Laying hens require a diet with about 15 percent protein.
Soybeans provide protein to the diet of chickens. Usually added to chicken feed in the form of soybean meal, soybeans have a protein content of about 45 percent. Soybean meal is readily available, highly digestible and has low levels of undesirable or toxic substances. No feedstuff provides all of the amino acids and the protein components required by chickens. A variety of feeds are mixed to supply essential amino acids. There are some substitutes for soybean meal in poultry diets.
Instructions
1. Determine the protein requirement of the chickens. Laying hens require a diet with at least 15 percent crude protein. Pullets beginning to lay eggs require 16 to 18 percent protein in the ration.
2. Add meat and bone meal to the ration at a level less than 10 percent of the diet. Meat and bone meal consists of meat trimmings, inedible animal parts, some condemned carcasses and bones that are cooked and dried. The crude protein content is about 50 percent. Meat and bone meal does not store well for long periods and must be used in chicken rations promptly after processing. Fish meal with a protein content of about 60 percent and poultry by-product meal are also used in poultry diets.
3. Substitute up to 10 percent of the diet with corn gluten meal. Corn gluten meal is a golden-yellow color and contains about 66 percent protein. The yellow pigment in corn gluten meal imparts a yellow color to chicken yolks.
4. Add flax seed to the diet. Flax seed provides omega-3 fatty acids and is fed to laying hens to produce omega-3 enriched eggs. However, at levels of greater than 10 percent of the diet, the egg aroma and flavor is not desirable.
5. Substitute up to 30 percent of the laying hen diet with whole sunflower seed. Laying hens will produce pale colored eggs yolks if fed a ration containing whole sunflowers. Canola meal, another crop raised for oil, is added at levels of less than 10 percent of the diet. At higher levels, brown egg layers produce fishy tasting eggs.
6. Avoid adding unprocessed dry beans, peas, and lentils to the poultry ration. These high protein feeds contain compounds such as tannins and enzyme inhibitors that severely affect poultry growth. Processing reduces the amount of undesirable compounds.
7. Do not add cottonseed meal to layer hen diets. Cottonseed is a by-product of the cotton industry. Cottonseed meal contains compounds that produce pale green egg yolks and pink egg whites.
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