Are you among the poultry farmers that have been complaining about the high costs of feed? Well, you should just accept the status quo as prices of livestock feeds are not expected to fall so soon. What you need to do now is to look for new feed alternatives to nourish and improve the performance of your birds. Luckily, the popular Moringa (Moringa oleifera) is an excellent option.
Moringa for Chickens
Using moringa as a feed source for chickens is now the norm in most parts of the world. This is due to the great nutritional benefits that the plant offers in the performance of poultry birds, in addition to being economical and easy to get.
Benefits of Moringa to Chickens
Moringa has become an excellent alternative feed of chickens due to its high nutritional value. Therefore, it is not surprising that many expert farmers consider it as the “superfood for birds”.
Moringa leaves are high in crude protein (25-30% CP) and contain all the essential amino acids that are required in a single meal. The following are the benefits of moringa to chickens.
- It increases metabolism and improves nutrient assimilation
- It improves the color and quality of the feathers
- Chickens feed with moringa are more resistant to diseases as it boosts their immune system
- It contains natural antimicrobial agent hence can help chickens to fight disease organisms.
- It helps prevent infections naturally
- It speeds up the growth of the bird (natural growth booster)
- It improves the quality of the egg yolk and eggshell
How to Prepare Moringa
Making chicken feed with moringa is quite straightforward.
- Extract the leaves from the tree
- Placed them under a shade to air-dry (don’t sun dry)
- Once the leaves are dry, ground them into fine powder
- Mix the moringa powder with the chicken feed or the drinking water
The recommended inclusion level of moringa in chicken feed is 10%. It is important to avoid exceeding the 10% because rather than giving positive effects, the health and general performance of the chickens would be badly affected. Researchers have found that including over 10% of moringa leaf meal in the diet of laying chickens reduces egg production and increases feed conversion ratio.
Thanks you sir,
I understood so many things from your side
Thanks very much for your information I really appreciate them
How do i measure 10% of moringa powder for my already laying birds.
Also how to measure 10% to day old chicks which are just 11 days old?
10% simply means that if you divide any feed e.g 100kg feed into 100 parts, 10 parts of it 10kg is kg of moringa powder to be used.
that’s means for every bag of feed (25kg) you will need 2.5kg of moringa powder.
What the writer said is that 10% should be the maximum. So, you can still use 0.5 to 10% of moringa powder as supplement or additives. Anything more than 10 percent will no more be regarded as supplement or additives.
understood thank you for elaborating further
What does moringa replace , and what other uncommon ingredoents would you suggest to make a complete chickenfeed. For example 10 % moringa leaf meal, 5 % mango leaf meal…. % cassavaleaf meal …. % casava peal etc..
It doesn’t replace any of the ingredients. In this case it’s only acting as a supplement. But if it’s more than 10% it will no more act as a supplement.
Can I feed fresh moringa leaves to the chickens?
Yes, you can.
How much moringa powder to add to drinking water for broiler 3 day old chicks.
50 ml per litre of water
What is the the moisture content of fresh malunggay leaves?
About 74% moisture content
About 74% moisture content
What is the safest moisture content of malunggay leaves that is applicable to broiler or other ruminants (with literature and basis)?