Hens Super Nick - hybrids of the egg direction. Many farmers today prefer this cross, due to the unpretentiousness of care. But the poultry house needs to follow certain recommendations regarding bird care so that egg production rates remain at a high level.
How did cross appear?
This hybrid appeared, thanks to scientists from the company H&N International, located in Germany, but having many subsidiaries around the world. This company managed to bring out many popular hybrids with high performance and profitability.
Super Nick chickens are crosses intended for commercial breeding. The painstaking work of scientists has contributed to obtaining excellent user qualities, and the hybrid has become popular not only among owners of large poultry farms, but also ordinary farmers and summer residents who contain birds exclusively for personal consumption of products.
This cross was brought to Russia not so long ago - in 2005. Since then, it has been very popular, farmers appreciate chickens for their external qualities, excellent meat taste, and good productivity.
External data and nature
Outwardly, the cross is not noticeable, but in the absence of its inherent features, the bird is discarded. The following are considered characteristic features of the final cross Super Nick:
- small proportional triangular body;
- plumage is smooth, white;
- the chest is round, the back is small;
- medium-sized head located on a short, thin neck;
- a light red crest of a leaf-shaped shape, often littered to one side;
- light red earrings and white earlobes;
- gray beak;
- gray-yellow metatarsal feet of medium size.
Super Nick chickens are quite temperamental and at the same time active birds, moving very fast, they are fussy. Some farmers prefer the cellular content of these animals. Birds are more to their liking when they have a lot of free space, but from the very beginning of life, chicks are quite realistic to teach to live in cages.
Like most crosses, these hens do not have the ability to incubate eggs and are not considered good brood hens. But engaging in breeding offspring from the final cross is meaningless, because the chicks will not be able to inherit the productive traits of their parents. Better to get chickens from breeders. In case of chickens, an incubator is recommended.
Advantages and disadvantages of cross-country
Super Nick chickens have several advantages, due to which many poultry farmers like it so much. Layers are very beneficial for commercial breeding, productive, unpretentious in care.
The negative aspects include a short period of maximum masonry, some difficulties in raising and breeding birds.
Productive qualities
For industrial hybrids, it is important to meet the only requirement - to grow and develop quickly. When breeding chickens for commercial purposes, you need to maximize profits with minimal investment. Animals meet this requirement, their puberty occurs at the age of 4 months.
Usually, the laying is established quickly and already in the first year of its labor, the laying hen is able to produce about 360 eggs in 1.5 years. But such indicators can be obtained if the conditions of detention, care and proper feeding are observed. Young birds give medium-sized eggs - about 60 grams, their shell is white. Adult hens are able to bring large eggs weighing up to 70 grams.
Farmers often have to deal with such a problem as the lack of shells on the first eggs. But the occurrence of this problem occurs only if the rules of feeding before masonry were not followed. Before the laying hen begins to rush, it needs to be transferred to a special diet - it will help her body prepare for violent activity.
Content Features
Hens Super Nick - birds, unpretentious in the content, able to get used to any changes. But there are some recommendations that help them realize their full productive potential:
- These birds are considered cold-resistant, capable of surviving the winter period in an insulated house without harm to health. But in practice it is proved that under such conditions, productivity is significantly reduced. While maintaining the optimum temperature of 14-19 degrees Celsius, it will be possible to get eggs stably throughout the winter.
- Birds can fly, and in the case of free range, the territory must be protected with a high net so that the birds do not fly away.
- The farmer must take care of the health of birds, maintain cleanliness in the house, periodically disinfect it. With the joint keeping of hens with other breeds, treatment of the premises for the purpose of prevention should be frequent.
- It is important to maintain the correct temperature. A day before the appearance of the offspring, they begin to prepare the house - to heat and equip. In the home of the chicks, where they will be moved from the incubator, there must be at least +35 degrees. Such indicators should be stable. Each subsequent week, the temperature is reduced by 3 degrees.
- Equally important is the provision of air exchange - chicks need fresh air saturated with oxygen and negative ions. If the air stagnates, this will lead to the multiplication of bacteria, and with a lack of oxygen, immunity is weakened.
- In industrial poultry farms, the beak is cut off for birds, performing the procedure of debiking on 7-10 days after birth. This action is optional. It is important to observe all hygiene standards when trimming to protect the bird from infection. At a later age, it is undesirable to perform such a procedure.
- Full development will provide intensive lighting. The first three days in the room should be light around the clock, and then alternate it according to the scheme of 4 hours of light and 2 hours of darkness.
Content in the house
Super Nick chickens are able to quickly acclimatize in any conditions. They are unpretentious in leaving. Birds are resistant to cold. When keeping birds in the chicken coop, and in the room, it is required to maintain a humidity indicator at the level of 60-70%, and daylight hours should last at least 13 hours. This helps maintain egg production. In winter, lighting will not be superfluous.
Experienced farmers recommend building houses from wood, the floor should be made of the same material, but clay and cement will work. It is imperative to provide ventilation by installing vents and special pipes with plugs. The area of the window openings should be about 10% of the floor area. The frames are double and removable - this allows you to ventilate the room in the summer, and maintain good lighting.
Adhere to such tips:
- Arrange a place for walking with a fence near the chicken coop.
