100 Broilers and Fermented Feed Project

[kuntrygirl]

NICE, not having to pay for water!


How many meaties did you raise?

I had 50 the first go, and 25 the next. 

I raised the first batch with 40 layer chicks. I had 70 heritage chicks a couple weeks older that free ranged with them as well.

That's a big group also. I'm thinking my next batch will be 10. And I will get them in warmer weather, so they can free range all day.

 

[Beekissed]

Our temps have been anywhere from 20 - 40. I have them in my garage which is very drafty and still just as cold. And it is possible that I could be running them too long but I let the chicks tell me if they need the lamps or not. If they are in a pile and trying to get warm, I will turn on the heat lamps.

How many meaties did you raise?

Having 100 broilers to start with, 1 heat lamp didn't do the trick. I think if I had a small number of meaties, then I would not have had to use more than 1 heat lamp. I had 3 lamps going at one time.

What you see in those pics are 52 CX and 2 DP extras. One heat lamp. You don't have to heat the whole brooder, just one end and you can lower or raise that heat to get more or less. I wouldn't have added another heat lamp if I had double the chicks, I'd have just moved it a little further down my brooder and pointed it back towards the "warm" end to make for a larger area being warmed.

These were raised in a open air coop with just plywood on the top of the brooder but that was taken away after the first week.

I think next time you could get chicks in the early spring and save yourself the money of continuing the heat lamps for a longer period. Or just get them earlier in the fall so they would be done before temps got too cold. Getting them outdoors for exercise early in their life is also a way of keeping them warm....a moving bird is one that is generating heat for themselves. A bird that just stands in one spot or moves from the feeder and back is not doing enough to generate heat.

There are all sorts of ways to cut the cost of raising meat birds and I've been studying on them all and will continue to pare that down to a bare minimum. This spring I'm only doing 10 and they will be brooded under a heating pad brooder along with some DP chicks....minimal cost, and they will harden off quickly because they will be forced to go out in the cold to eat and drink and poop.

 

[kuntrygirl]

 I don't pay for water here either.  I think a person would drive themselves crazy trying to calculate all the minute costs of raising each chicken to completion.  I just calculate if I were to buy that much chicken from a place that raises them on natural free range methods and subtract what I have spent to determine if I came out ahead.

I did....WAY ahead.  My first group of meaties were 20 birds I raised on the same feed I was giving to my layer flock, once a day.  I didn't do the math on the extra feed but it didn't seem like much and I cut their ration with some cracked corn.  This was before I was doing fermented feeds.  They were brooded under a broody mama, so no extra electricity used.  Water was free and I didn't buy any extra bedding as I had plenty already. 

I finished up with 120 lbs of meat.  If I were to buy that from a farmer's market that advertised pasture raised meaties, I'd pay $27 per bird, costing me $540.00.  There's no way I paid out that in feed for those birds.  Maybe $100-$150 extra in feed for those weeks. 

I have been adding cracked corn as well. That seems to help with the feed cost as well.

I think if my electric bill hadn't been as high as it is, I wouldn't be worried about it but $70.00 is several bags of feed.

When I get a smaller group in warmer weather, I know the electric bill won't be as high. So, now I know don't do meaties in cold weather.

 

[kuntrygirl]

 
 I don't pay for water here either.  I think a person would drive themselves crazy trying to calculate all the minute costs of raising each chicken to completion.  I just calculate if I were to buy that much chicken from a place that raises them on natural free range methods and subtract what I have spent to determine if I came out ahead.

I did....WAY ahead.  My first group of meaties were 20 birds I raised on the same feed I was giving to my layer flock, once a day.  I didn't do the math on the extra feed but it didn't seem like much and I cut their ration with some cracked corn.  This was before I was doing fermented feeds.  They were brooded under a broody mama, so no extra electricity used.  Water was free and I didn't buy any extra bedding as I had plenty already. 

I finished up with 120 lbs of meat.  If I were to buy that from a farmer's market that advertised pasture raised meaties, I'd pay $27 per bird, costing me $540.00.  There's no way I paid out that in feed for those birds.  Maybe $100-$150 extra in feed for those weeks. 

