Culling laying flock... what to feed

[Buster52]

We have decided to cull our entire flock of 9 hens/pullets and two roosters in order to go in a different direction. Obviously they will no longer need layer feed. We will be doing this in two or three weeks.

What would be a good feed to switch them to in order to help with taste and such? Or do you think it would make much difference?

They are 100% free range during the day. There are three hens (Americauna) and a BO rooster that are a year and a half old, a young hen who is a new layer at about 5 to 6 months old, and the rest are less than 5 months.

 

[BirdBrain]

I guess if it were me I would feed them very high protein feed free choice. After all the goal is to get meat on them. Turkey starter or game bird feed would fit the bill...something high protein without meds. But I bet there are people locally who would like to buy a young laying flock. Craig's list might be good for that.

Can I be nosey? What direction are you going in?

 

[jaku]

I can't imagine it would make much of a difference at this point. I'd feed them whatever you have left, just to get rid of it.

 

[Germaine_11.20]

I have heard to feed them cracked corn the last month so they get fat. The fat holds the flavor, and it is not as expensive. You are going to cull so you don't have to worry about health as much.
Don't forget to take them off the food 24 hours before butchering. Makes it much less messy.

 

[Buster52]

Quote:
We only want one breed of chicken and one breed of turkey. A parent flock of Dark Cornish out of which we will be hatching our meat flocks. We also may want to sell a few, make a few bucks here and there, so it is very important that they remain pure. It doesn't make sense to maintain two flocks unless we want to sell the eggs, and that isn't in the near term plans.

Thanks everyone for the input. Maybe adding cracked corn to the diet and letting them eat up what we have left is a good plan.

 

[greathorse]

Buster I m not busting on you because this language seems to be universal on here, but if one is processing, slaughtering, killing, eating thier entire flock they are not culling.

Culling is by definition the act of selecting, slaughtering is what one would do after the culling is complete. It is entirely possible to cull your birds an give them or even sell them to someone that is less interested in this selection process.

Culling is thecull  /kʌl/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [kuhl] Show IPA
Use cull in a Sentence
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–verb (used with object) 1. to choose; select; pick.
2. to gather the choice things or parts from.
3. to collect; gather; pluck.

–noun 4. act of culling.
5. something culled, esp. something picked out and put aside as inferior.

 

[Buster52]

Thanks for the language lesson.

 

[Brunty_Farms]

LOL

Feed them corn... straight... nothing else. In three weeks they will put on some fat making them taste a lot better. Let them free range all day still.