100 Broilers and Fermented Feed Project

[foreverlearning]

Was it messy?

Yes, and it smelled. I'm not used to having chickens or their housing stink. I changed mine to pine shavings for the ease of cleaning and to cut the smell.

 

[kuntrygirl]

Was it messy?

Yes, and it smelled. I'm not used to having chickens or their housing stink. I changed mine to pine shavings for the ease of cleaning and to cut the smell.

Do you think that because they are broilers that their poop stinks worst than regular chickens?\\

How often did you change the pine shavings out and how much is needed to put down?

 

[Angelicisi]

Great job! Love the turkeys, that's our next creature

I used pine shavings, smelled better, was messy tho. I tried hay, I had some so hey, it got flat fast but less messy. Sorta becomes a clump. Pine too but stay fluffier longer I think.

All of the broilers are doing good. No losses. They are greedy as ever. All feeders were bone dry this morning, so I had to re-fill. I have opened the 2nd batch of FF and starting on that. I think I will start a third batch today. I think this batch will last me a LONG time. Looks like A LOT in there.

I talked to the lady about the hatch day of the broilers and she said that hey were hatched on the 3rd. They picked them up on the same day they were hatch.

Has anyone used pine shavings for bedding with the broilers? If so, how did you like it? Did it keep the mess down? I have not been able to find the other shavings that were mentioned a few posts back, so it looks like pine shavings will be my choice . I'm not a fan of shavings but for the broilers, I will try them. Someone said that sand is not good but I still want to try sand as well. That may not be until next year.

Here is a pic of the feeder that I designed a few years ago for my other animals. This feeder is AWESOME! I will have this same feeder made on a smaller scale for the broilers with a few minor adjustments that I have been thinking about. I love this feeder for my animals because I can pick it up and move it ANYWHERE I want to. It's not attached to anything. I have several "pick up and go" feeders that I LOVE having in the chicken yard. I can move it and put it under my raise coops on the rainy days and pick it up and move it back to the chicken yard. The plastic makes it for easy cleaning . And the chickens can't get in to scratch the feed out . I'm the only one that may spill from time to time because I'm clumsy and not paying attention when I pour it in. Other than that, I have ZERO waste with these feeders. I know that the FF will work great.

Today or tomorrow, I will construct their make shift outside pen for the weekend. I can't wait to see how their big butts do outside.

Here are the upcoming temps for my area. Last night's temps were ok . I woke up this morning and checked the temps in the brooder and the temps were 90. They were outside in the garage last night.

7 more weeks and counting down.

Now as soon as I can get this chicken plucker built, I"ll feel better. :/

 

[kuntrygirl]

Great job! Love the turkeys, that's our next creature

I used pine shavings, smelled better, was messy tho. I tried hay, I had some so hey, it got flat fast but less messy. Sorta becomes a clump. Pine too but stay fluffier longer I think.

You will love the turkeys. I have been raising them for many years and I love them. I'm so used to using sand, I'm afraid to use anything else but I guess I"ll try the shavings.

 

[foreverlearning]

Do you think that because they are broilers that their poop stinks worst than regular chickens?\\

How often did you change the pine shavings out and how much is needed to put down?

With the pine shavings I only had to change it once every 3 days but that is because they free ranged during the day and at night used a table top insert to lay on. Most of their poop was contained there and I could hose it off. I used about 1" thick layer. I don't know if it was because they were broilers or if it was because I used FF for the first time with them. I was thinking about next time trying a roost and maybe deep litter underneath. This was my trial and error batch, and believe me I learned a lot about what I won't do next time.

 

[foreverlearning]

You will love the turkeys. I have been raising them for many years and I love them. I'm so used to using sand, I'm afraid to use anything else but I guess I"ll try the shavings.

I was thinking about turkeys as well, what breed do you prefer? I thought they were all the same (stupid me) then when I started looking them up I found more.

 

[Angelicisi]

We feed unmedicated the entire time. The ff is really beneficial and all natural its better for us.
We restrict feed and they grow a bit slower and last longer than the 7-9 weeks (by similar comparisons but that's the average size chicken for processing. So most if ours we are doin the 18th this month. We are trying to have a few go past the 8/9 week to the 12 week mark and see how much of a difference in size we obtain. See if its worth it overall or just to do one batch for our customers that want a larger bird.

This is a copy and paste from another thread about feed consumption for broilers. I have been looking for this for months.

Does anyone ever feed "broiler feed" to their meat birds?

http://www.meyerhatchery.com/produc...D=WBRS&grd_prodone_filter=PRODUCT_ID = 'WBRS'

Feed Recommendations:
Recommend feeding your babies 12 hours ON and 12 hours OFF starting at 3 weeks of age. This helps minimize the risk of heart attacks that can result from their rapid growth.

Feed Medicated 20% Chick Starter for the first 3 weeks.
Then un-Medicated 18% Broiler feed until butcher, suggested at 7 - 9 weeks of age.

(To minimize mortality and health issues, we strongly suggest processing at 7-9 weeks of age.)

 

[Angelicisi]

I don't think it stinks worse, I think there is a ton more poop than other chicks so the same cleaning schedule would cause buildup. I had to clean broilers brooders twice as much as layers to keep up.

Do you think that because they are broilers that their poop stinks worst than regular chickens?\\

How often did you change the pine shavings out and how much is needed to put down?

 

[Angelicisi]

My hubby wants turkey bad!
I was on the fence until we went to get some bunnies from Celie. She has a beautiful place. We were walking to the rabbitry and walked past a meeting. Sounded so serious! One turkey spread tail, standing tall and gobbling at I swear it looked like 20 other Turkeys! I smiled and followed along to the rabbitry when all of the sudden there was a huge massive collaboration of gobbling from the dictators crowd I could NOT stop laughing. The turkeys cheered and cheered in their funniest, gobbling voices all in unison and I had to leave. I had to take a walk with a dog and the giggles start just remembering. So we will definitely be getting Turkey's soon. Hubby has breeding plans and I hear they take awhile! So chicks will be needed soon lol

You will love the turkeys. I have been raising them for many years and I love them. I'm so used to using sand, I'm afraid to use anything else but I guess I"ll try the shavings.

 

[Angelicisi]

I use wire now because shavings smelled great but were EVERYWHERE. still are lol.

If we had planned ahead I would try sand. The coop floors are sand with riversilt bases. But brooders didn't go that route :/