubator settings because temperature and humidity are easy to measure. Nutrition is more difficult because its effects may not become obvious until weeks later.

Yet the incubator can only work with the raw materials it is given.

Before adjusting temperatures, changing humidity or blaming the incubator, first ask a simpler question:

What were the breeders eating six weeks ago?

Written by Bob Peel