Publications
Why We Don’t Use Hormones in Poultry Feeds!
By Rick Kleyn, SPESFEED (Pty) Ltd. I am in a fairly unique situation. I deal with feed, farmers and agriculture in my professional life but I live amongst affluent consumers. When I meet people at a braai or school function it does not take long for the subject of...
The 10 Things You Should Know About Feeding Your Birds
By Rick Kleyn The correct diet is essential to the well being, breeding success and longevity of your pet bird. Not only should you feed your bird the correct diet, but you also need to avoid feeding those ingredients which may be harmful. Here are ten things that...
The Nutritionist’s Role in the Management and Care of Captive Wild Animals
By Antony Wildon and Rick Kleyn, Avi-Products (Pty) Ltd. Abstract Gross and marginal nutritional deficiencies or excesses may lead to reduced fertility, suppression of the immune system and ultimately the death of captive wild animals. Much of the specific information...
Protein and Energy Levels of Broiler Breeder Diets?
By Rick Kleyn, Introduction The protein and energy levels that are recommended for use in broiler breeder diets represent an area that is filled with confusion and contradiction. The purpose of this paper is to highlight some of these differences and to attempt to...
Micronutrient Nutrition of Breeding Birds: Part 1 Minerals
By Rick Kleyn, MSc (Agric), Nutritionist, Avi-Products Vitamin and minerals make up only a small part of the average avian diet, yet they play a key role in the well being of the bird. This is probably most true in the case of breeding birds, where deficiencies in...
Feeding the Young Broiler Chick in Practice: A Review by RIick Kleyn (1) and Peter Chystal (2)
Summary Modern broilers are reaching market age sooner each year. The attainment of a good 7-day weight, together with good uniformity, is increasingly important. These goals can be achieved if the nutrition and management of broiler flocks are viewed as a single...
Feeding Broiler Chickens for Profit
Rick Kleyn, SPESFEED (Pty) Ltd Despite the fact that feed prices have softened and that broiler prices have firmed on the back of higher demands, the way in which we feed our birds must always be profit driven. The decision as to which feeding strategy is used has a...
Evaluating Alternative Feed Ingredients in Broiler Diets
Rick Kleyn, SPESFEED (Pty) Ltd As our poultry production systems become more intensive and more competitive, we continually need to evaluate what we are currently doing and explore new opportunities. The use of the feed ingredients that we use is and will always be...
Biosecurity and the Bird Keeper
By Rick Kleyn The term biosecurity, a relatively new word in our vocabulary, is not found in many dictionaries. It’s broad meaning is the literal safety of live things, or the freedom from care for live things. In this article, biosecurity will mean the protecting of...
Towards Better Feeding of Captive Birds
By Rick Kleyn, MSc (Agric), Nutritionist, Avi-Products (Pty) Ltd. As of professional nutritionist who has worked in intensive animal agriculture for many years, my involvement at Avi-Products has exposed to me a whole new way of thinking about what I do for a living....
The Use of Anti-biotic Growth Promoters in South Africa: Some Perspectives
By Rick Kleyn, SPESFEED (Pty) Ltd. Anti-Biotic Growth Promoters (AGP’s) are widely used in the South African poultry industry. Their use has already been disallowed in Europe and the USA and South Africa may well follow suite. AGP’s are a cost effective way to ensure...
Strategies for Managing Expensive Feed on Farm
By Rick Kleyn, SPESFEED (Pty) Ltd Introduction The recent increase in poultry feed prices has come about because of two main factors. Firstly, last years maize crop was perhaps smaller than anticipated and secondly our currency has fallen dramatically over those of...