I raised mine for 75% less than the farmer's market. 

It ended up under $10 a bird (I think it was $7 each...). Not factoring in cost of equipment, but yes factoring in an estimate of utilities, bedding, feed, supplements, etc.

Pretty good numbers there.

 

[kuntrygirl]

Our temps have been anywhere from 20 - 40. I have them in my garage which is very drafty and still just as cold. And it is possible that I could be running them too long but I let the chicks tell me if they need the lamps or not. If they are in a pile and trying to get warm, I will turn on the heat lamps.


How many meaties did you raise?


Having 100 broilers to start with, 1 heat lamp didn't do the trick. I think if I had a small number of meaties, then I would not have had to use more than 1 heat lamp. I had 3 lamps going at one time. :/

What you see in those pics are 52 CX and 2 DP extras. One heat lamp.  You don't have to heat the whole brooder, just one end and you can lower or raise that heat to get more or less.  I wouldn't have added another heat lamp if I had double the chicks, I'd have just moved it a little further down my brooder and pointed it back towards the "warm" end to make for a larger area being warmed. 

These were raised in a open air coop with just plywood on the top of the brooder but that was taken away after the first week. 

I think next time you could get chicks in the early spring and save yourself the money of continuing the heat lamps for a longer period.  Or just get them earlier in the fall so they would be done before temps got too cold.  Getting them outdoors for exercise early in their life is also a way of keeping them warm....a moving bird is one that is generating heat for themselves.  A bird that just stands in one spot or moves from the feeder and back is not doing enough to generate heat. 

There are all sorts of ways to cut the cost of raising meat birds and I've been studying on them all and will continue to pare that down to a bare minimum.  This spring I'm only doing 10 and they will be brooded under a heating pad brooder along with some DP chicks....minimal cost,  and they will harden off quickly because they will be forced to go out in the cold to eat and drink and poop.

This is definitely a learning experience for me since this is my 1st time raising meat birds and having so many at one time. WHEW!!! I am definitely jotting down my mistakes, my "do-overs" and all of the great ideas that everyone has suggested. I'm really excited to try again and incorporate everything that you all have pointed out throughout this thread.

You are absolutely right about getting them in the early spring. I think it will cost me a lot less money getting them in early spring.

 

[aoxa]

What you see in those pics are 52 CX and 2 DP extras. One heat lamp. You don't have to heat the whole brooder, just one end and you can lower or raise that heat to get more or less. I wouldn't have added another heat lamp if I had double the chicks, I'd have just moved it a little further down my brooder and pointed it back towards the "warm" end to make for a larger area being warmed.

These were raised in a open air coop with just plywood on the top of the brooder but that was taken away after the first week.

I think next time you could get chicks in the early spring and save yourself the money of continuing the heat lamps for a longer period. Or just get them earlier in the fall so they would be done before temps got too cold. Getting them outdoors for exercise early in their life is also a way of keeping them warm....a moving bird is one that is generating heat for themselves. A bird that just stands in one spot or moves from the feeder and back is not doing enough to generate heat.

There are all sorts of ways to cut the cost of raising meat birds and I've been studying on them all and will continue to pare that down to a bare minimum. This spring I'm only doing 10 and they will be brooded under a heating pad brooder along with some DP chicks....minimal cost, and they will harden off quickly because they will be forced to go out in the cold to eat and drink and poop.

I do have to say I notice those from the South heat their chicks longer than us in the North. Kuntrygirl, I would have had them off heat at 2-3 weeks. 50F? My Silkies were at 50 at 4 weeks.

They won't die from the cold now. Not unless they got extremely wet and temps plummeted. I did almost lose 20 RSL chicks at 4 weeks who hid under a brush pile at 50F while it rained a couple inches. They were so cold. It was terrifying (for me) trying to rescue them all and heat them up. I saved every single one, even though many were on the edge of death.

