How To Make Poultry Feed Pellets

In the field of poultry farming, high quality feed is a key factor to ensure healthy growth and high production of poultry. And making poultry feed pellets can not only meet the nutritional requirements of poultry, but also improve the utilization rate of feed. In this article, we will introduce in detail how to make poultry feed pellets to provide professional guidance for poultry farmers.

Raw Ingredients For Feed Pellets

Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates take up the largest proportion in poultry feed and are an important ingredient in providing fast energy for chickens. Common sources of carbohydrates include corn, barley, wheat and millet. These grain-based ingredients are not only relatively affordable, but also provide adequate energy support for daily activities and growth of chickens .

Minerals

Minerals play a key role in bone formation, muscle and nerve function in poultry. Minerals can be categorized into trace minerals, such as copper, iodine, iron, selenium and zinc; and bulk minerals, such as calcium, phosphorus, potassium and sodium. Since grains are often deficient in the minerals needed for a healthy poultry diet, they need to be supplemented with nutrient balancers and the like. For example, oyster shells are a good source of calcium and are effective in meeting the calcium needs of poultry.

Vitamins

Vitamins play an important role in the growth and reproduction of chickens. Chickens need vitamins A, D, E and K for skin, tissue and bone development, blood clotting and egg production, etc. B vitamins are essential for metabolism. Some of these vitamins are produced by chickens themselves, but others must be obtained from food and supplements to ensure that their growth and performance are not compromised.

Protein

Protein is an important component of chicken feed and plays an essential role in the physical development of chickens, including the growth of muscle, skin and feathers. Animal protein sources include fish meal and meat and bone meal, while plant protein includes soybean meal, canola meal and corn protein meal. Feed contains more than 20 amino acids, half of which are essential, such as methionine and lysine, which are essential for egg production and overall health. In poultry feed, it is usually made up of a variety of plant proteins, although animal proteins are sometimes used, which can give poultry and eggs a fishy odor.

Fats

Fat produces more calories while helping chickens absorb fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K. During the cold winter months, fat helps chickens withstand the cold. Saturated fats such as lard and tallow can be added to the feed. However, it is important to note that fatty acids in chicken feed can affect egg yolk fatty acids and people who consume such eggs may be at risk of cardiovascular disease, rheumatoid arthritis and cancer, so careful control of the dosage is needed when using them.

Easy to make chicken feed pellets at home

Ideal Formula

The ideal chicken feed formulation is at least 7% lysine, at least 16.5% crude protein, at least 2% methionine, at least 3% crude fat, up to 5% crude fiber and at least 3.5% calcium. However, as long as the ingredients are well-balanced, farmers do not have to strictly follow this standard to make precise measurements, but can make appropriate adjustments according to the actual situation and farming experience.

Choice Of Ingredients

There is a wide variety of ingredients used to make chicken feed pellets. Cereal ingredients such as barley, wheat, corn, peas, oats, etc. are good choices. Among them, larger particles of raw materials such as corn and peas can be crushed as needed, while smaller particles of grains such as barley, wheat, oats and alfalfa pellets can be added directly. Premix ingredients such as cultured yeast, fishmeal, kelp, flaxseed, crabmeat, salt and aragonite are readily available and affordable during the harvest season.

Choosing The Right Equipment

Small Chicken Feed Pellet Machine

The core equipment for making chicken feed pellets is the feed pellet mill, which is mainly divided into flat-die pellet mill and ring-die pellet mill, with differences in capacity, price and working principle. Farmers should choose the right pellet mill based on the scale of farming and actual demand. In the case of raising chickens in small quantities, a feed mill may not be needed, but in general, it is still necessary to use a feed mill to assist in crushing raw materials such as corn and peas to better make feed pellets.

