4 Tips to Help Day-Old Chicks Grow Fast and Healthy
Learn how to make day-old chicks grow fast and healthy with the right stock, coop setup, BR1 feeding schedule, feed mix, vitamins and vaccines.
Knowing the right tips to help day-old chicks grow fast is an important part of the process. Whether your chicken farming business succeeds depends heavily on how you care for the chicks. Why does caring for day-old chicks (DOC) matter so much? Because the final result is largely determined during the DOC growth period.
Given how important chick care is, you need to know the best methods to apply. Here are four tips you can put into practice to help DOC grow fast and healthy. They cover choosing the stock, choosing the coop, feeding and vitamins.
Choosing the Stock
For day-old chicks to grow fast and healthy, choose a super breed. Super chickens, also known as jawa super, are crossbreeds developed through genetic engineering. Besides fast growth, choosing super chicken stock helps maintain the quality of the meat produced. There are two ways to get super chicken stock:
- To get super chicks on a budget, you can cross a local breed with a commercial breed or a Bangkok chicken. Commercial breeds and Bangkok chickens generally have large bodies and grow fast, which makes them well suited for crossbreeding.
- If you have more capital, this second option is more practical. You can simply choose and buy super chicken stock from a supplier. Then all you need to do is care for the chicks and raise them.
Choosing the Coop
The next tip for helping DOC grow fast and healthy is to pay attention to the type of coop. For raising day-old chicks, a block-style coop is recommended, because it makes caring for and monitoring the chicks easier. Do not forget to add heat lamps as well.
Once the chicks are grown, however, move them to a free-range pen with a dirt floor. Provide wooden or bamboo perches for the chickens to roost on and jump from. This builds the chickens' muscle strength, so the meat ends up firm and springy.
Also read Common Day-Old Chick Coop Mistakes Beginners Make
Feeding
Even if you raise a super breed, there is no hundred percent guarantee the chicks will grow fast and plump. The tip for helping DOC grow fast and healthy is to give feed that boosts growth. One recommended feed is BR1.
Give BR1 feed to the chicks from 0 to 25 days of age. After that, you can adjust the feed mix when the chicks are between 25 days and 2 months old. At this age, the recommended feed composition is 30% BR1, 30% ground corn and 40% rice bran.
Vitamins
Give vitamins and vaccines regularly, starting while the chickens are still chicks. Besides speeding up growth, this also strengthens the chicks' immune system, so they grow up healthy and protected from a range of viruses and diseases.
The bottom line is that you need to apply these tips to help your day-old chicks grow fast and healthy. The faster and healthier the chicks grow, the higher their market price. That means maximum profit for you and a business that can keep going. To make that happen, pay attention to stock selection, coop hygiene, and feed and nutrition.
