I did it, I bit the bullet and ordered my meaties. I only did it because I had 2 replies to my Craigslist post asking for someone to process for me. Yay! So, I have 38 or so on their way from Whelp. I have been forced to make up my mind on how to house them, and think I'm going with a good plan. I am taking an unused dog kennel, the wire outdoors kind, and putting it in my garden. My tomatoes are pretty much done producing, I'm going to pull them out and let the birds nosh on the grass that's been growing as weeds. I can move the kennel around quite a bit before they're down to just dirt. And, the grass is really, really tall and thick. If I like how that's going, I can expand into the yard some, my garden could use being a bit bigger. I've read a bunch of places where people have used pine shavings under their meaties, I can do that for the last couple of weeks. I've read that it may compost quick enough to give me a place to plant next year. Since the kennel is big, holey wire, I planned to reinforce it. I need to understand night security, first, though. Do most of you guys just overnight your birds under the tarp or plywood structure I see in so many tractors? If so, then I should cover the whole thing in hardware wire - yikes, $$$. I also wonder about food? I've read that SS sells organic food, if I call them, they can order it. Is that the cheapest place you've found? If I choose not to go organic, should I just use regular old Purina starter? I need these guys to grow on schedule, right now I'm looking at a mid-November processing time and don't want to go much later.
Yay! The kennel sounds like a great idea, as long as it is big enough. It's amazing how big those birds get QUICK and 38 is a good number. We just had a tarp over ours to protect from the weather, we don't have much for predators around here- besides our dog. We used regular meat bird food because the organic was so $$$.
Mine are usually tractored at night and let to roam in the day. If you have preds, you'll want to reinforce the thing or you might wake up to something that has dug under and eaten all your birds. I just feed regular ol chick starter/grower for 8-10 weeks. They eat A LOT and will poop A LOT.
Thanks for the replies! I'm going to think about the shelter overnight, I lock my hens in their coop, it's a shed and very secure. I am pretty concerned about the overnight safety of the meaties. I've seen coons and possums dead on the road, and the new neighbors have a curious dog I can't find organic feed, although I haven't checked Southern States yet.