Low Cost Feed Formulation for Rural Poultry or Deshi Poultry or Cockerel chicken (Sonali)

May 15, 2023

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Low Cost Feed Formulation for Rural Poultry or Deshi Poultry or Cockerel chicken (Sonali)

For most chicken farmers, making your own feed or formulating what to feed chickens is cost effective and the best way to prevent loss due to low quality food. Commercial food has lowered in both quality and quantity over the years and the end results have affected farmers in the form of slower chicken growth, less egg production, disease and even death.

It has become easier however, to gather the raw materials for making your own feed, especially after harvest season. Farmers who make their own feed can exert quality control, making sure that their stock gets the best feed possible for growth and health, all while defending against disease, pest and illness. It is not difficult to make your own feed as long as you are mindful of the nutritional needs of your birds.

It is always important to research poultry feed ingredients first and ensure that you are getting exactly what it is that you need for your stock. The feed for breeds can differ and you need to make sure you are giving your poultry the best nutrients possible.

There are many ingredients that can used in poultry feed formulation and they all add different nutrients to the poultry nutrition. Some of these are additives that can be added to increase the potency of the feed you are providing for your birds.

Yellow maize: provides vitamin A and carbohydrate.
White maize: provides carbohydrate.
Rice bran: provides carbohydrate and acts as midlings.
Wheat offals: provide carbohydrate and act as midlings.
Guinea corn: provides carbohydrate.
Palm kernel cake: provides lipids, vitamin, and proteins.
Coconut cake: provides lipids, vitamins, proteins.
Bean meal: provides proteins, carbohydrate, lipids.
Groundnut cake: provides protein, lipids, and vitamins.
Pigeon pea: provides protein, lipids, and vitamins.
Bone meal: Provides minerals like calcium and phosphorus.
Oyster shell and grot: Minerals like calcium and phosphorus.
Blood meal: Provides protein, minerals like iron and copper.
Cotton seed meal: Provides protein, carbohydrate, vitamins and lipids.
Linseed meal: Provides protein, carbohydrate, vitamins and lipids.
Fish meal: Provides proteins, lipids and vitamins.
Common salt or salt lick: Provides mineral salts like sodium, iodine, chlorine and so many others.

In poultry feed formulation, the technique that farmers use is called the Pearson Square Method. It involves the determination of the digestible crude protein or DCP. This is the basic nutritional requirement that is required in any kind of poultry feed formulation.

This requires knowledge of crude protein content of all the ingredients for your feed formulation. Below is a list of common feed components that can be used for poultry nutrition with their DCP percentages.

Fishmeal or Omena has 55% crude protein content
Sunflow has 35%
Soya has 45%
Whole maize — 8.23%
Maize bran — 7%
Sunflower — 35%

Once you know this information you must then determine the percentage needed for your specific stock. Feed for layers, for example, needs to be at least 18% crude protein.

Each category of chicken has its nutritional requirement. For example, if we want to make feed for layers, the feed should have at least 18 per cent crude protein. Growers should have between 16-18% crude protein and broilers should have between 22-24% crude protein. This is important to know when you are working on broiler feed formulation, or layer feed formulation.

Using those poultry feed ingredients you would need to calculate the percentage for crude protein in each ingredient to ensure that you reached the correct percentage for your specific type of bird.

For example if you want to make 70kg for layers, you might use the following formula:

34kg of whole maize
10kg of maize bran
12kg of soya
8kg of omena (fishmeal)
6kg of lime (as a calcium source)

The calculation to make it sure that this has 18% DCP is simple, as shown below:

Whole maize — 34kg x 8.23 ÷100 = 2.80 %
Soya — 12kg x 45kg ÷ 100 = 5.40 %
Omena — 8 kg x 55kg ÷ 100 = 4.40 %
Lime — 6 kg x 0 kg ÷ 100 = 0.00%

2.80%+5.40%+4.40%+0.00%= 13.30 Total Crude Protein.

Then you should divide this percent by 70kg and then multiply it by 100 to get the percentage in one bag of feed. Doing that equation will look something like this:

13.30 ÷70 ×100 = 19%

With the formula you can see that the feed has 19% total DCP and therefore is perfect layer feed formulation.

To make sure that your poultry is getting the most out of your feed formulation you need to take into account the additional nutrients they may need aside from the crude protein in their diet. It can be supplemented with vitamins, amino acids and minerals, such as the lime in the above example.

