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"Chickens can eat bird food, including wild bird seed mix, but only in moderation," she says. "They shouldn’t eat it regularly as it does not contain the right balance of calcium and vitamins ...
Diseases can be avoided with proper maintenance of the feed and feeder. A feeder is the device that supplies the feed to the poultry. [8] For privately raised chickens, or chickens as pets, feed can be delivered through jar, trough or tube feeders. The use of poultry feed can also be supplemented with food found through foraging. [9]
Halevy et al. (2000) concluded that sufficient feed directly post hatch may be critical for later muscle development. [7] A study of Noy and Sklan (1999) [8] also showed that early feeding increased body weight and breast size at marketing age in chickens and poults. They showed that early feeding reduced mortality numerically.
Farmed birds that are fed with commercial bird food are typically given a pre-blended feed consisting largely of grain, protein, mineral, and vitamin supplements. Examples of commercial bird food for chickens include chick starter medicated crumbles, chick grower crumbles, egg layer mash, egg layer pellet, egg layer crumbles, egg producer pellets, and boiler maker med crumbles. [12]
Feather meal is used in formulated animal feed and in organic fertilizer. Worldwide, approximately 50 billion chickens were used for human consumption in 2014. [1] Feather meal is made through a process called rendering. Steam pressure cookers with temperatures over 140 °C (284 °F) are used to "cook" and sterilize the feathers.
Farming of chickens on an industrial scale relies largely on high protein feeds derived from soybeans; in the European Union the soybean dominates the protein supply for animal feed, [88] and the poultry industry is the largest consumer of such feed. [88]