Plan ahead

Egghead i just need meat birds thankfully lol i have 21 layers which is pretty much just for our family and to give to some others i know could use them
 
I suspect that Ideal's red broilers and black broilers are similar to the colored broilers I picked up from TSC last spring. We had them butchered around 11 weeks of age and their processed weight was around 4 pounds per bird. They were able to go up and down the ramp to the coop and learned to put themselves in the coop at night. However, they always roosted on the floor of the coop even though roost bars were available. They had no health problems. You won't get the fast growth or large carcass size that you'd get with a Cornish X, but the colored broilers will act more like the chickens you are used to.
 
Mmm ok thanks that really helps us on the choice of birds we going to get. We talking about building another section for them so room wont be an issue just deciding on what breed really. I dont mind getting a smaller bird if it means it be healthy and wont eat me out of house and home. We can free range and feed some but cant afford them to eat like our dogs. I found out how big our scoop is and its a 3 quart scoop so the hens get one of those and scraps and freerange. That we can handle if they all eat about the same. All of ours are healthy and happy so i am not to worried on that if they act more like them.
 
Even the colored broiler wont eat the same as your layers. For a bird to grow it needs feed. Broilers grow fast hence consume a lot of feed. A 4 lbs bucther weight isn't like a 6 lbs in 8 weeks but will still be putting the feed away to grow that fast. If you search this meat forum with key words of "feed conversion" or similar you should find some solid data on how much these colored broilers consume. Plenty of data on CX and that is the most ecconomical feed to meat conversion. So the CX will eat more in less time but yield a less expensive feed to meat carcass. These colored broilers wont be as cheap to raise but the feed bill is stretched over a 3 more weeks and a smaller bird.

People highly recommend separate housing for CX, the red or black broilers are good candidates to raise with existing birds if an extra feeder is supplied to eliminate pushing layers out of the way.
 
I just finished a batch of red broilers. They worked out well for me. 16 birds 12 weeks 320 lbs of feed.yielded about 70 lbs of meat(without necks and giblets). Ranged for 3 lbs 3 oz to 5 lbs 9 oz. I would do again, just not in a house/pen. Tractor is the way to go.
 
I just finished a batch of red broilers. They worked out well for me. 16 birds 12 weeks 320 lbs of feed.yielded about 70 lbs of meat(without necks and giblets). Ranged for 3 lbs 3 oz to 5 lbs 9 oz. I would  do again, just not in a house/pen. Tractor is the way to go.


Did you always leave feed in front of them or did you restrict feed. Did you free range at all? I use a combination of hoop coop and free range, the hoop coop is light enough it can be moved easily to a clean spot after they foul it up too bad
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom