What is Grower Feed?
Grower feed is the type of feed given to laying chickens from when they are 8 weeks old until they are ready to start producing and laying eggs (usually between age 18 weeks and 22 weeks. Once the young chicks are 8 weeks old, you will have to switch their diet to grower feed.
As its name implies, the grower feed will stimulate the growth of your birds in a healthy way. It is specially formulated or made for pullets to prepare their body and reproductive organs for the egg-laying activities. It is the next feed given to young pullets after brooding.
Although, some poultry farmers give grower feed to cockerels, broilers, turkeys, ducks and rabbits. Yes, there is no harm in serving the feed to them, but it is important to ensure that the nutritional requirements of these animals are met. As soon as the young pullets start laying eggs, you should prepare to switch to the layer feed.
The Nutritional Composition of Grower’s Feed
A typical grower feed should contain the following:
| Nutrient | Amount Required |
|---|---|
| Metabolizable Energy (ME) | 2800 kcal/kg (min) |
| Crude Protein (CP) | 18.00% (min) |
| Crude Fat | 5.00% (max) |
| Crude Fibre (CF) | 8.00% (max) |
| Calcium | 1.00% (min) |
| Phosphorus, available | 0.40% (min) |
| Lysine | 1.00% (min) |
| Methionine | 0.45% (min) |
| Methionine + Cystine | 0.80% (min) |
| Threonine | 0.60% (min) |
| Tryptophan | 0.20% (min) |
Grower Feed Formula Example
If you need a grower feed formula example to produce your own grower feed, find a sample below:
| Ingredient | Quantity (kg/100kg) |
|---|---|
| Maize | 45 |
| Soya Meal | 7.5 |
| Wheat Offal | 12 |
| Limestone | 5 |
| Bone Meal | 2.5 |
| Palm Kernel Cake | 12 |
| Groundnut Cake | 15 |
| Premix | 0.25 |
| Toxin Binder | 0.15 |
| Salt | 0.3 |
| Super Liv | 0.05 |
| Methionine | 0.15 |
| Lysine | 0.1 |
| Total | 100 kg |
Disclaimer: Livestocking is not responsible for any damage, loss or negative effect of using the above formula on your birds.
Am a little enterprenuer farmer try to gain and learn some little experience here
You’re welcome! You have a lot to learn on this blog.
its really been educating. please kindly help me with detail formula on determining digestible crude protein and metabolize-able energy thanks
Thanks for the enlightenment. Please can I use wheat offal,maize and pkc in feeding boilers? if yes in what proportion.
Yes you can.
sorry I meant noilers
My noilers layers are 9weeks old, can I use growers mash formulation to feed pending when they will be ready to feed on layers mash feeds. Thanks.
Thank you for the enlightenment,i live in kenya i have been looking for pig formulas now i get from you but the ingredients in your formulas i dont think i can access them,how can you help me
Can i know the particular feed ingredients under Nitrogen free extract?
Hello am Allan i have been looking for a way to formulate layers feeds and am now okay via your steps. Thanks alot