It is also crucial to consider the daily feeding requirements for your stock depending on its age and purpose. Certain birds need certain amount of nutrition at different stages of their lives. Meeting these needs will help you to maintain a healthy farm with thriving poultry.

Taking all of this into account is the best way to make sure that you are providing the best feed formulation to your birds on a consistent basis, preventing loss and making sure that they are healthy, happy and illness free. Moreover, making your own feed is almost 50-70% cheaper than buying commercial feed that’s the reason why so many farmers are turning to making their own feed.

Cockerel chicken (Sonali) grower feed formulation (Low cost). Feed formulation and Costing (Low Cost) for cockerel chicken (Deshi) grower feed formulation Age 30 Days.

Cockerel chicken feed formulation

Shonali chicken feed formulation

Feed Staff	Quantity (Kg)
Corn broken	48
Reich bran/rice husk (local mill)	25
Soybean mill	20
Fish meal/fish protein	5
Limestone/oyster powder	1
Dicalcium Phosphate (DCP)	0.25
Salt	0.5
Sodium bicarbonate (baking soda)	0.2
Vitamin-Mineral Premix	0.2
Toxin binder+Mold	0.15

Total	100 kg

If the daily intake of Cockerel chicken is 50 gm (Average)
Total daily need- 37,500 gm= 37.5 kg
Total 1 month need 30×37.5= 1125 kg
Total feed cost for 1 month 1125×37= 41,625 Tk

Cockerel chicken (Deshi) grower feed Ingredients for 1-ton

Corn 480 kg
Rice Bran- 250 kg
Soybean meal- 200 kg
Fish meal- 50 kg

Cockerel chicken

Many small and large poultry farms want to produce feed at affordable prices for Cockerel chicken or domestic chickens. Because even though the rate of production of affordable feed is a bit low, the cost of food is quite low.

In the case of using such economical or low-cost feed, if the chicken can meet the nutritional needs in other ways, the production can be improved. In that case, the supply of vitamins and minerals with water should be done at regular intervals. Raw grass/vegetables/herbs should be fed any time of the day.

Feed formula and ingredients

Feed Ingredients

Corn broke 47 kg
Reich bran/rice husk (local mill) 25 kg
Soybean mill 20 kg
Limestone / limestone / oyster powder 2 kg
Fish meal/fish protein 5 kg
Salt 0.5 kg

Micro Ingredients/Feed Additives/Feed Supplement

DCP/MCP (Tricalcium Phosphate)- 0.3 kg
Sodium bicarbonate 0.3 kg
Vitamin-Mineral Premix 0.15 kg
Toxin binder 0.15 kg

All ingredients except vitamin-mineral premix should be mixed well with toxin binder and left for 24 hours. After that vitamin-mineral premix should be mixed well and given to the chicken.

What would be the price of feed mixing per 100 kg according to your formulation? Protein levels Are this formula for starters, growers, or finishers. What is the formulation for Fayoumi layers? Please comment.

Cereal grains

Maize or corn

Maize is the principal energy source used in poultry diets in most of the countries because of its high-energy value, palatability, presence of pigments and essential fatty acids.
It contains highest amount of energy (ME 3350 kcal/kg) among cereal grains.
It has 8-13% of crude protein.
It has high TDN of 85-90%.
Maize has low fibre content and is highly palatable.
Extremely low in calcium and deficient in vitamin B₁₂ but fair in phosphorus content.
Yellow maize provides carotene and xanthophylls pigments for colouration of egg yolk, poultry fat and skin when it is used at 30% and above in the diet.
Maize is an excellent source of linoleic acid which contributes for egg size, and maize protein is mainly deficient in tryptophan and lysine.
Damaged, immature and improperly stored maize having higher moisture content is prone to aspergillus flavus infestation and produces aflatoxin.
Supplementation of toxin binders in diet containing damaged maize grain is essential to minimize the risk of mycotoxins problem.
Organic acids should be added to the maize while storing, if the moisture content in the grain is higher than 16%.
When the maize is used at >30% in pellet diet, supplementation of pellet binders, molasses, rice bran or oil is required for better quality of pellet.
Maize can be included upto 70% in poultry ration.

