The effects of feeding a pre-starter diet (PSD) and weight at housing on performance and carcass characteristics broilers were evaluated. A total of 960 day-old male chickens, commercial line Cobb-500, was housed in 32 floor pens as a completely randomized design in a 2 x 4 factorial arrangement [weight at housing (42 and 46 g) and periods of feeding pre- starter diet (0, 1 to 7, 1 to 10 and 1 to 14 days old) for 49 days. The feeding regimes contained three or four phases (pre-starter and/or starter; grower; finisher diets) and diets were based on corn and soybean meal. Overall, birds with heavier weights at housing showed, throughout the trial period, greater feed consumption and weight gain. No differences were observed for feed conversion of the animals. Considering the whole trial period, birds fed PSD during seven days showed higher feed consumption and weight gain, however, lower carcass yield. Weights at housing determine the performance and feeding pre-starter diet during first seven days is beneficial for the performance of birds.
carcass yield; 1-d old chick weight; performance; post-hatching nutrition
