100 Broilers and Fermented Feed Project

[kuntrygirl]

Can you imagine a chicken house with 10, 000 broilers???????  OMG!!  THAT's a feed bill.

I can't even imagine . I wonder how much feed their broilers get every day.

 

[kuntrygirl]

I'm finally in for the night. I just checked on the broilers in the chicken yard in their kennel and they are doing good. Current temps are 62 degrees. Everyone survived the 50 degree temps last night. I monitored the FF intake today and I was shocked that they ate 90 lbs of FF feed This is the squished broiler's weight (2lbs 0.7 ounces) before processed. I can't say live weight because it was dead. .....So far, everything is ok but the amount of feed that they are eating is unbelievable. :/

Still giggling over that postage meter..... WRT feed quantity.... You are keeping track o fthe dry weight of the feed you use to ferment. Because Water is free.... the amount of feed weight wise they consume is created by you. The dry weight would give you the actual cost for feed. deb

LOL@ giggling over the postage meter. Yes, I am tracking the dry weight. 50 lbs of crumble and water water and more water per container bringing the weight of the feed and water to 45 lbs of FF per feeding. It's unbelievable to see this many birds eat that much feed. I would not believe it if I didn't see if for myself.

When I was raising up forty Guinea Keets I was going though 50 lbs of feed every week.... dry. As you know guineas grow very fast doubling their size practically every week at first. For those who havent raised Gunieas, a Guinea Keet is about the size of a larger Bantam Chick. when they hatch out.... by the end of two weeks they can motor up a good three to four feet in the air and by week 2.5 they can get up and roost in the rafters. So they are eating pooping and messing up their brooder machines. I call them little jack booters. Because they stomp through and over anything in their way.... But DANG they will eat you out of house and home.... I am hoping FF will alleviate that. Because Game bird starter is expensive. deb

Yes, those little keets are a terror. They are soooooooo fast. When I moved mine outside on year to a dog kennel, one of them did just what you described and fly UP and OUT of the little spaced in the dog kennel . I couldn't believe it . It looked like a little humming bird. He came back in a couple days but he was gone gone gone. Not looking forward to keet hatching season this year but it's coming.

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:

For those who havent raised Gunieas, a Guinea Keet is about the size of a larger Bantam Chick. when they hatch out.... by the end of two weeks they can motor up a good three to four feet in the air and by week 2.5 they can get up and roost in the rafters. So they are eating pooping and messing up their brooder machines. I call them little jack booters. Because they stomp through and over anything in their way.... But DANG they will eat you out of house and home.... I am hoping FF will alleviate that. Because Game bird starter is expensive.

deb

Yes, those little keets are a terror. They are soooooooo fast. When I moved mine outside on year to a dog kennel, one of them did just what you described and fly UP and OUT of the little spaced in the dog kennel . I couldn't believe it . It looked like a little humming bird. He came back in a couple days but he was gone gone gone. Not looking forward to keet hatching season this year but it's coming.

LOL I was brooding in moms garage.... she will never forgive me....

it will never be the same. Had about three escapees.... inside Caught them that day but it did take a while. Then when i went to transfer them to a travel container for the trip up to my house one of the little reprobates flew out of the garage door and ONTO the roof and stood there screaming at me. I was able to shoo him off but he flew to the next door neighbors yard and ran up to thier front door. Myson trotted over there to catch it with the bird net where upon IT flew back to moms house and landed on the roof of her car... I put the travel cage full of keets on the ground between the two cars and waited for him to run back to them for safety. .... Bird net prevailed... Whew.

HEy for those who havent got a bird net dont bother..... Go to the fishing supply department and get a landing ned for fishing off a boat. They are about twelve bucks with a collapsable handl and roebust enough net to handle chickens.

deb

 

[Arielle]

THanks for the tip on using a fishing net!! After your stories I'm definitely NOT getting keets!! My kids were begging me for them in Jan when when they saw the guinea hens at a poultry show ans I said NO NO NO!

@ KG-- no idea how they manage the broilers. Everything is automated, lights controlled, environmentally controlled for ventilation, an amazing factory.