2. Sorghum / Jowar

Sorghum contains slightly lower energy but more protein than maize (ME 3200 kcal/kg; Protein 10%).
Sorghum protein is deficit in lysine, methionine and arginine.
Light coloured sorghum varieties can be used as the principal energy source.
Darker varieties, that are bird resistant, can contain tannins in the seed coat and should be used less.
Higher levels of tannin in sorghum may reduce the palatability and thereby feed intake. While tannin free sorghum can be used as a sole source of energy in layer diet without affecting egg production, egg weight and energy efficiencies.
It can be included upto 30% in chicks ration and upto 60% in the grower and layer rations.

3.Wheat

Wheat is rich in protein and calcium and but low in fat and energy compared to maize.
Wheat is a good source next to maize and sorghum (ME 3100 kcal/kg).
Its protein content is highly variable (11-14%).
Wheat protein is deficient in methionine and threonine.
Wheat contains indigestible non-starch polysaccharides (arabinoxylans) that reduces the performance of poultry.
The enzyme, xylanase, may be used when wheat is incorporated in feed at high level.
It can be included upto 20% in chick ration and upto 30% in grower and layer rations.

Rice/ Rice broken

The ME content of broken rice ranges from 2400- 3250 kcal/kg.
Rice is low in protein (7-8%).
Rice which is unsuitable for human consumption can be used for poultry at low level.
Rice broken is a byproduct of milling. Its quality is much variable and good quality rice broken can be used in poultry feeds.
Replacement of maize with rice broken may increase fat deposition in abdominal area.
It can be included upto 10% in chick ration and upto 20% in grower and layer rations.

Bajra / pearl millet

They have 8-12% of crude protein and rich tannin content.
It can be included upto 30% in chick ration and upto 60% in grower and layer ration.

Ragi / finger millet

Ragi contains slightly less protein, fat and more crude fibre.
The amount of Ca and P are higher in ragi as compared to Maize.
High crude fibre and tannin content and possibly lower protein quality are the limiting factors in ragi for its utilization in poultry diets.
It can be included upto 30% in chick ration and upto 60% in grower and layer rations.

Vegetable proteins

Soya bean meal

Soya bean meal contains 47-49% protein and is an excellent source of lysine, tryptophan and threonine but it is deficient in methionine.
The common adulterant includes castor husk and Mahua oil cake.
Like other oil seeds, raw soybeans have number of toxic and inhibitory substances.
These toxic, inhibitory substances and other factors in soya bean like saponins can be inactivated by proper heat treatment during processing.
It can be included up to 35% in chick ration and upto 25% in grower and layer ration.

Groundnut oil cake/ pea nut meal

Groundnut oilcake has about 40-47% protein which is very rich in arginine and deficient in cystein, tryptophan, methionine and lysine, but good source of Vitamin B12 and calcium.
Groundnut oil meal refers to solvent extracted residue and two grades (Grade I & grade II) are available in the market.
Groundnut oilcake refers to expeller pressed and two varieties (Grade I & grade II) are available in the market.
The common adulterant includes castor husk and Mahua oil cake.
Addition of toxin binders and liver tonics is essential in diets containing higher levels of groundnut oil cake.
Proper processing of the nuts is essential to deactivate the protease inhibitors present in the nuts.
Groundnut cake can be used upto 35% in chick rations and upto 25% in the grower and layer rations.

Aflatoxin affection

In rainy season it is specifically labile to contain a toxic factor – Aflatoxins, a secondary metabolite of Aspergillus flavus.
Mould spoilage and Aflatoxin production can occur at any stage from growing crop to the formulated feed or stored raw material.
Aflatoxins are the most potent toxic, mutagenic, teratogenic and carcinogenic metabolities produced by the species of Aspergillus flavus and A.parasiticus on food and feed materials.
Presence of oxygen, conductive temperature (10 – 40ºC) and high humidity favors the mould growth.
High moisture in the crop, which harvested around wet period and also inadequately dried products, favors the fungal growth and toxin production.
There are four Aflatoxins, B1, G1, B2 and G2 out of which B1 is most toxic.

Sunflower oil cake

The protein quality of sunflower cake is better than groundnut cake may be due to its higher available lysine and methionine content.
Sunflower oilcake contains 40% of protein.
It has very short self-life.
The expeller variety of Sunflower seed meal or cake has high content of polyunsaturated fatty acids.
It can be included upto 10% in chick ration and upto 20% in grower and layer rations.

