Broiler Adventure II

[Lambingfamily]

Last year was our first year to raise meat chickens.

Many of you followed us on our blog and gave wonderful encouragement and advise. We had such a wonderful experience, I cannot imagine not raising our own chickens for meat now. This year we are doing it again on a little grander scale. You can follow us again for our second adventure at http://quadlfarmandhomeschool.blogspot.com/p/broiler-adventure-ii.html

I look forward to reading your comments and advise.

 

[Lambingfamily]

What an adventure! I would love to know what others are feeding their meat birds. Anyone want to share?

 

[Lambingfamily]

For those of you interested, our Broiler Adventure page has been updated with week 5 activities. Scroll to the bottom to see the latest developments. As always, comments and advise are welcome. Still looking for a person to share what they are feeding their broilers. Anyone want to share?

http://quadlfarmandhomeschool.blogspot.com/p/broiler-adventure-ii.html

 

[aart]

Great meaties blog!
What a great experience for the kids.

 

[Kildare49]

Thanks for sharing.

as far as the feed question....this group ( 30 cx's, 7 weeks old ) I have done dry feed (grower @ 21%) from start to finish. I continue to experiment to see what works for ME & the birds.

My set up is a coop/brooder with a very large run ( 75' x 50' ). Deep litter & LAB for the coop,
acv in water. This is my constant. The variable I have been experimenting with is the feed.
I have small batches ( less than 50 ), so I will certainly be going back to fermented feed with the next batch. Should have switched this batch to fermented, but I wanted to see the it through to processing. I have no idea how it would work trying to do fermented feed on that # of Birds.

 

[Tabasco Jack]

What an adventure! I would love to know what others are feeding their meat birds. Anyone want to share?

I'm raising Cornish, so I feed them 24% game bird crumbles the first 3-4 weeks then I switch them to 20% for the rest of the time. The last couple of weeks I mix in some scratch.
I do a modified FF also. I found that soaking the crumbles makes a mush that clogs the holes on my bucket. I soak 1.5 pounds of scratch overnight in ACV/water and then in the morning I stir in 1.5 pounds of crumbles just enough to get it wet. Then I pull the bucket to drain. I spoon this into a PVC gutter mounted in the tractor.

 

[happydog]

I love your idea of using a gutter. They don't stand in it or get poop in it?

 

[happydog]

I love your idea of using a gutter. They don't stand in it or get poop in it?

 

[Tabasco Jack]

I love your idea of using a gutter. They don't stand in it or get poop in it?

No, I mounted so the top of the gutter is about the same height as their backs.

 

[Lambingfamily]

Wow! Thanks so much guys and gals for the food feed back. We are experimenting this year as well. Last year we used grower/finisher after the 3rd week all the way up to processing. This year, with so many, we used starter feed for the first 3 weeks and now we are doing a mix of grower/finisher, grains, and soy. They seem to be doing well, plus they get a fresh salad bar diet everyday

Well I couldn't wait an entire week to post our finished product so if you are following our adventure, you can see our finished EM project if you scroll down to the bottom of the post. http://quadlfarmandhomeschool.blogspot.com/p/broiler-adventure-ii.html

We are leaving on a little vacation to TX in the morning and will be gone for 2 weeks. I am a little nervous about leaving our little meatballs and the rest of our flock in the hands of another but, we are going to close on our future home so I have to do what I have to do. I am a true worrying Momma Hen! If I could fit them in our RV, I would. After all, what are few feathered friends? We will already be traveling with three dogs, two cats, and a fish, along with one teen ager, and one chicken girl. Lol!