Under the free-range system, the difference between theamounts of food gathered through scavenging and the total food requirement formaximum production should be balanced with nutrients supplied from supplementaryfeed. To make up a properly balanced supplement, it is necessary to know thescavenger feed resource base (SFRB) and the composition of the crop contents(see Chapter 3, SFRB). If this is not known, it is recommended that the fowlshave access (using a free-choice cafeteria system) to three containers (or threecompartments of a bamboo stem feeder of ingredients comprising a proteinconcentrate, a carbohydrate source (for energy) and a mineral source (mainly forcalcium carbonate for egg shell formation for the hen). Poultry should have freeaccess to this cafeteria system for two to three hours in the evening tosupplement the day’s scavenging.
The amount of the supplement increased from 8 to 60 g/bird/dayuntil 12 weeks of age, and was maintained at 60 g thereafter. The growth ratewas 38 g/bird/day up to 20 weeks of age. The mortality rate of the chicks wasonly four percent in the period up to ten weeks, which compared favourably withmortality of 68 percent up to six weeks in Indonesia (Kingston and Creswell,1982) and 25 percent up to eight weeks in Thailand (Thitisak et al, 1989)in chicks hatched and reared by village hens. The comparative advantage of theSri Lankan performance was attributed to supplementing the competitivescavenging, and to the protection against predators provided by thesemi-intensive management system. It is probable that chicks would also benefitfrom the use of a simple creep feeder for feeding kitchen waste. The mortalityrate, in the Sri Lankan example, increased after reaching eight months of age,perhaps due to a greater need for scavenger free-ranging, and almost reached acumulated 60 percent loss by 13 months of age. Of the 142 hens lost up to 13months of age, records were kept for 92. The causes of mortality were:
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