In the course of raising broilers, the first thing that cross farmer’s mind is how to make the birds have highest weight in the shortest possible time. This is easily achievable provided that the farmer can understand all it takes. There are different factors that contribute to the bird’s weight gain. Broiler strain, health status, air, feed and water quality are some of the factors to be considered. The use of antibiotic growth booster by some farmers has been banned by NAFDAC because it causes antibiotic resistance in animals which make them unsafe for consumption.

There are organic or natural recipes that can be used as growth boosters either being added to feed, water or consumed directly. They are not only cheaper and safer but also enhance general health of broilers. Some of the organic boosters are:

 

1. Bitter Kola

Bitter Kola is not only full of antimicrobial effects but also an important natural growth booster for broilers to gain unexpected weight within short period. To use Bitter Kola as growth booster, it has to be sun dried and grinded into powder. You can then add 25g of the powder to 1 kg of feed.

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2. Cayenne (Hot) Pepper

Cayenne pepper is an important growth booster as it increases broiler feed intake. Hot pepper has no negative impact in the gut and organs quality of your broilers. The only thing you need to consider is the correct dosage of 1.4 – 1.6g per kilogram of feed

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3. Cloves

Cloves can be used alone or in combined form with other growth boosters. Cloves are ancient and good natural recipe that can boost broilers growth. The required dosage is 0.1 – 0.2g per kilogram of feed.

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4. Black Pepper

Black pepper is another growth promoter that is a good source of Vitamin B complex. They are also rich in minerals like zinc, potassium, iron, magnesium, calcium and manganese. They therefore increase feed consumption in broilers. The inclusion rate is 0.25g of black pepper in 25kg of feed, that’s equivalent to 1% of black pepper.

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5. Garlic

Both internal and external parasites can hinder the growth of your broilers. Garlic is a family of onions which boosts birds’ growth by boosting their immunity and producing sulphur in their body system. It can therefore kill the parasites because the sulphur produced will overpower the parasites. Just add 3 cloves of garlic to 5 litres of water or two pinches of powdered garlic in their one-time dry feeds everyday.

Note that the best type of scale to be used for accurate measurement of the recipes is digital scale. As a practising farmer, you may need to add digital scale to your instrument.

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