We hear the name “broiler” very often and even more often we see it in the shops in the meat departments. But what do we know for sure about this category of poultry and what it happens to be? Let's get it together.
A broiler chicken is first and foremost a poultry, which is a hybrid bred by breeding. Characteristic features are that their cultivation is not carried out for longer than 2.5 months, since the nutritional qualities of the product after this age begin to be lost. What can broiler meat be used for? It is great for baking, frying and cooking broth, familiar to our diet and easy to digest. The weight of the slaughtered bird should not exceed two and a half kilograms. Ideal is the chicken body weight of 1.4-1.6 kg.
An interesting fact: crosses of chickens should be interbreed, and it is carried out between individuals of specially selected lines of meat or meat and egg directions. The result is “crosses” or hybrids - broilers. The breeds of chickens used for such crossing are different. For example, it can be May Day, New Hampshire, Plymouth Rock, anniversary, rhode island, Kuchinsky. The fact that with this breeding the descendants have well-defined meat qualities, lies the phenomenon of heterosis. By the way, it is widely used not only in poultry farming, but also in other sectors of productive agriculture.
How is broiler chicken grown
The room should be suitable for humidity and thermal conditions. For small chickens, they maintain a temperature of 26-33 ° C, for weekly babies 26-28 ° C are optimal, then this figure drops to 18 ° C. It is necessary to organize good ventilation, avoid drafts, which are harmful for young animals of any poultry.
Coop lighting should be at least 17 hours a day, but too bright light is harmful. No walking for chickens. Standards for their maintenance: up to 18 goals per square meter, subject to excellent ventilation. The deep litter of dry sawdust is periodically changed. Broilers are fed the same way as regular chickens. Cereals make up two-thirds of the diet, there must also be green mass, vegetables (carrots, potatoes), oilcake, mineral feed (chalk or bone meal), vitamins, especially A, E and D, dairy products (reverse, whey).
Small gravel is needed - the broiler chick uses it from a very young age, it is needed for normal gastric digestion. Water should be given clean and cold. Drinking utensils are thoroughly washed daily. The feeding regimen ad libitum: eight times a day in the first week, in the second - seven times, in the third - six. This category of chickens is suitable for cell keeping, then growth increases, and feed consumption decreases. Two weeks before slaughter, you need to transplant the bird from the cages so that dents from the net do not form on the breasts.
One broiler chicken for ten weeks of cultivation adds from 2.1 to 2.6 kg, the minimum feed consumption in the first week is 0.8 kg per kilogram of growth, the maximum - for the tenth week - 2.3 kg.