Can I raise meat birds and egg layers together?

[Hawkeye2010]

We are in the early stages of planning our chicken coop for our family. I would like to have 6-8 perennial egg layers and then raise 8 or so chickens every year for just meat. Can I do this in the same coop/run or are the feeding requirements too difficult to sort out that way?

 

[Hawkeye2010]

I am thinking red ranger chickens for the meat birds, not cornish crosses.

 

[Molpet]

I have, CX... feeding everyone the higher protein feed

 

[imacowgirl2]

I’ve had my New Hampshire meat birds in with my layers numerous times before I had my separate coop

 

[Floof]

I wouldn't recommend brooding them together. My meaties trampled and killed my egg layers last fall when I made that mistake. I thought it would be fine since the eggers were 2 weeks older than the Cornish x. I will always brood separately now.

 

[HenriettaPizzaNolan]

I brooded two egg layers with a group of 7 Cornish X and it went well. As long as you have enough feeders and space, it can work. I did separate them around week 3 though, as the meat birds were ready to go into their tractor and the layers were not ready for the outdoors yet.

If you're talking about having Rangers (similar to CX but take about 2 weeks longer to get to processing age) and an ongoing flock of layers, I would recommend just having the Rangers separate in a tractor or some other setup. By the time you integrate them to the flock, it will be processing time. It's a lot of stress and messing with the pecking order that is probably better avoided.

You could probably raise the first batch together, but anything after that would probably need to be separatr. The Rangers would get picked on by the existing flock as they try to establish a pecking order, which takes months. Meat birds' lives are short so idk if they need all that lol. There are some really good ideas on Youtube for chicken tractors or other setups for Rangers that you might want to look into. Good luck.

 

[Morrigan]

I've brooded and raised meat birds -- typically rangers or slow broiler varieties -- together for many years. No problems. The coop does get pretty messy when they are in the final grow out stages, as they tend to sleep on the ground, but its not a big deal. Just a little extra shoveling in the coop for a few weeks.

 

[Hawkeye2010]

Can I feed the same feed to 3-5 year old egg layers and the meat birds for the 12 weeks I have them?

 

[Morrigan]

Yes. That's what I do. I use an all-flock type feed (18 to 20% protein) and put some oyster shells out on the side.

 

[Acre4Me]

Can I feed the same feed to 3-5 year old egg layers and the meat birds for the 12 weeks I have them?

Depends on what your priorities are. If you want muscle, they need protein, so a meat bird or turkey starter. But, yes, you can feed them the same thing if you only want one feed.

Raising together. I’ve not had rangers, but I would not generally look to raise regular chickens and meat birds together. @HenriettaPizzaNolan makes good points. But, some people have success.

Good luck.