Pellets feeds are the way to go for chicken

Feb 09, 2018

Gachunya advises poultry farmers to select the right feeds and give them to the chicken at the right time.

"I have been keeping these broilers for eight months now but they are not showing any sign of achieving the right weight," laments Christine Namusisi.  Namusisi makes sure that she feeds the birds on time, giving them only a few hours of rest every day by switching off the lights

However, her birds normally take over two months to gain just 1kg. "Under normal circumstances, broilers can gain 1.6kgs after six weeks," explains Francis Gachunya, a feed mill manager at Kuku Feeds. 

Kuku feeds is part of HMH-Rainbow Ltd and it is also related to Yo Kuku, who are growers and processors of fresh chicken for the Uganda market. 

Kuku feeds produces feeds for both Yo Kuku broilers in Semuto and for the general market. 

The group will be at the 2018 Harvest money expo in Nambole, sensitizing farmers about their products.

Gachunya advises poultry farmers to select the right feeds and give them to the chicken at the right time. "Most of the common feeds are made using maize bran as the main base, however good feeds must be made using whole grain," he explained.

"Maize brand is less nutritious to the chicken compared to whole grain," he says.  This means that farmers who entirely feed their flock on maize bran alone are actually wasting time.  

 


He adds, "When you mix feeds using whole maize grain ,mixed with soya, cotton seed and premixes, broilers take just 35days to gain 1.6kgs," He also points out that farmers must now move away from using chicken/poultry mash to using pellets.

"We encourage farmers to feed their birds on pellets because it is more beneficial to their growth rate," he says. Kuku feeds will be at the 2018 Harvest money expo, to among other things train farmers in best practices when feeding chicken. 

The expo kicks off on February 16th  up to 18th. Look out for their stall.

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