Poultry require nutrients including carbohydrates and fats for energy, protein and amino acids, minerals, vitamins, and water. A balanced diet typically consists of grains like corn or soybean meal for energy and protein, and supplements like limestone for minerals. Feeding programs should provide the right nutrients for different stages of growth and types of poultry. High quality feed is important to avoid nutritional deficiencies and ensure optimal growth and health.

1. Poultry Nutrition and Feeding

2. Nutrients
Carbohydrates and Fats (Energy)
Protein and Amino acids
Minerals
Vitamins
Water

3. Carbohydrates and Fats (Energy)
Carbohydrates
Sugar, starches
Indigestible fiber (cellulose) not used
Energy is needed for
•Muscular activity, movement, and keeping warm
•Biochemical energy for maintenance and growth of tissue
Glucose is metabolized and energy (ATP) is released
Energy expressed as calories
Most of feed intake is for calories (about 80% of the diet)
Fats help make cell membranes

4. Energy Sources
Cereal Grains
Corn (maize): world’s most important feed grain
Wheat
Barley, oats
Sorghums (milo): tannins
Millet (pearl millet, foxtail millet, proso millet)
Rice

5. Alternative Energy Sources
Cereals and milling by-products
Wheat middlings
Rice screenings
Roots and tubers
Cassava (manioc) roots, sweet potatoes, taro, yams
Fruits and by-products
Banana and plantain, breadfruit, dates
Miscellaneous
Molasses (by-product of sugar cane industry)
Fats (palm oil, coconut oil, animal fats)

6. Protein
Muscle tissue (meat) is protein
Amino acids
Building blocks of protein; protein synthesis
Essential amino acids
Can’t be made by chicken
Must be in the diet
About 20% of diet needs to be protein

7. Protein sources
Legumes
Soybeans or soybean meal (cooked or heat-treated)
Peanut meal
Sunflower, safflower, sesame meals
Field peas, beans (navy, lima, fava)

8. Popular Feed Combination
Grains
Low in lysine; high in methionine
Legumes
High in lysine, low in methionine
Corn/soybean diet is most common
Synthetic amino acids
Methionine and lysine often limiting

9. Alternative Protein Sources
Cottonseed meal
Coconut meal, palm kernel meal
Milling by-products
Corn gluten meal
Brewers and distillers by-products

10. Animal Protein Meals
Fishmeal
Meat and bone meal
Blood and offal
Milk, buttermilk and dairy by-products (whey)

11. Minerals
Part of body:
Bone
Egg shell
Electrolytes function in fluid balance to maintain concentration
gradients
Only about 3-4% of diet
Macro-Minerals
Calcium
Phosphorus
Sodium
Potassium
Chlorine
Magnesium
Sulfur

12. Calcium and phosphorus must be balanced
2 parts calcium : 1 part available phosphorus
Macro-Mineral Sources:
Limestone or oyster shell
Bone meal
Salt

13. Micromineral (trace minerals)
Function as activators or cofactors of enzymes
Iron
Iodine
Zinc
Manganese
Copper
Selenium
Molybdenum
Chromium
Source:
Wood ashes may provide trace minerals for scavenging poultry

14. Vitamins
Co-factors of enzymes to catalyze reactions in the body
Less than 1% of the diet
Water-soluble Vitamins (rapidly excreted)
Vitamin C
B-Complex Vitamins
Thiamin B1 Pantothenic acid
Riboflavin B2 Niacin
Pyridoxine B6 Folic acid
Cyanocobalamin B12 Biotin
Choline
Fat-soluble Vitamins (can be stored in fatty tissue)
Vitamin A Vitamin E
Vitamin D Vitamin K

15. Vitamin Sources
Premix
Yeast (B-complex vitamins )
Green fodder (B-complex vitamins, vitamin A)
Alfalfa meal
Dairy by-products (whey, buttermilk)
Brewery wastes
Animal by-products
Milling by-products (bran, middlings)

16. Alternative feeds
Make use of local feed resources
Scavengable Feed Resource Base
Table scraps, harvest wastes
Efficient waste disposal system
Forage
Seeds
Green fodder
Legume plants, tree legumes

17. Live protein
Earthworms
Insects (fly larvae, grasshoppers, crickets, termites, bees)
Snails
Disease vectors
Collect live protein

18. Quality assurance
Moldy feed is a concern
Weed seeds
Variability

19. Nutritional deficiency diseases
Deficiency Symptom
Riboflavin Curled toe paralysis
Niacin Slipped tendon (perosis)
Calcium or phosphorus Rickets
Iron Anemia
Iodine Goiter

20. Feed is the major cost of production
Full-feeding recommended
Weight of the feed required is at least twice the expected market
weight of the birds

21. Water
Chickens are 85% water
Death in one day without water in hot weather
Water should be clean and cool
100 broilers drink 28.8 liters on a 21 C day
(7.6 gallons) (70 F)
100 broilers drink 47.3 liters on a 32 C day
(12.5 gallons) (90 F)

22. Non-nutritive feed additives
Medications: antibiotics, anticoccidials, insecticides, wormers
Preservatives: antifungal
Pigments: to add color to skin and egg yolks

23. Sources of poultry feeds:
•Prepare feed from local grain and feedstuffs
•Prepare feed from local grains/protein sources
and imported concentrates
•Commercial feed

24. Feeding systems
Scavenging birds
Supplement diet
Range birds get protein and vitamins from green forage
Supplement with energy and minerals
More supplementation if dry, fibrous vegetation
Feeding a concentrate supplement with cheap, bulky feed

25. Pasture management
Irrigate if possible
Alfalfa, clover, local forages
Self-feeding vs. cut and carry

26. Formulas for Feed Rations
No simple answer
Many different recipes are possible
Nutrient requirements vary according to stage of production
Starter, grower, finisher
Type of poultry
Broiler, layer, breeder, turkey, duck, geese
Climate
Ingredients vary in nutrient content
Large manufacturers change formulation daily or weekly
depending on price of ingredients

27. Free-Choice Cafeteria Feeding
Feed in 3 separate containers
Energy-rich
Protein-rich
Mineral-rich
Birds can balance own diet

28. Feed Mixing
Gather feed ingredients
Grind ingredients
Small ingredients need to be especially well-mixed
Mix on flat surface or use concrete mixer
Large manufacturers use mechanical mixers
Produce mash, crumbles, or pellets
Storage probably less than 2 months