 

[Coralietg]

I'm guessing there is a sweet spot in the south when it comes to meat chickens. I've read they don't tolerate the heat well. This winter has been RIDICULOUSLY cold though. And I think southern chickens are wusses too. The days that we had 20F with snow/sleet on the ground, the chickens wouldn't even come out of the coop, lol.

 

[aoxa]

I'm guessing there is a sweet spot in the south when it comes to meat chickens. I've read they don't tolerate the heat well. This winter has been RIDICULOUSLY cold though. And I think southern chickens are wusses too. The days that we had 20F with snow/sleet on the ground, the chickens wouldn't even come out of the coop, lol.

They do not tolerate heat well at all. They were panting here in the 80s at a couple weeks old. I had the ugliest shade covers lol

I do admit I am much more nervous when it is too hot VS too cold.

 

[Beekissed]

I'm guessing there is a sweet spot in the south when it comes to meat chickens. I've read they don't tolerate the heat well. This winter has been RIDICULOUSLY cold though. And I think southern chickens are wusses too. The days that we had 20F with snow/sleet on the ground, the chickens wouldn't even come out of the coop, lol.

It's whatever they are acclimated to and, it could have something to do with owners as well.....I've noticed that people who never acclimatize themselves to the seasons and stay indoors a lot for winter months with the heat on 80* will also think their dogs will get cold when left outside to live and will bring them indoors so they won't "get cold". When they do that, they render the dogs as helpless against the cold weather as they are, so it's all self-inflicted.

I see dogs tied to a box out in -20F, no bedding in their dog boxes and they are just sitting next to the box like it's a sunny day. My dog has a very warm, deeply bedded dog house with hay bales stacked all around it and a flap that holds in his heat but he's still out there rolling in the snow in subzero weather, happy as a lark, running to and fro with his bones and deer hides and marking his territory.

I think maybe southern flock owners are more likely to heat and insulate a coop when cold weather comes instead of letting their chickens grow accustomed to the cold.

 

[kuntrygirl]

 

What you see in those pics are 52 CX and 2 DP extras. One heat lamp.  You don't have to heat the whole brooder, just one end and you can lower or raise that heat to get more or less.  I wouldn't have added another heat lamp if I had double the chicks, I'd have just moved it a little further down my brooder and pointed it back towards the "warm" end to make for a larger area being warmed. 

These were raised in a open air coop with just plywood on the top of the brooder but that was taken away after the first week. 

I think next time you could get chicks in the early spring and save yourself the money of continuing the heat lamps for a longer period.  Or just get them earlier in the fall so they would be done before temps got too cold.  Getting them outdoors for exercise early in their life is also a way of keeping them warm....a moving bird is one that is generating heat for themselves.  A bird that just stands in one spot or moves from the feeder and back is not doing enough to generate heat. 

There are all sorts of ways to cut the cost of raising meat birds and I've been studying on them all and will continue to pare that down to a bare minimum.  This spring I'm only doing 10 and they will be brooded under a heating pad brooder along with some DP chicks....minimal cost,  and they will harden off quickly because they will be forced to go out in the cold to eat and drink and poop.

I do have to say I notice those from the South heat their chicks longer than us in the North. Kuntrygirl, I would have had them off heat at 2-3 weeks. 50F? My Silkies were at 50 at 4 weeks. 

They won't die from the cold now. Not unless they got extremely wet and temps plummeted. I did almost lose 20 RSL chicks at 4 weeks who hid under a brush pile at 50F while it rained a couple inches. They were so cold. It was terrifying (for me) trying to rescue them all and heat them up. I saved every single one, even though many were on the edge of death.

You are probably right about us Southern folks. Raising poults and peafowl keeps me with a watchful eye on the temps. A cold AND wet poult is a DEAD poult. I have heard the horror stories of others who try unsuccessfully raising poults.

I guess with 100 chicks, I was afraid they would pile up on one another (like they are doing now) and smash one another and die (which they have done now). So the heat was the last thing that I wanted to worry about. Especially since my brilliant builder built an NON functional brooder and put the heat lamp in the corner. :/