DISADVANTAGES OF AZOLLA AS FEEDS FOR CHICKENS

Do chickens really love Azolla?
Hello there, my name is Jon, and I want to share to you some of my experiences in organic and integrated farming.

Today I’d like to focus on the topic of feeding Azolla to the chickens.

You probably have seen so many videos already showing chickens eating Azolla. But well do chickens really love to eat Azolla?

There is no doubt that Azolla is one of the favorite meal of our Chickens. But if you are thinking of feeding your chicken with only Azolla to save 100% on the feed cost, then this video is for you.

Chickens have a wide range of diet. They are naturally omnivores, which means in their natural habitat, they do eat a wide variety of food including worms, small snails, insects, seeds, plants and sometimes small pebbles to help them crashed and digest their food.

At the start, if it’s first time for your chickens to eat azolla, then they will probably go crazy for it for the whole day and will not get bored. Now I’m talking about here of giving your chickens with pure azolla. Without any mix of other meals or commercial feeds. 100% Azolla full feeding.

Alright then, the next day try feeding them again with only azolla in the morning. And for sure, they will consume it, leaving their plate empty. But come lunch time, you will notice that by the time you gave them their second round of azolla ration for the day, they will refuse to eat it.
Yes you read me right, they will not eat the azolla.

They will probably taste it, out of curiosity, thinking maybe if by chance there is any difference. Or they will check if there is anything in there that they might take their interest. But, they will not eat it.
Now, considering chickens and most of the birds in general have a very small amount of taste buds, it is fascinating to know that they are still picky on what they eat. I was surprise myself when this thing happened. I even thought of different ways to make them used to eat azolla.

First, I tried to give them two times straight azolla meal, breakfast and lunch. Then during lunch time, I tried to ignore their cackling sound as they cry because of hunger. Even if their plate is full of azolla, still they are crying and not eating. I thought that maybe later, after some time, they realize that no other food is coming for them, then they will be forced to eat what they have on their plate. But it did not happened. What they did was they just scatter all the leaves trying to find for something else. But they did not consume a bit. It’s kinda brutal actually to let them skip their meals. As most of you may already know, chickens are like humans. They have their own body clock on their feeding schedule.

So, the second time, I thought that maybe if I gave it to them at a gradual lesser percentage everytime, then they might learn to accept it anyway, until it reaches to a 100% of full feeding. But still it fails. I was desperate to prove my point already and this creature are unexpectedly intelligent.
Finally, I thought that if I cannot make them feed at a 100% rate, then I have to find out how much percentage ratio of azolla and commercial feed or other type of feed as long as not the same plant feed, will they be willing to eat without losing appetite and always excited for their meal.

What others are doing is that they feed their chickens with azolla alternately with commercial feeds. This way chickens never gets bored with the meal and they are happy. This also means that they are feeding the azolla to the chickens at not more than 33.33% or 1/3 rate. This is I think also a good way and I also tried it and it’s effective.

However, for the sake of identifying how much percentage ration is tolerable, then I have to mix the azolla with the other ingredient which is in my case a commercial feed. Now at this moment it becomes more like a trial and error. And by observing how well they receive each the mixed feed which I also call the formula, I came up with a conclusion that the best ratio of azolla and commercial feed is 25/75.

This is the ideal ratio of the mix formula. At this ratio, your chicken will surely consume the formula without getting bored and always excited to eat.

Continued to next video…
DISADVANTAGES OF AZOLLA AS FEEDS FOR CHICKENS 2/2

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