Lima Ring-Die Pellet Mill

Step-by-Step Poultry Feed Manufacturing Process

Selection Of Suitable Poultry Feed Ingredients

While preparing chicken feed, the proportion of ingredients should be determined according to the nutritional requirements and growth stage of the chicken. For example, corn, as the main source of energy, can make up 45%-70% of the diet. Other feed ingredients may include 10%-20% soybean meal, 5%-15% fish meal, and appropriate amounts of minerals and vitamins. Whether you are making feed for broilers or laying hens, you can flexibly adjust the proportions of these ingredients according to the different growth stages of the flock, such as chicks, brooders, laying hens, etc., in order to meet their specific nutritional needs.

Crushing And Mixing Of Poultry Feed Ingredients

For larger chicken feed ingredients, they need to be crushed with a pulverizer or hammer crusher to make them into suitable particle sizes. Then, the various ingredients are mixed according to the selected ratio of the chicken feed recipe. The mixing process can be done using a hand mixer or an electric mixer to improve mixing efficiency and ensure that each ingredient is evenly distributed in the feed to ensure that the chickens get a balanced nutritional intake when eating.

Poultry Feed Pelleting Process

The pre-treated feed is put into a feed pelletizer, and the feed is pressed into pellets by the pressure of the machine. During the process, the machine will treat the feed at high temperature, which not only ensures the hardness of the pellets for easy storage and transportation, but also effectively kills the bacteria in the feed to ensure the hygiene and safety of the feed and reduce the risk of poultry falling ill due to the consumption of unclean feed. Usually, in order to make the feed pellets easier to mold, it is necessary to add an appropriate amount of water to adjust the humidity of the feed before the feed material enters the feed pellet press.

1-2T/H Poultry Feed Production Line

Cooling And Storage Of Poultry Feed Pellets

After the pellets are made, they need to be cooled down to room temperature. This step is very critical because if they are not cooled down sufficiently, the feed pellets are prone to mold or deterioration during storage. The cooled pellets can be stored in bags or fed directly to chickens. If the chicken feed pellets need to be stored for a long period of time, it is generally required that the moisture content of the finished chicken feed pellets should be kept at 12-13% and the storage temperature should not exceed room temperature by more than 5°C in order to ensure the quality and nutritional value of the feed pellets.

Key Factors to improve the quality of chicken feed pellets

Raw Material Control

Ingredients with binding properties, such as soybeans, corn, brown rice, fish meal, and animal meat meal, are ideal for making feed pellets. Not only do these ingredients reduce the use of artificial binders, thereby reducing costs, but they are also reasonably priced and easily accessible during the harvest season. However, raw materials that contain large amounts of fat will adversely affect the quality of the pellets, so preference should be given to low-fat cereal raw materials in the making of feed pellets to ensure the quality and stability of the pellets.

Equipment Maintenance

The components of the feed pellet making equipment, such as the raw material mixer, drum, mold, blade position and the hammer used to crush the raw material, must be ensured to be in good condition before production. Only the normal operation of all parts of the equipment can guarantee the efficient operation of the equipment, which in turn produces high quality feed pellets. In addition, the cooling, crushing and grinding of pellets are also essential to ensure the quality of pellets and should not be ignored.

Steam And Temperature Control

Before the raw material enters the conditioner, the amount of steam should be precisely controlled, and the steam and moisture content should be optimized at the same time. Depending on the source of starch in the production, the appropriate temperature needs to be determined. Generally speaking, high quality pelletizing can be achieved at temperatures of 80°C – 85°C. Proper steam and temperature control will help to improve the molding rate and quality of feed pellets, making them more suitable for poultry consumption.

Pellet Size Management

The size of raw material pellets will directly affect the quality of finished feed pellets. In order to obtain the right size and density of pellets, the raw materials need to be crushed into fine particles by a pulverizer. These factors need to be monitored on a daily basis during the production process to minimize the use of binders and to rationalize the use of energy-efficient methods that can improve pellet quality. This is particularly important for commercial feed mills, as high-quality pellets not only improve the growth performance of poultry, but also enhance the competitiveness of the enterprise in the market.

