Broiler cold tolerance??

[Pine Roost]

I live in SC. if I brood my 15 broilers from Meyer for 3 weeks in a temp controlled room/brooder, should they be ok living outdoors from then on?...for the rest of the 8-9 weeks?
Thanks for the help

 

[sourland]

It will depend upon your ambient temperatures at that time.

 

[offgridhermit]

I live in SC. if I brood my 15 broilers from Meyer for 3 weeks in a temp controlled room/brooder, should they be ok living outdoors from then on?...for the rest of the 8-9 weeks?
Thanks for the help

Will they have a coop to get into if they want to get out of the weather? It would depend on how much feathers they have and what the outside temps are and if they have a coop available. Just my opinion, but 3 weeks seem awfully soon. What is your brooder temp by then and how much difference in the outside temp and the brooder temp?

 

[Pine Roost]

Yea they will have an area to get out of the weather, but it will not be temp controlled. Would they be able to fly over a 4' fence??

 

[BarnChickyOO]

I live in SC. if I brood my 15 broilers from Meyer for 3 weeks in a temp controlled room/brooder, should they be ok living outdoors from then on?...for the rest of the 8-9 weeks?
Thanks for the help

Yes, they will absolutely be fine as long as the temperature is above freezing. My layers chicks are always fine outdoors after 3 weeks (over 32 F), and meat birds are quite cold hardy, and do not do well at all in the heat.
Last year we had meat bird chicks in the middle of the summer, and I will not do it again when it's that warm.

BUT I would wean them a bit from having the light on, and see how they respond before you move them out.

Good luck!

 

[BarnChickyOO]

Yea they will have an area to get out of the weather, but it will not be temp controlled. Would they be able to fly over a 4' fence??

At 3 weeks even layers won't fly out, and trust me, meat birds aren't overly inclined to go anywhere. I've never had any of my Cornish/Rocks get more than a foot or two off the ground.

What breed are you raising? If it's one of the heritage breeds, or a dual purpose, they might be able to get over that fence at 10 or 12 weeks....

 

[Beekissed]

At 3 weeks even layers won't fly out, and trust me, meat birds aren't overly inclined to go anywhere. I've never had any of my Cornish/Rocks get more than a foot or two off the ground.

What breed are you raising? If it's one of the heritage breeds, or a dual purpose, they might be able to get over that fence at 10 or 12 weeks....

Mine could fly up to a 3-4 ft place and flap/climb to the top of this coop....they also roosted on the top of the water bucket in the coop, the top of which was 3 1/2 ft. off the floor. They flew to the top of the picnic table as well. You'll get out of your CX what you allow them to do. Mine were brooded outside in an open air coop in early March with temps in the 30s still at night and only 50s in the day, were free ranging at 2 wks and doing without the heat lamp at 3 wks. altogether.

 

[BarnChickyOO]

Mine could fly up to a 3-4 ft place and flap/climb to the top of this coop....they also roosted on the top of the water bucket in the coop, the top of which was 3 1/2 ft. off the floor. They flew to the top of the picnic table as well. You'll get out of your CX what you allow them to do. Mine were brooded outside in an open air coop in early March with temps in the 30s still at night and only 50s in the day, were free ranging at 2 wks and doing without the heat lamp at 3 wks. altogether.

Whatever you say.
Some of mine were living with the layers, and they still were not active, and did not want to free range with the others. This was at about 5-7 weeks though.
I have talked to others with this kind, and everyone has the same outcome. Your chickens must have been into monster drinks.

 

[Beekissed]

Nope. Just started out at 2 wks on free range, not offered continuous feed so they'd be hungry enough to forage and then given ample room and freedom to hunt for their own feed. Then they got fed once a day in the evening. They were nothing special, they were just treated like a normal bird and so behaved more normally. If you listen to others that didn't provide these things and report bad results and then you repeat their methods, you'll likely get the same results.

Dare to push the envelope of what these birds can do and you'll be surprised. I've been free ranging birds of all kinds off and on for 37 yrs and never have I seen foragers that range out and forage as long as these CX.

Here's a thread of another lady that did the same thing....

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...-your-cornish-x-meaties-tractors-do-not-count

Here's a vid of when they were older....I kept them up to 11 wks and they were still flying up to the roosts and the water bucket clear up to the end.

 

[BarnChickyOO]

Nope. Just started out at 2 wks on free range, not offered continuous feed so they'd be hungry enough to forage and then given ample room and freedom to hunt for their own feed. Then they got fed once a day in the evening. They were nothing special, they were just treated like a normal bird and so behaved more normally. If you listen to others that didn't provide these things and report bad results and then you repeat their methods, you'll likely get the same results.

Dare to push the envelope of what these birds can do and you'll be surprised. I've been free ranging birds of all kinds off and on for 37 yrs and never have I seen foragers that range out and forage as long as these CX.

Here's a thread of another lady that did the same thing....

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...-your-cornish-x-meaties-tractors-do-not-count

Here's a vid of when they were older....I kept them up to 11 wks and they were still flying up to the roosts and the water bucket clear up to the end.

BTW I treat my layers exactly the came as CXs. Not quite sure what your talking about. WHATEVER. everyone does it different.