How to give bread for chickens? The benefits and harms of bread for poultry

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Rasskazov Pavel

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Bread is intended exclusively for human nutrition, but its nutritional and energy values ​​can also be useful for birds. In addition, bread is made from grain, which is the main component of the chickens' diet.

Which bread is contraindicated

What kind of baked goods should not be given to chickens was partially mentioned above, and now in more detail. Chickens are contraindicated:

1. Sweet products made from wheat, oat and rye flour, with a lot of sugar. They cause digestive disorders due to the active fermentation process in the intestines.
2. Bread with mold and sticky crumb. Even a small amount of it in the diet leads to poisoning, diarrhea, and dehydration. Black and white types of mold are the most dangerous, so bread covered with light and dark “fluff” should be thrown away. If the plaque is green, it can be cut off along with the affected part of the bun, and the remaining crumb with crust can be dried in the oven and given to adult birds.
3. Bread soaked in water, milk or broth. In fact, it is useful, but the problem is that such food is not stored well, as it quickly turns sour. This happens especially quickly in the warm season. If birds are given soaked bread, it is removed after 30-40 minutes, even if not all birds have moved away from the feeder. Black rolls become soggy and spoil faster, so it is better to serve white ones. It happens that birds eat the mixed feed and bread in a quarter of an hour. For the owner, this is a sign that the chickens do not have enough food. The strongest and largest will most likely be well-fed, but the rest will remain hungry.
4. Flour products with sweet filling or topping. Sugar and products containing it are not healthy for birds. Birds get the required amount of carbohydrates from their basic diet, which includes cereals and legumes. Bread is a valuable nutritional supplement and an additional source of energy, but sweet fillings negatively affect the health of chickens.

As an alternative to bread, you can use boiled pasta. They are finely chopped and added to the main diet. This food is easily digested, so it is allowed even for chickens 10 days old.

Permitted quantity

If chickens are given a lot of white bread, their body weight will increase, leading to obesity. Therefore, poultry farmers need to be rational in quantity:

• white - can be given daily, but not more than half of the total food;
• gray - can be given in small portions, only a few times a week.

It is necessary to mix the flour product with other products. Then the risk of obesity and deterioration in egg quality will be significantly reduced.

What time of year should I give chickens bread?

Flour products are rich in vitamins and carbohydrates, therefore they are most valuable as an element of winter nutrition. Chickens living in cages or cramped enclosures expend less energy, so due to the abundance of flour products they can suffer from obesity and vascular diseases. This must be taken into account, and add bread to the menu to a minimum.

Young animals are given crackers no earlier than 7 days of age. They are poured into the feeder in the form of crushed drying or soaked and added to millet porridge.

Is it possible to feed chickens bread?

Bread contains only carbohydrates. They are not enough for a healthy diet for chickens. Broilers fed with flour products become obese.

Negative properties of bread for chickens:

• high risk of sticking of the beak and crop, which will lead to the death of the bird from suffocation;
• ingestion of thermophilic yeast added to bread during production into the body of chickens;
• loss of egg quality in laying hens;
• the possibility of mold forming on a stale product, due to which the chicken may completely refuse the food offered;
• high risk of disruption of the functionality of the digestive tract, leading to disease.

Poultry farmers believe that bread can be given as a supplement, but not as a constant food, but as a delicacy. Many birds and animals love to eat bread to fill their carbohydrate needs.

Preparation rules and storage features

Giving freshly baked bread to chickens is strictly prohibited. It is best to dry it or store it in the form of crackers. It is convenient and simple, in addition, such a product is stored for a long time and is not subject to spoilage. It is better to feed chickens with bread pieces in crushed form, sprinkling the wet mash or grain with breadcrumbs.

To ensure that the chickens are always provided with a tasty delicacy, collect leftover bread from the table, dry it in the oven or in the sun, after cutting it into small thin pieces. It is better not to use black loaf as food for chickens. Store crackers in paper or fabric bags. It is also important to protect the product from pests. Before feeding the birds, the crackers need to be soaked in water and thoroughly squeezed or crushed into crumbs. The step-by-step process of preparing and storing crackers can be found in the photo on the Internet.

Dried bread crumbs

What foods should not be given to chickens?