Advantage Of Making Your Own Chicken Feed

Cost savings: lower farming expenses

Chicken feed accounts for more than 80% of poultry production costs and is one of the most expensive parts of chicken farming. Through homemade feed, farmers can directly control the procurement of raw materials and the production process, avoiding the cost of intermediate links, thus effectively reducing costs and improving the profitability of poultry farming.

Flexible Adjustment: Meeting Individual Needs

Different breeds of chickens may require a variety of feeds to meet their specific nutritional needs. For small-scale farmers, buying simple feed pellet equipment is a good choice. This allows for flexible production of feed pellets based on the specific conditions of the animal, such as growth stage and health status, ensuring that each type of chicken gets the nutrition it needs while significantly reducing costs.

Reduced feed waste: improved resource utilization

Pelletized feed is virtually dust-free, compared to powdered feed, which is dusty and tastes poor and puts chickens at risk of respiratory disease. And the use of pellet feed can significantly reduce feed waste during feeding, so that every portion of feed can be fully utilized, improving the utilization rate of feed, and also reducing the environmental pollution problems caused by feed waste.

Improve feed conversion rate: promote poultry growth

Chickens can’t pick out pelleted feed because all the ingredients are mixed into solid pellets, so they eat all the necessary but less palatable parts together as well as the more palatable parts. Several studies and field trials have shown that compared with meal feeds, pelleted feeds can improve the feed conversion ratio of chickens, enabling them to better absorb the nutrients in the feed, thus promoting the growth and development of poultry and improving farming efficiency.

Small investment: low input and high return

Poultry feed plant is small in scale, compact in structure and low in energy consumption, only a small investment is needed to buy small chicken feed plant equipment. And only 1 to 2 workers are needed to make the whole small-scale poultry feed mill run, low labor cost, which means that farmers can use less investment to get higher net profit, with high return on investment.

Easy to store: easy to manage and use

Pellet feed takes up less space per unit weight when bagging and storing, making it easy to store and manage. Whether it is short-term storage or long-term reserve, it can reduce the occupation of storage space. Moreover, pellet feed is relatively stable and not easy to deteriorate, so it is convenient for farmers to take it at any time, which provides convenience for poultry farming.

Laying Chicken Feed Formula

1. Chicken feed formula

◦ Corn 62%, wheat bran 3.2%, soybean meal 31%, calcium phosphate 1.3%, rock flour 1.2%, salt 0.3%, additives 1%.

◦ Corn 61.7%, wheat bran 4.5%, soybean meal 24%, fish meal 2%, canola meal 4%, calcium phosphate 1.3%, rock flour 1.2%, salt 0.3%, additive 1%.

◦ Corn 62.7%, wheat bran 4%, soybean meal 25%, fish meal 1.5%, canola meal 3%, calcium phosphate 1.3%, rock flour 1.2%, salt 0.3%, additive 1%.

2. Breeding chicken feed formula

◦ Corn 61.4%, wheat bran 14%, soybean meal 21%, calcium phosphate 1.2%, rock flour 1.1%, salt 0.3%, additive 1%.

◦ Corn 60.4%, wheat bran 14%, soybean meal 17%, fish meal 1%, canola meal 4%, calcium phosphate 1.2%, rock flour 1.1%, salt 0.3%, additive 1%.

◦ Corn 61.9%, wheat bran 12%, soybean meal 15.5%, fish meal 1%, canola meal 4%, cotton meal 2%, calcium phosphate 1.2%, rock flour 1.1%, salt 0.3%, additives 1%.

3. Pellet feed formula for laying hens

◦ Corn 58.4%, wheat bran 3%, soybean meal 28%, calcium phosphate 1.3%, rock flour 8%, salt 0.3%, additive 1%.

◦Corn 57.9%, wheat bran 4%, soybean meal 21.5%, fish meal 2%, canola meal 4%, calcium phosphate 1.3%, rock flour 8%, salt 0.3%, additive 1%.

◦ Corn 57.4%, wheat bran 3%, soybean meal 20%, fish meal 2%, canola meal 4%, cotton meal 3%, calcium phosphate 1.3%, rock flour 8%, salt 0.3%, additive 1%.

