19 chicks left on my doorstep! Roosting pic added, page 4

[chickensducks&agoose]

what is 'hot feed' and how is it different from the organic grower I have?

 

[dieselgrl48]

That's awesome you took them in and going to care for them

.Sound's like they are going to have a nice home with you guy's.Let us know how they do.

 

[gritsar]

chickensducks&agoose :

what is 'hot feed' and how is it different from the organic grower I have?

It's a feed specifically formulated by the poultry company (around here that's Tyson and Pilgrims Pride) that is high protein, with a bunch of other crap added in to encourage rapid muscle growth. Broilers around here are ready for processing at 6 weeks, as opposed to the 12 to 14 weeks it took say 20 years ago.
Being a commercial chicken farmer is kinda like owing your soul to the company store. The chicks are hatched in Tyson's hatcheries, trucked out to the various farms the same day. They are dumped (yes dumped, I've seen it done) down in front of the feeders and waterers in the houses, where they will sit and grow for those six weeks before they are caught. The lights in the houses are kept low to encourage them to sit and eat and not move around and they are taken back to Tyson for processing. The farmers are paid on feed conversion - the most meat with the least amount of feed the better - after Tyson subtracts the cost of the chicks and the feed and medications they provide per batch.
Oh and the hot feed tends to cause chronic runny stools. After just two days of being off the "hot feed" most of the broiler chicks now have normal stools and their bottoms are clean.​

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
I took my little turken roo and one of the broiler chicks outside for a little field trip this afternoon. The turken started catching grasshoppers right away - turkens apparently excel at that. The broiler chick wasn't quite sure, so I caught one for him/her. She got the hang of it after that.

 

[angelique_redhead]

Really cool chicks. I would need to give your math challenged friend my address too if I were local. Good luck with your Cornish X.

: Angelique

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
Thanks I'm enjoying them, all the chicks. The other night I came running in after witnessing one of the meaties taking a dustbath in the shavings and told my DH "they're acting like "normal" chickens!" So now we have normal chickens (layer chicks) and abnormal chickens (the meaties).

Took the meaties and one speckled sussex chick out to the chicken yard for a field trip today. They loved it.

 

[Parrotchick]

That's so wonderful you took those few and are giving them an opportunity for a better chickie life. I've only been raising chickens a little over a year but haven't eaten birds in over ten years because of the factory farming thing (at the time, free range chicken was not available to me; now I'm just used to being without). My first birds were 6 Cornish X from TSC, and I had no idea I was supporting an industry that bred chickens to be miserable. My two boys had to be euthanized at several months old when they got maggots so bad, despite regular butt cleanings. Two of my girls dropped dead this winter, one had her heart attact right in front of me on Christmas Eve. She was in my living room in a heated cat bed as I tried to make her more comfortable. My other two are still alive at 14 months, though I wouldn't say they're exactly thriving. They are big and slow and love to hang out by the feeder, but I encourage them to get out and free range and even have to stash the ducks' food when they're out. They rule the roost and the roos love them, surrounding them like queens. It's so comical when they run, which they only do when I have some sort of treats.

I think the Cornish are super sweet and any time you give them will be vastly better than what they would have had otherwise. Good luck to you! They have enormous poops when they get big, so be prepared!

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
Thanks for the encouragement. These meaties are really enjoying themselves, running around. They are even getting the hang of grabbing for bugs when I bring some to the brooder. At first they didn't seem to understand what all the excitement was about when a layer chick would run up and grab a bug from me and then play keepaway from the other chicks. Now more often than not the meaties are right there grabbing the bugs too.
I'm encouraged that only two of the chicks still have poopy butts and even theirs is not as bad as it was when they arrived.
I know I'll have to cull the cockerels as soon as they make themselves known, I simply would have too many roos to make for a peaceful enviroment. The pullets however are going to have a good life for however long the fates decide to give them.

 

[QuinnP]

Quote:
i think I love you!

 

[Cetawin]

Quote:
I will help you Kate...want me to hold or pinch?