The food stop list includes:

1. Sausages. Fried and salty foods, even in small quantities, can lead to stroke or heart attack.
2. Milk products. It is prohibited in any form, as it is fraught with the appearance of dysbacteriosis. The chicken digestive system contains a small amount of lactic acid bacteria, and the enzyme that processes lactose is completely absent.
3. Cheese. Preservatives, salt and fats are negatively perceived by the chicken’s body.
4. Chocolate and coffee. Theobromine and caffeine contained in them will not benefit birds.
5. Alcohol. Available only in the form of medicinal tinctures, since the liver of birds is not adapted to process ethyl.
6. Oil. The chicken body is not able to absorb the large amount of fat contained in this product.

Can chickens have bread? Both laying hens and chickens are not only allowed, but also required to consume this product. The main thing is to adhere to the rules of feeding: observe the required dosage and exclude sweet flour products from the diet of birds.

Reasons why fresh bread can be dangerous

The global answer to the question whether bread can be given to chickens will be in the affirmative, but depending on the dosage and consistency, it can harm the birds.

Important: Since the flour product belongs to the category of products with a high salt content, chickens of egg-laying breeds, if consumed excessively, can worsen egg production.

Due to the fact that the fresh crumb begins to swell when entering the stomach, it leads to the formation of a dense lump in the crop, which can subsequently cause suffocation.

What dangers does fresh baked goods pose?

Bread is a finished product containing large amounts of salt. When introducing such a product into the diet, the following negative consequences occur:

• deterioration of health;
• decreased performance of the immune system;
• decrease in egg production.

Fresh bread has the peculiarity of swelling in the stomach and the formation of a lump that increases in size in the goiter. The lump blocks the respiratory system, which causes suffocation in birds, and this can be fatal.

Fresh white bread is dangerous for chickens

Particularly dangerous when feeding is black bread, which contains yeast and salt in large quantities, as well as acidity. Indigestible components enter the bird’s stomach, where they cause severe fermentation, which again has a bad effect on the health of the birds.

Spoiled bread also cannot be present in the diet, because it causes problems with the digestive system, can cause serious poisoning, and has a negative effect on metabolic processes in birds.

In warm weather, baked goods often begin to become moldy, and if they are served in a soaked state, the result is even worse: the product sours, ferments, and goes rotten. The greatest danger comes from the black variety of mold.

If we talk about sweet buns and products with fillings, then they also have no place in the diet. Sweet foods cause indigestion, blood thickening, diarrhea and intoxication of the body.

Black mold

Let's sum it up

Poultry love baked goods, but constant feeding of such products can provoke a refusal of other foods, which will subsequently negatively affect their growth.

Therefore, it is important to approach feeding wisely and rationally. The product is given to chickens from 4 weeks of age. During this period, they are actively developing.

The main food for chickens is grain, which they are fed in poultry farms and at home. But they can consume not only it, but also other products. Let's figure out whether it is possible to give chickens and chickens bread and bakery products and, if so, when and in what quantities.

What kind of bread is allowed in the chicken nutrition system?

To create conditions for the entry of this element into the body, the chicken menu should be enriched with fiber, sugars and polysaccharides, found in large quantities in bran, pumpkin, fodder beets, boiled potatoes and carrots.

Important. Bread is an invaluable source of carbohydrates, amino acids and B vitamins.

Due to its carbohydrate content, it is advisable to feed it in doses and always in a dried form.

Allowed for use:

• rye;
• white;
• black.

You should be careful with the latter and not exaggerate its role in the chicken diet.

All this is necessary because laying hens need a balanced diet. In addition to proteins, fats and vitamin-mineral complementary foods, birds need carbohydrates to ensure the efficient functioning of organs and tissues.

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Regarding whether it is possible to give bread to chickens, livestock specialists recommend introducing the chicks to nutritious crumbs only after reaching 7 days: the crushed loaf should be soaked in water, then mixed with boiled cereal and only served to the babies in this form. As an independent food unit, this product is not so effective.

It brings great benefits in combination with the following ingredients:

• Bran;
• Cereals;
• Greenery;
• Vitamin complexes;
• Boiled potatoes;
• Cottage cheese.

Stale products can also be disposed of: when soaked, add them to mash.

What types are prohibited for consumption?

The stop list looks like this:

1. Sweet flour products. The sugar contained in them negatively affects the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract and hematopoietic processes.
2. Moldy. Covered with mold, it is fraught with diarrhea and reduces the body's protective functions.
3. Soaked. In the warm season, it begins to quickly deteriorate and can cause food poisoning.
4. Contains additives. The additional components included in its composition contribute to rapid souring, which negatively affects the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract.

Chickens can only benefit from high-quality bread, dried or soaked in mash, but in no case moldy or containing a large amount of sugar.