- Provide litter in the house using hay, dry straw, sawdust. Periodically clean the litter, change it in the fall.
- Place perches on the premises using wooden blocks. Under the perches, for the convenience of cleaning, put pallets for chicken droppings.
- In the autumn, disinfect, dry the entire room.
- For 1 square. m accommodate no more than 5 birds.
- The height of the house should not be less than 180 cm. This is the best indicator for heating the chicken coop in winter and airing in the summer.
- The room is equipped with the necessary number of feeders and drinking bowls.
Cage Bird Care
If the farmer decided to keep the birds in their cages, the following rules must be observed:
- Each layer is provided with at least 400 square meters. see sex cells.
- It is required to regularly ventilate the room, oxygen must flow into it.
- One individual accounts for approximately 10 cm - this is the front of feeding.
Chickens Super Nick has long been used to obtain a large number of large eggs in an industrial environment. Today, their high and early egg production is interesting to the owners of household plots. To achieve high productivity, poultry must receive the required amount of calcium-containing feed and excellent keeping conditions.
Diet
To ensure high productive indicators and keep young growth, proper nutrition will help. A balanced menu is required so that the birds receive all the necessary substances. Young animals and adult chickens are fed differently.
Nestling food
Chickens Super Nick is an autosex cross. Already in the early stages of growth, the farmer can determine the gender of the chicks. Identifying females is simple: they fledge faster than males, have better health. The survival rate of the chicks is about 98%. But the percentage of preservation of young animals directly depends on the nutrition of the kids, and proper care for them.
Recommendations for the care and nutrition:
- For better development and breeding of healthy offspring, it is important to provide the chicks with round-the-clock access to the drinking bowl, where there will always be fresh, clean water. When using automatic drinking bowls, it is required to regularly check their serviceability - this will help to avoid dehydration, and it is fraught with negative consequences.
- The cubs are fed the same way as the chicks of other breeds. In factory conditions, from the first days of life, babies are given a combined homogeneous mixture, increasing the amount of feed gradually, as they grow. At home, experienced specialists advise feeding the chicks with a combined feed - so the kids will receive all the necessary substances in equal proportions. With the independent preparation of the diet, this is not always possible to do.
How to feed adult birds?
The amount of food for adult chickens depends on their conditions. In the case of keeping layers in the cells with minimal energy consumption, the amount of food is reduced. When kept with a walk, the volume and calorie content of the servings need to be increased.
Seasonality does not affect the diet, because the egg production of chickens does not depend on the time of year and is stable even with the onset of winter. Also, the farmer can adjust the diet when approaching the time of the first masonry - somewhere in 3.5 months.
Feeding of birds 2 weeks before laying begins to change. To improve egg production in the laying menu, more calcium is included - at least 2.5% of the total feed. During this period, it is required to increase the amount of proteins, especially of animal origin.
When feeding adults, it is recommended to adhere to the following rules:
- When breeding cross in industrial conditions, animals are fed with dry food. This type of feeding helps to reduce the complexity and cost.
- Animals are fed at least three times a day at the same time. Having set a clear schedule, it will be possible to establish the correct feeding regimen.
- Take into account the fact that laying hens are predisposed to obesity. When birds are kept in cages, their activity decreases, which increases the risk of gaining excess weight. Having found such a problem, you will have to reduce the number of calories and replace the high-calorie feed with greens.
It is desirable to feed super Nick chickens with such products:
- wet mixers;
- grain crops (wheat, bran, oats, corn, millet, etc.);
- greens and grass (nettle, clover, knotweed);
- food waste;
- fish or meat and bone meal;
- sunflower meal;
- raw or boiled fruits / vegetables (zucchini, carrots, beets, cabbage, potatoes).
As an additional supply of calcium, the birds are given fish and chopped eggshells. For the correct formation and increase of egg production, it is advisable to feed the animals with fine-grained limestone and crushed shell.
When a bird turns 10 months old, its body absorbs calcium worse than the body of young animals. With age, laying eggs lay larger eggs, which is why a prerequisite is an increase in calcium entering the food.
Separately, farmers pour coarse sand or fine gravel into the feeders - they help food to digest faster, normalize metabolic processes and avoid the appearance of cuticle.
Molt of birds
Unlike many other varieties, super Nick chickens do not fade over the season. With a stable daylight hours, there will be no pause in egg laying during seasonal molting.
The timing of the replacement of the herd is determined by the length of the period of egg laying. At this cross farmers observe a slight decline at the age of 1.3 years. By two years of life, egg production of birds is reduced by 50%. It is advisable at this age to replace adult laying hens with young individuals.
Diseases and their prevention
If vaccinations of chickens are carried out on time, they will be sick 80% less often. It is important to vaccinate animals from such dangerous diseases that can destroy the whole herd, causing an epidemic.
In the early stages of development, the chicks are vaccinated against infectious bronchitis and bursitis, Newcastle disease. After a month, mandatory revaccination - this helps to strengthen the immune response. Along with this, it is required to vaccinate animals from birdpox and encephalomyelitis.
Super Nick chickens are cute birds that have gained popularity among many farmers. With the right approach to growing chicks, it will be possible in the future to get healthy laying hens that will produce stably large eggs. Development depends on a balanced diet - do not forget about it.
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Ukraine. City: Kryvyi Rih
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