Early nutrition for day old chicks

Nourishing day old chicks is essential in order to obtain good zootechnical and economical performances. A windowed hatching process followed by intensive handling procedures and transport induces a lot of stress to the day old chick. Climate control and providing the necessary nutrients are crucial in order to cope with this. Although nature provides the day old chick with the necessary nutrients to survive via the presence of the remaining of the yolk, feeding the day old chick additionally with the proper nutrients is essential in stimulating the intestinal development. The intestine being the first line defense in disease prevention and responsible for nutrient efficiency.

Early life struggles 

Opposite to other species birds have the advantage to have a nutritional storage in their body – the remaining of the yolk sac– but also unlike other species  in professional  animal husbandry, the birds, no matter if it is chickens or turkeys, usually have no access to feed directly. Including hatching, grading, sorting, storage and transport it can be take 24 up to 72 hours until day old chick placement at the farms. These circumstances make it obvious, why an early feeding in the poultryhouse is extremely relevant and important for the later development.

Besides these external stressors, the young birds have to face after hatch, there is also a harsh change in nutrition. While the yolk basically consists of fats and proteins in poultry specific molecules, the bird is later confronted with mostly plant based fats, proteins and, of course, a lot of starch.

Facilitate the Change

The upcoming new GalliFirst Pre-starter is developed to supply the necessary nutrients to take these circumstances into consideration and merges the needs of the young bird with the demands of the respective production period. In order to perform well, taken into consideration all this disruptive changes.

A homogeneous  and crumbled structure leads to results in rapid, quick and stable increasing feed intake and with its selected specific composition builds is the bridge between the yolk-nutrition and the later feed-based nutrition and development stage of the bird. The protein part for example consists of egg protein sources as well as specifically selected plant based protein concentrates for an optimal Amino Acid supply to the developing body.

To reach a fast and balanced gut development in all segments, the nutrient sources combine the “known” nutrients of the yolk with the later plant-based nutrients to adapt, but not overwhelm the GIT of the young animals. A distinguished additive concept based on probiotics and MCFA’s leads to a balanced and resilient GIT, after the young birds already had to experience a lot of stress during the first hours of life.

The upcoming GalliFirst is only concepted for the first few days (up to 2 days of age  ) and especially to stimulate feed intake as early as possible. The nutrient levels of the feed are concepted to ease the transition to the usual starter feed as well, so that no drop in feed intake, essential in order to obtain good performance,  will be experienced.

Summary of the “why”

The objective is to build the link between the intrinsic nutrition of the bird and the later feed supply. We want the birds to eat as soon as possible resulting in a good GIT development having the potential for a very high and efficient performance during the production cycle. GalliFirst is to be fed additionally to the normal starter feed for the first 2 days after arriving on farm level. It should be applied on paper under the drinking line (with a feed intake of approx. 30gr/bird).

Summary of the advantages of GalliFirst

  • Homogenious, crumbled structure, allowing all day old chicks (even from the younger parentstock) to eat directly.
  • High digestible protein sources having the perfect amino acid availability and ratio, provide adequate supply, even when feed consumption is still limiting.
  • Mix of several energy sources to provide the extra energy to maintain body temperature, but also at the same time starts triggering enzyme secretion to digest the feed later.
  • Additive concept to support the development of the GIT , to support a stable microflora and stimulate early feed intake.

If we want to achieve the genetic performance potential it is crucial to create the basis to obtain the adequate body development. This starts from day old. GalliFirst is facilitating the transition from yolk nutrition to feed nutrition helping the birds to cope with the early stressors of life.

Your Earlyfeed expert
Stefan Alius
Technical Poultry Specialist Agrifirm EMEA

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