Broiler Pellet Feed Formula

1. Broiler chick pellet feed formulation

◦ Corn 55.3%, soybean meal 38%, calcium phosphate 1.4%, rock flour 1%, salt 0.3%, oil 3%, additive 1%.

◦ Corn 54.2%, soybean meal 34%, canola meal 5%, calcium phosphate 1.5%, rock flour 1%, salt 0.3%, oil 3%, additive 1%.

◦ Corn 55.2%, soybean meal 32%, fish meal 2%, canola meal 4%, calcium phosphate 1.5%, rock flour 1%, salt 0.3%, oil 3%, additive 1%.

2. Broiler pellet feed formulation

◦Corn 58.2%, soybean meal 35%, calcium phosphate 1.4%, rock flour 1.1%, salt 0.3%, oil 3%, additive 1%.

◦Corn 57.2%, soybean meal 31.5%, canola meal 5%, calcium phosphate 1.3%, rock flour 1.2%, salt 0.3%, oil 2.5%, additive 1%.

◦Corn 57.7%, soybean meal 27%, fish meal 2%, canola meal 4%, cotton meal 3%, calcium phosphate 1.3%, rock flour 1.2%, salt 0.3%, oil 2.5%, additive 1%.

3. Large broiler pellet feed formulation

◦ Corn 60.2%, wheat bran 3%, soybean meal 30%, calcium phosphate 1.3%, rock flour 1.2%, salt 0.3%, oil 3%, additive 1%.

◦ Corn 59.2%, wheat bran 2%, soybean meal 22.5%, canola meal 9.5%, calcium phosphate 1.3%, rock flour 1.2%, salt 0.3%, oil 3%, additive 1%.

◦ Corn 60.7%, soybean meal 21%, fishmeal 2%, canola meal 4.5%, cotton meal 5%, calcium phosphate 1.3%, rock flour 1.2%, salt 0.3%, oil 3%, additives 1%.

Note: The above additives include amino acids, vitamins, trace elements and growth promoters, which play an important role in ensuring the nutritional integrity of chicken feed and promoting the healthy growth of chickens.

How to choose the right feed making machine for your needs

Feed production capacity: It is important to choose a machine that can meet the required output based on the size of the poultry farm. For medium-sized farms, a capacity of 1 – 2 tons per hour is usually sufficient. The production capacity of the machine is generally determined by the number of tons produced per hour. Farmers should choose the feed making machine with the appropriate production capacity according to their own development plan for the scale of farming.

Energy efficiency: The energy efficiency of the machine is directly related to the operating costs. When choosing equipment, focus on equipment with energy-saving motors and variable frequency drives (VFD), which can save up to 30% of energy. At the same time, careful consideration should be given to the motor efficiency level and VFD and other technical parameters to ensure that the equipment can effectively reduce energy consumption in the long-term operating process.

Automation and control systems: Advanced control systems can help improve production efficiency and product quality consistency. Features such as programmable logic controllers (PLCs) and human-machine interfaces (HMIs), for example, can accurately control all aspects of the production process and monitor production progress in real time. Through these automated control systems, farmers can operate the equipment more conveniently, reducing manual intervention and improving the stability and reliability of production.

Durability: The durability of the machine is an important factor to ensure long-term stable production. The machine casing is made of high-grade stainless steel materials, such as SS304 or SS316, which can effectively measure its durability. These materials not only maintain the stability of the performance of the equipment, but also has good corrosion resistance, can adapt to the more complex production environment, to extend the service life of the equipment.

Maintenance convenience: In order to reduce equipment downtime, the machine should have a modular structure and convenient operation of the entrance. For example, automatic lubrication components can reduce the manual lubrication workload and time, quick change mold system can improve the production flexibility of the equipment, easy to switch between the production of different products. These designs all contribute to the ease of maintenance and ensure that the machine can continue to operate efficiently.

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