Avian - Diets and Digestion

?

Diet Requirements of Chickens

  • Fed Layers pellets/Layers mash
  • Poultry grit is essential
    • ensure calcium is high enough for eggs. If there is not enough calcium the eggshells will be soft.
    • aids digestion. Ensuring birds get the most out of their food.
  • Avoid feeding crushed eggshells
    • nothing nutritionally wrong
    • may encourage a taste for eggs
  • Avoid feeding: avocado, meat, garlic, onion and green peppers
    • garlic is good for condition
    • garlic and onion can change the taste of the eggs
    • can feed seeds of green peppers
  • Feeding regime
    • Chick crumbs: 0-5/6 weeks
    • Grower pellets: 5/6 weeks - adult
    • Layers pellets/mash = adult breeders
  • fed using hoppers
    • can encourage pests such as rats
  • can give them corn
    • high in carbohydrates
    • too much can cause weight gain
1 of 16

Dietary Requirements of Ducks

  • compound pellets
  • avoid powder feeds
    • break up easily
    • can block nostrils causing respiratory problems
  • served in fresh water or near water
  • grain can be offered
  • layers pellets can be used
  • non-salted kitchen scraps
    • only for eggs that will not be sold
  • grain-oyster shells
    • strong eggs
  • feeding regime
    • chick crumbs: hatchling - 2/3 weeks
    • grower pellets: 2/3 weeks - POL (POL= point of lay)
    • maintenance/Layers pellets = breeding adult
2 of 16

Dietary Requirements of Pheasants

  • Regime
    • starter pellet/chick crumbs (30% protein) = 0-6 weeks
    • grower pellets = 6 weeks - adult
    • breeder pellet (20% protein) = breeding adult
    • maintenance pellets (12% protein) = non-breeding adult
  • fresh food offered
    • salad, fruit and vegetables
  • peanuts as a treat
  • insects
    • crickets, mealworms
    • not all species will eat them
  • grit must be offered
  • boiled egg
    • protein boost
    • pheasants may get a taste for eggs from this
3 of 16

Dietary Requirements of Quail

  • layers pellets and corn
  • consider crushing pellets
  • chick crumbs as a protein boost in winter
  • basic scraps
    • no junk food or meat
4 of 16

Omnivorous Birds

  • e.g., cassowary, corvids, crowned crane
  • Presentation methods: scatter, bowls/stations, training, enrichment
5 of 16

Insectivorous Birds

  • live food, insectivore diet
  • presentation methods: scatter, insects mixed with insect mix, non-flying insects in a bowl
  • may benefit from a second feed
    • scatter/hand feeding
6 of 16

Carnivorous Birds

  • e.g., secretary bird, kookaburra, tawny frogmouth
  • presentation methods
    • on glove
      • sharp talons and beak
    • in water
    • 'whole feeds'
    • floor/feeding shelf
  • don't cook meats
    • makes bones brittle which could break in the oesophagus of the bird
7 of 16

Piscivorous Birds

  • presentation methods
    • hand feed
    • water
      • may want to rinse food to maintain water quality
8 of 16

Frugivorous Birds

  • keep food off the floor
  • presentation methods
    • spiked on perches
      • most frugivores are arboreal
    • enrichment feeders
    • hand feeders
  • whole fruits or chopped fruits
    • chopped can give variety to their diet
9 of 16

Nectarivorous Birds

  • powder mixed with water
  • bowls hung high
    • bottles work better when feeding
  • nectar changed regularly
    • high sugar content means it spoils quickly
  • bowls and bottles disinfected well at least daily
  • serve nectar warm
  • ensure there are enough feeders
    • species prone to fighting
  • Hummingbirds lose condition quickly due to their fast metabolism
10 of 16

Graminivores and Granivores

  • lawned area
    • eat the grass
  • presentation methods: scatter feed, seed from hoppers/bowls
11 of 16

Folivorous Birds

  • leaves and petals
  • given browse daily
  • may benefit from supplementation
    • lack nutrition in leaves
  • pellet feeds can be given
12 of 16

Bird Digestive System

  • no solid waste
  • crop and gizzard

1. Mouth

2. Crop 

3. Stomach

4. Gizzard

5. Intestine

6. Anus 

13 of 16

Morphological Adaptations

  • an animal that eats lots of protein have a shorter gut
    • animals with high levels of fibre or cellulose in their diet have a longer gut
14 of 16

Adaptive Radiation

  • a process where organisms diversify rapidly from ancestral species into a multitude of new forms
    • due to differences in food availability
15 of 16

Softbills

  • softbill is a non-scientific term that has been used for numerous years to describe a diverse range of bird species based upon their dietary habits. It has no fixed taxonomic meaning and can be misleading, as many species that fall into this category do not have soft bills.
  • Typically referring to soft food diet including carnivorous, insectivorous, omnivorous, frugivorous, nectarivorous and folivorous birds.
  • Clive Roots described Softbills as 'Cage and aviary birds with relatively soft bills, which feed upon insects and soft plant material and whose young are helpless at birth'
16 of 16

Comments

No comments have yet been made

Similar Other resources:

See all Other resources »See all Animal Management resources »