chick grower vs game bird starter

[hawtchick]

Hi there,

This is our first year doing meat birds. We have cornish x that came from TSC....Mt Healthy.
We got them as day olds and started them on non medicated chick starter for the first 2 weeks.
We have not started them on a restricted eating schedule as of yet....they are 25 of them and I just switched them to blue seal game bird starter crumbles 26% protein, because the chick grower by blue seal was only 14.5% protein.
I was to stay non medicated, and the broiler maker around here is medicated so the GB starter was the highest protein food I could find unmedicated.

Is this ok? and should they be on a 12 on 12 off feed schedule. They are eating like crazy, and have recently been moved to the outside enclosure b/c they outgrew there crate and we had lost 2 already. 1 from suffocation possibly.
Anyhow, I just want to make sure we are doing all we can to have healthy, big birds by slaughter time.

any advice is appreciated.

Jessica

 

[ChikeeMomma]

Mine are on a non medicated starter for turkeys, pheasants, etc. -- it's from TSC. It has a 24% protein content. I can't find any non medicated broiler feed, either. Mine are four weeks old and look great -- big, healthy, strong. I think I've heard either Jaku or Brunty Farms suggest starting the 12 on 12 off around three weeks. If they are laying around alot they suggest starting earlier. Mine do have access to an outdoor run. I place their water out there each morning so that they have to go out and get a little excercise. At five weeks, I may let them outside of their run to free range -- we'll see they have a 12x20 run to explore (there's 11 meaties).

 

[Bettacreek]

I think they're supposed to get a lower protein as they get older. Mine are at 24% right now (week and a half old) and will be switched to 22% and later I'll drop it. You can always mix the grower/finisher with the starter to drop the protein a little bit.

 

[Didelphus]

I started my Cornish X's on game-bird feed. I couldn't find anything else that was close to the protein I needed. The game-bird i used was around 30% protein so sometimes I'd use it straight and sometimes I'd mix it with the 18% chick starter. It worked fine. These guys grew up to be nice fatties!
Laura

 

[jaku]

Sounds fine- you could probably mix it with either corn or a lower mix feed to drop the protein a bit. You wouldn't HAVE TO, but it it would save you money. I would think if you called the manufacturer, they might even be able to tell you how much to add to get the percentage you want.