As a Farmers, you can create your own poultry feed using the Pearson Square method. This method helps ensure that the feed contains the right amount of digestible crude protein (DCP), which is essential for the nutrition of chickens.

Here’s how you can do it:

Ingredients and Their DCP Values:

• Whole maize: 8.23%
• Soya: 45%
• Fishmeal (omena): 55%
• Maize bran: 7%
• Sunflower: 35%

For example, if you want to make feed for laying hens (layers), the feed should have at least 18% crude protein.

Making a 70kg Bag of Feed for Layers:
To make a 70kg bag of feed with 18% crude protein, you need:

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

Calculating Crude Protein:
To check if the feed meets the 18% protein requirement, do the following calculations:

• Whole maize: 34kg × 8.23 ÷ 100 = 2.80%
• Soya: 12kg × 45 ÷ 100 = 5.40%
• Fishmeal: 8kg × 55 ÷ 100 = 4.40%
• Lime: 6kg × 0 ÷ 100 = 0.00%

Total crude protein = 2.80% + 5.40% + 4.40% = 12.60%

To get the total crude protein percentage in the 70kg bag:
12.60% ÷ 70kg × 100 = 18%

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So, the feed has 18% crude protein, which is perfect for layers.

Ready-Made Formulations:
To make it even easier, here are ready-made feed formulations for different stages of chicken growth:

Chick Mash (1-4 weeks)
Ingredients for a 70kg bag:

• 31.5kg whole maize
• 9.1kg wheat bran
• 7.0kg wheat pollard
• 16.8kg sunflower or linseed
• 1.5kg fishmeal
• 1.75kg lime
• 30g salt
• 20g premix amino acids
• 70g tryptophan
• 3.0g lysine
• 10g methionine
• 70g threonine
• 50g enzymes
• 60g coccidiostat
• 50g toxin binder

Growers Mash (4-8 weeks)
Ingredients for a 70kg bag:

• 10kg whole maize
• 17kg maize germ
• 13kg wheat pollard
• 10kg wheat bran
• 6kg cotton seed cake
• 5kg sunflower cake
• 3.4kg soya meal
• 2.07kg lime
• 700g bone meal
• 3kg fishmeal
• 14g salt
• 1g coccidiostat
• 18g pre-mix
• 1g zinc bacitracitrach
• 7g mycotoxin binder

Layers Mash (18 weeks and above)
Ingredients for a 70kg bag:

• 34kg whole maize
• 12kg soya
• 8kg fishmeal
• 10kg maize bran, rice germ, or wheat bran
• 6kg lime
• 175g premix
• 70g lysine
• 35g methionine
• 70g threonine
• 35g tryptophan
• 50g toxin binder

Layer feed should have 16-18% DCP to ensure proper nutrition.

Making your own poultry feed can be rewarding and cost-effective. By using the right ingredients and proportions, you can provide your chickens with high-quality feed tailored to their needs.