Barnyard Crumble Experiment

Conclusion

This experiment has shown us that Barnyard crumble is a better feed for growing Brown Shaver chicks than Reliance mash or pellets, from 5 Day old to 25 day old chicks. This is seen in my data, as group B which consumed Barnyard crumble over the 20-day period put on nearly 400% of their original body weight compared to groups A and C which put on 140-160% less body weight over the 20 day period. This shows that I was wrong in my hypothesis as I believed that group A consuming mash would have grown the most as the mash is easier for the chicks to digest the food as it is in smaller food particles. The chicken has a mono-gastric digestive system which means the chicken has a simple single-chambered stomach, compared with a ruminant organism, like a cow or sheep, which

The food then further travels through the digestive system towards the gizzard where it is broken down by enzymes. As the chicken doesn’t have teeth it is left to the gizzard alone to break down the food. For a young chick it is very hard to break down food like the Reliance pellets simply because of the large food particles. However as seen in my experiment, clearly the crumble was a small enough size for the 1-day old chicks to break down which would have been a factor that caused group B to consume the most feed per day on average, as the mash and crumble would have been highly palatable compared to the pellets. Young chicks also require good nutrition levels to promote growth and development (both groups A and C have the same nutrient levels). Both the Reliance mash and pellets had protein levels of 16% compared to the Barnyard crumble which had 18% protein. As protein provides the building blocks for growth and development this may have been another factor that caused group B to put on nearly 400% of their body weight over the 20 day period compared to only putting on mid 200% like groups A and C. Barnyard crumble also had a whopping 6% fat compared to the Reliance mash and