 

[Arielle]

Here is meganblythes info on her rangers project. Will be interesting to compare the numbers and see how these cornish stack up to these as the pack date has been moved up to about 11 weeks.
This is from the thread megan started. Quote:

To raise all 26 birds to the final harvest, we used 350 lbs of feed. That comes out to 13.5 lbs of feed per bird, with an average of 11 weeks to harvest. Based on what I ended up feeding them during the final 4-5 weeks I back calculated what I should've been feeding them earlier (interestingly, it matched up with how much they were eating free choice in the brooder...) Here is what I plan to do next time, for another batch of 25-26 chickens:


Week Pounds/day
1 free choice
2 free choice
3 free choice
4 3.5
5 4
6 5
7 5.5
8 6.5
9 7
10 8
11 8.5
12 9

 

[LindaB220]

You got the 90 lbs of FF correct. I started with 100 broilers but I'm down to 96. Yep, 90 lbs of FF. A lot of that weight is the water that I put in for the FF but yep, 90 lbs of feed. 45 lbs two times today. I thought the scale was playing tricks on me . I had to weigh the feed again. I needed the dolly to push the bucket out there to the chicken pen. It was too heavy for me to carry with the FF in a 5 gallon bucket.

My christmas present this year was a heavy duty utility cart. I'm gonna have to put my 5 gal on them and pull around. You poor dear. Get some rest. You've earned it.

 

[LindaB220]

Is everyone signed up for Official byc contest:quarter million....check it out. cant win if you dont enter

Did it.!!!!

 

[cockoftherock]

Wow those are some really good numbers. I heard a guy doing the chicken tractor range thing and he ave 16 lbs a bird. He started with 100 birds so maybe more waste or you have better quality feed?? Good numbers tho no less.

 

[perchie.girl]

THanks for the tip on using a fishing net!! After your stories I'm definitely NOT getting keets!! My kids were begging me for them in Jan when when they saw the guinea hens at a poultry show ans I said NO NO NO!

@ KG-- no idea how they manage the broilers. Everything is automated, lights controlled, environmentally controlled for ventilation, an amazing factory.

People either love em or hate em. I love Guineas. They are pretty wild till they go through their first spring and pair off ... boy girl boy girl then they settle down. But believe me you have to have alot of room around you because not only are they loud they wander a bit. I have eighteen acres they would disappear into the chaparal.

They have a squeeky hinge noise they make while they are forageing or talking to each other. So even if you cant see em you can tell where they are on the property for the most part. All I would have to do is bang on the feed bucket and here they would come chittereing and flying about thirty feet off the ground. to land on the roof and give me the stink eye to see If i really ment it.

There were two main reasons I got guineas. They are natural burglar alarms. If they dont recognize you or there is something out of place on your property they will send off the alarm. My house is two miles from the Mexican border. The other reason is they are excellent buggers and wily where predators are concerned. The chickens learn to rely on them for forwarning. Fortunately not like peacocks and roosters they dont make noise at night Unless something actually wakes them up.

I have actually had my little flock of seven Guineas escort a a coyote off the property.... I watched them as they charged and pecked at him as they drove him down the driveway. He would turn his head around to look at them as if to say "This Aint Right".....

They sell well around here if I can only get the next batch raised up LONG story.

deb

deb

 

[Beekissed]

You got the 90 lbs of FF correct. I started with 100 broilers but I'm down to 96. Yep, 90 lbs of FF. A lot of that weight is the water that I put in for the FF but yep, 90 lbs of feed. 45 lbs two times today. I thought the scale was playing tricks on me . I had to weigh the feed again. I needed the dolly to push the bucket out there to the chicken pen. It was too heavy for me to carry with the FF in a 5 gallon bucket.

You live where it's warm, right? Can keep your FF outside? Why not just keep it where you are feeding so you won't have to do this chore each day? And keep your dry feed storage can right outside the coop so you can replenish your buckets right there without carrying heavy buckets. The only thing you need carry then is the water.