Hi, I just bought 10 day old meaties and know from what i read need to feed them high protein food....I have a few questions. At what age do you process them. How heavy should they be and what size pen for ten of them to get the the best weight gain. Thanks for info
Quote:Process them when they are at the size of birds you like to eat , thats what I do anyway. I eat a whole bird myself so most of mine I kill very small and I like small birds idk why lol. As for the space , I think you will find most people keep their meat monsters contained to small spaces so they don't work off any of the food energy it all goes to weight gain. I let mine free range all day long, I do not believe in keeping birds contained so to each his/her own I guess. Most of this stuff you have to learn as you go and decide what you like to do , every chicken person I ever talked to said something different. good luck
Depends on the breed. If by meat birds, you mean Cornish X. Process at 6 to 8 weeks. Anytime after six weeks if you loose one from an appearnt heart attack or other sudden death, cull the entire flock right away so that you dont loose anymore.
I feed 20% protein and haven't had a single one with any leg problems. I keep mine in a 6x10' tractor and I've only done 25 at a time- it's plenty big for that many. Males will be huge at 8 weeks, so I like to take them out at 6-7 weeks. (I just don't need more than one or two birds that go 7.5+ lbs fully dressed.) The females take a little longer to get that big. The average weight for the last batch I did was a little over 6 lbs dressed at 8 weeks. I'm not sure I fully agree with rushing to butcher them all if one dies- that's what the Cornish X's do. Although, I certainly understand the feeling of not wanting to lose any more, so you'll have to use your best judgment on that one. You can plan on a couple dying, though, and from the batches I've gotten, they die in the last four weeks much more often than the first four.
I heard if you regulate their feed after 3 weeks, it lessons them keeling over. My Granny (who is in her 70's) raised birds her whole life and advised me that "small birds are all bone, go for the heaviest" Don't know if that helps, I want to do meaties in the spring.
