What Do They Feed Chickens to Make Them Grow Faster?

Chickens are often fed special diets to promote rapid growth, primarily in broiler breeds. This dietary approach includes several key components designed to support optimal development.

Special Formulated Diets for Fast Growth

To promote faster growth in chickens, particularly in broiler breeds, dietary formulations play a crucial role. These diets include:

High-Protein Feed

High-protein feeds are critical for muscle development. Typical protein levels range from 20-24%, and common protein sources include soybean meal, canola meal, and fish meal. These proteins provide the necessary amino acids for muscle growth and repair.

Energy-Rich Ingredients

Core energy sources like corn provide carbohydrates essential for growth. Corn is a primary ingredient in poultry diets, offering a substantial supply of energy that fuels the rapid metabolism required for rapid chicken growth.

Vitamins and Minerals

A balanced diet includes essential vitamins such as A, D, E, and B vitamins, as well as minerals like calcium, phosphorus, and zinc. These nutrients are vital for supporting overall health and growth, ensuring that the chickens have the necessary nutritional support to thrive.

Antibiotics and Growth Promoters

While not all regions still use antibiotics and growth promoters, some areas do permit their inclusion. These substances help enhance growth rates and prevent common diseases, although there are increasing regulations and bans on their use due to concerns over antibiotic resistance.

Additional Additives

Some feed formulations may also include probiotics or prebiotics to improve gut health and enhance nutrient absorption. These additives can further support the chickens' overall health and well-being.

These dietary components are designed to maximize growth efficiency while ensuring the chickens remain healthy. The specific formulations can vary based on the age of the chickens and the production goals.

A Genetics-Driven Process

Interestingly, the fast growth rate is less about the food and more about the genetics. Selective breeding practices have been meticulously refined to ensure consistent and rapid growth.

Temporal breeding practices involve maintaining three generations of parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents to breed from, ensuring that the chickens retain true-to-type genetics. The vast majority of the world's chicken meat supply comes from just two chicken breeds, both developed by the same individual—first while working for one company, and then a slightly different breed when he moved to work for their competitor.

Broiler chickens, bred for meat, have been designed to focus primarily on eating and passively watch their environment, much like human couch potatoes on an unhealthy diet. These chickens have no inherent need for exercise and prefer to remain sedentary. To raise these breeds outdoors as free-range chickens, strict caloric control is necessary, feeding them small amounts of food twice a day, with no free access to food the rest of the day.

The key to this rapid growth is simply to ensure that food is readily available, and the birds' natural breeding instincts will guide their rapid growth.