Water, the first feed: quantity, temperature, quality, and its effect on intake
The chicken drinks almost twice what it eats, and much more when it is hot. Its body is 70% water. When water is lacking, too warm or bad, the first thing to fall is feed intake, then weight, then health. In a level devoted to nutrition, water is not a detail: it is the nutrient you measure first every morning, because it announces all the others.
12 min read · 5-question quiz at the end
By Abdul Hussein ChoumanFounder of NEXTEKCI · Agnibilékrou hatchery since 2006Lesson reserved for students following the steps
This lesson is part of Level 7 — Feed and nutrition. It opens to registered students who have passed the level 6 exam. Levels 1 to 5 and the tracks remain readable by everyone.
What you will learn
- ✓Forecast a flock's water quantity by age and temperature, and compare it with the meter reading
- ✓Explain the effect of water temperature on feed intake and act on it
- ✓Judge water quality with simple criteria and know when to have it analysed
- ✓Use the water-to-feed ratio as a daily warning signal