Coconut meal

It contains 20-26% crude protein with low lysine and histidine content and 2.5-6.5% oil content.
The higher oil meals tend to get rancid and may cause diarrhoea; hence low oil content meal should be preferred.
It should be restricted to poultry as it contains low protein and high fibre.

Linseed meal

Linseed is rich protein source with low methionine and lysine content and also rich in phosphorus part of which is present as phytate but has only moderate calcium content.
It is a high source of vitamins like riboflavin, nicotinamide, pantothenic acid and choline.
It also has protective action against selenium poisoning.
Linseed oil meal refers to solvent extracted residue and two grades (Grade I; grade II) are available in the market.
Among the oilseed residues linseed is unique because it readily dispersible in water, forming a viscous slime due the presence of 3-10% of mucilage.
Cyanogenetic glycoside, linamarin and an associated enzyme, linase in immature linseed hydrolyses it with the evolution of hydrocyanic acid.
HCN is a potent respiratory inhibitor and hence, depending on the species the minimum lethal dose taken orally has been estimated as 0.5-3.5 mg/kg of body weight.
Proper water washing, drying and storage can reduce glycosides in the feedstuffs.
Linseed oilcake refers to expeller pressed and two varities (Grade I; grade II) are available in the market.
It can be included upto 3% in chick ration and upto 5% in grower and layer ration.

Mustard cake/ Rape seed meal

Mustard cake is a fairly good source of crude protein (31-36%), lysine and methionine.
Its T.D.N value is 74 % and ME is 2,200 kcal/kg.
It can be included upto 3% in chick ration and upto 5% in grower and layer ration.
It has rich calcium and phosphorus content of about 0.6% and 0.1% respectively.
Utilization of mustard cake in poultry diet is not common due to presence of glucosinolates, erucic acid, tannin and higher crude fibre.

Sesame seed meal / Gingelly oil cake / Til oil cake

It contains 40% protein, rich in leucine, arginine and methionine but low lysine.
It was produced from the residues of sesame meal after removal of oil from sesame seed.
There are three varities – red, black, white.
White is of high nutritive value than red.
The ME content in black til cake is higher than that of red variety (1,700 and 1,500 kcal/kg respectively).
It has high phytic acid and oxalates.
It can be included upto 10% in chick ration and 15% in grower and layer ration.
Supplementation of lysine, phytase and Zn will enhance the nutritive value of til cake for poultry.

Animal protein

Fish meal

Fish is an excellent source of protein, containing adequate concentrations of limiting amino acids like lysine, methionine and threonine.
It is also rich in available P, Ca, Se, iodine and vitamin B_12.
Fish meal is the one of the best poultry feed stuffs and a good source of animal protein.
Its composition varies widely depending upon whether it is made from whole bony fish or fish canary scraps.
The protein content of fish meal is usually around 60% with a digestibility of 93-95%.
The presence of fish scales reduces its feeding value.
It can be included upto 10% in the ration.

Meat meal

It is rich in crude protein (50- 55%) and ash (21%) with high calcium about 8% and 4% phosphorus.
It is low in methionine and tryptophan.
Good sources of vitamins of B complex, especially riboflavin, choline, nicotinamide and B₁₂.

Meat and bone meal

Besides a good source of high quality protein, it is a good source of calcium and phosphorus.
The carcasses of unproductive and dead animals and offals from slaughter house waste are sterilized and made into meal.
The quality of meal is variable depending upon the processing methods and the proportion of gelatin it contains.
The variable quality, contamination and content of phosphorus limit the use of these meals.
The sterilized meat and bone meal can be included upto 5% in the poultry ration.

Milling by products

Rice bran

It is the outer coarse coat of the rice grain separated during processing.
Rice bran is a valuable product with 12-14% of protein, 13% fibre and 11-18% fat mostly with unsaturated fatty acids and hence it becomes rancid rapidly.
The oil removed rice bran is available as deoiled rice bran.
It is a good source of energy (ME 2900 kcal/kg) and B- complex group of vitamins.
It is high in phytate (1.28%).
Antioxidants are recommended while storing rice bran.
Rice bran has a good amino acid profile compared to cereal grains and is slightly deficient in lysine.
It can be included upto 20% in the chick ration and 30% in the grower and layer ration.

