We decided to start broilers. When growing such a breed, it was advised to add natural supplements to the diet. Tell me, can I give sand? If so, in what form and when to start, and if not, then what to replace?
For the rapid growth of a broiler, one compound feed will not be enough. Therefore, natural supplements are needed, which can be given as early as the fifth day of a bird's life. Most owners start with sand: it helps digestion. Once in the stomach, grains of sand are mixed with food, and with the contraction of the muscles of the stomach, the food is ground.

But experienced poultry farmers recommend starting not with sand, as it is small and can clog the goiter, which causes obstruction, or the chick suffocates. Instead, you can give crushed gravel. Small pebbles of gravel also contribute to the digestion and softening of food. It must be clean and not soluble in water. For an adult, the size of the gravel is 4-6 mm, and for chickens 2-3 mm. If the chickens are free-range, then there is no need for it.

You can also add shells, which contain about 38% calcium, which is necessary for the formation of bone tissue and eggshells. The crushed supplement has a large amount of beneficial trace elements and helps to cleanse the gastrointestinal tract. You can also dilute the diet of meat poultry with wood ash, fodder chalk, limestone.