THE OPTIMAL FEED STRUCTURE FOR LAYERS

Is there the optimal feed struc-

ture for laying hens in practice?

This question really concerns

everyone who has been taking

care of the best possible feeding

of our laying hens for a long time. It

is also a current topic today. To an-

swer the question, we might even

watch the chicken perform its feed

and nutrient intake under “natural

conditions”: it paws, it pecks here, it

pecks there, it pawls – and so does

it all the time. For the professional-

ly produced food this could mean

that the chicken likes to “seek” in

the feed and, if necessary, to eat

selectively. However, the dedicated

animal nutritionist does not want

to allow the chicken to do that - if

possible, it should lay an egg of the

highest quality every day – which is

always better from a genetic point

of view. So it’s up to you to find the

best possible compromise to avoid

selective feed intake or better nutri-

ent uptake.

Due to the natural feed intake be-

havior, the dedicated animal nu-

tritionist could quickly come to

the conclusion that a well-struc-

tured meal would be the optimal

solution. Therefore, this is also the

world’s most prevalent form of

technical feed quality for laying

poultry. But this form of feed quali-

ty can sometimes be a challenge in

manufacturing. So, as we said, we

want to avoid as much as possible

that the laying hens “eat this some-

times or that sometimes”; because

of this, the feed must have the

most uniform possible homoge-

neous structure. However, it must

also have some internal structure

and grip to support or promote the

activity of the muscle stomach –

as the paramount requirement for

a stable, healthy digestion of the

chicken. This means that we should

offer our hens as possible no “bak-

ing powder meal”. In principle, they

show little interest in eating such

fine flour. We would measure this

flour in a sieve analysis of the feed

in a particle size of less than 0.5 mm

and find it in excess (but for sure –

there is no feed without fines).

However, homogeneity of the feed

also means avoiding too large par-

ticles as much as possible – usually

this would be the coarsely milled

grain or coarse limestone that hens

require, especially in the last half of

the laying period. The hens may

like this and prefer to eat, but a bal-

anced diet is not guaranteed. So –

it depends on the homogeneity of

the feed, while the feed can then

be “a little finer – or – something

coarser”. However, it should always

have the same structure with each

new feed delivery, otherwise the

hens could tell us once before: “I do

not like to eat that now”.

As already mentioned, this goal –

depending on the existing grind-

ing and mixing technology in feed

production – is not always that easy

to fulfill.

It is therefore discussed again and

again to offer our hens a pelleted

or crumbled feed. Then selective

feeding is no longer possible and

in each pellet or crumb all nutri-

ents are contained in a compact

form. Sounds logical – the question

is – how is a good pellet made? As

always in feed production, the raw

materials must first be ground. For a

good pellet, every technician in the

feed plant will strive for the finest

possible grinding. Then the feed is

then pressed to the pellet, which

means further fine grinding (in a so-

called wet sieve analysis this is easily

detectable). During the subsequent

crumbling, by breaking the pellets,

fine flour, which could be removed

by sifting, is produced/occurs nor-

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BREEDING FOR SUCCESS … TOGETHER

BREEDING FOR SUCCESS … TOGETHER

mally. However, this remains nor-

mally in the feed and is delivered.

On the way up to the beak of the

chickens, the pellet or crumb is ex-

posed to copious “stress” resulting

in further debris and appearance

of fine flour. However, the hens are

reluctant to eat this fine flour – but

it contains particularly important

nutrients. Another special feature

of the pellet feed must be that no

coarse limestone can be used here

– as the most important basis for

optimum shell quality – otherwise

the technology in the feed plant

would be destroyed. The pellet

feed offers the animal the possibil-

ity of fast and “easy” food intake in

a short time, which unfortunately

can also favor vices. With mealy

feed (mash feed), hens spend more

time on feed intake and thus have

less time for perhaps undesirable

behavior patterns such as feather

pecking and cannibalism.

On the basis of these explanations,

it becomes clear that it is not so

easy to produce the optimal tech-

nical quality of the feed for the

chicken under the given conditions

in the respective compound feed

plant - or with the existing propri-

etary mixing plant. In all considera-

tions and future planning, however,

the chicken should always be in the

foreground – and not the current-

ly existing technology in the feed

plant or on the farm.

A drastic change in structure (of

the mash feed) should be avoided,

especially during the conversion

phase from rearing to laying feed.

Any structural change hinders the

much needed rapid increase in

feed intake. This is especially true

for this stage of life of the hens. If

something goes wrong with feed

intake during this phase, long-term

effects are very likely and often ir-

reversible.

Finally, it must be mentioned

that the feed often leaves

the mill in optimal structure

and balance, but does not arrive in

this form and balance at the beak

of the birds. Additional mechanical

stress and segregation can lead to

a highly variable nutrient uptake.

This is to be avoided, since today’s

animals have a lower feed intake

capacity and lay an egg with very

short breaks every day for many

weeks. Each deficiency has an im-

mediate effect on egg mass pro-

duction and body weight, and it is

then associated with yield losses.

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Optimal mash feed structure