Wheat bran

Wheat bran is an excellent food with more fiber content.
It is laxative when mashed with warm water but tends to counter act scouring when it was given dry.
It can be included upto 5% in the chick ration and 10% in the grower and layer ration.

Polishing

During rice polishing this by products accumulates which contains 10-15% protein, 12% fat and 3-4% crude fiber.
It is rich in B- complex and good source of energy.
Due to high fat content rancidity may occur.

Molasses

It is a byproduct produced during juice / extract prepared from selected plant material.
It is a concentrated water solution of sugars, hemicelluloses and minerals.
Four varities of molasses are commonly available viz. cane molasses, beet molasses, citrus molasses and wood molasses.
It is palatable, reduces dustiness and improves pelleting.
Cane molasses is a product of sugar industry and contains 3% protein with 10% ash.
Beet molasses is a product during production of beet sugar and has higher protein (6%).
Citrus molasses is bitter in taste with highest protein (14%) and produced when oranges or grapes are processed for juice.
Wood molasses is a product of paper industry with 2% protein.
Molasses is a good source of energy and an appetiser.
It reduces dustiness in ration and is very useful as binder in pellet making.
It can be included upto 2% in the chick ration and 5% in the grower and layer ration.

E. Animal and vegetable fat

Fat (Vegetable/Animal) provides 2.25% more energy than carbohydrate or protein.
Oil and fat reduces the dustiness in feed and lessens the wear on feed mixing equipments.
Vegetable oil like corn oil, Groundnut oil, sunflower oil and animal fat like lard, tallow are extensively used in livestock feeding.
Animal fat contains saturated as well as unsaturated fatty acids of C20, C22, and C24.
Vegetable fats contain greater proportion of linoleic acid.
Higher level of poly unsaturated fatty acids leads to rancidity and therefore anti oxidants like Butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) or Ethoxyquin should be included in high fat diet.

Nutritional requirement of layers and broilers

Characteristic	Broiler starter feed	Broiler finisher feed	Chick feed	Growing chicken feed	Laying chicken feed	Breeder layer feed
Moisture (maximum %)	11	11	11	11	11	11
Crude protein (N x 6.25) (maximum %)	23	20	20	16	18	18
Crude fibre (maximum %)	6	6	7	8	8	8
Acid-insoluble ash (maximum %)	3.0	3.0	4.0	4.0	4.0	4.0
Salt (as NaCl) (maximum %)	0.6	0.6	0.6	0.6	0.6	0.6
Calcium (Ca) (maximum %)	1.2	1.2	1.0	1.0	3.0	3.0
Available phosphorus (minimum %)	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5
Lysine (maximum %)	1.2	1.0	0.9	0.6	0.65	0.65
Methionine (maximum %)	0.50	0.35	0.3	0.25	0.30	0.30
Metabolizable energy (minimum cal/kg)	2 800	2 900	2 600	2 500	2 600	2 600
Manganese(mg/kg)	90	90	90	50	55	90
Iodine (mg/kg)	1	1	1	1	1	1
Iron (mg/kg)	120	120	120	90	75	90
Zinc (mg/kg)	60	60	60	50	75	100
Copper (mg/kg)	12	12	12	9	9	12
Vitamin A (IU/kg)	6 000	6 000	6 000	6 000	8 000	8 000
Vitamin D3(IU/kg)	600	600	600	600	1 200	1 200
Thiamine(mg/kg)	5	5	5	3	3	3
Riboflavin(mg/kg)	6	6	6	5	5	8
Pantothenic acid(mg/kg)	15	15	15	15	15	15
Nicotinic acid(mg/kg)	40	40	40	15	15	15
Biotin (mg/kg)	0.2	0.2	0.02	0.15	0.15	0.20
Vitamin B12(mg/kg)	0.015	0.015	0.015	0.01	0.010	0.01
Folic acid(mg/kg)	1.0	1.0	1.0	0.5	0.5	0.5
Choline (mg/kg)	1 400	1 000	1 300	900	800	800
Vitamin E(mg/kg)	15	15	15	10	10	15
Vitamin K(mg/kg)	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0
Pyridoxine(mg/kg)	5	5	5	5	5	8
Linoleic acid(g/100 g)	1	1	1	1	1	1
Methionine + cystine (g/100 g)	0.9	0.7	0.6	0.5	0.55	0.55
*Source:* BIS. Poultry feeds – specifications, fourth revision.