Feeders For your Cornish X

[Sundown_Farmer]

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LOL. I think everybody is in the same boat. The chickens can't talk but they can tell you a lot. Take notes of what you are doing and how they respond, study new and old material and try to do better next time. On top of cheap feeders, sub-optimal feed schedules and wasted feed, our birds endure wild temperature swings, dirty waterers and small children. If we were to scale up we would be forced to take these issues more seriously. At our current size we get away with a lot. I'm betting Niel knows his beans and would be frustrated if not angry at my setup...probably rightfully so.

I agree when Salatin says, "Anything worth doing is worth doing wrong." Learn how to make it better and try again.

 

[Brunty_Farms]

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Oh good. Now I don't know what I am supposed to do.

So the few that I bought have a bag of 24% and after they finish that, I guess, I will get a bag with lower protein? My feeding schedule so far is, when I am here they get food and when I am not, they might run out. So far they seem to be doing fine, lol.

You will be fine with the 24% I'm just starting to believe that after two weeks that the extra protein is not needed. I could be totally wrong though, but I did a batch on 16 in the winter time and they did great with no health issues. Because it was cold, I left lights on 24/7 and feed was 24/7 as well.... unless they ran out.

It's all trial and error, but I think if everyone is *nice* to each other, they can share results and save a lot of people from the headache in the future. They do seem to do well on the higher protein when they are young, but I'm not sure if the effect of high protein feed when they get older is negative or good.

I would definitely use what you have, and like Neil stated, only keep enough feed in the feeders for one day. If you leave it sit out, especially in the spring/summer, it gets moldy and loses it's nutritional value quickly due to the moister in the air.

 

[becky3086]

LoL thanks. I love hearing from people who try something different. I am one of those people who questions what everyone thinks is right. I want to know how you know, if you never try anything different.
Anyway, these posts (which to me were all "nice") have helped me. I have been worried that I would kill the poor things,,,umm before I actually wanted to kill them that is.

 

[jaku]

I'll never stop thinking it's funny that people get offended talking about chickens.

 

[Neil Grassbaugh]

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[aclee]

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I think this is great advice. Different environments, differnet feed, even different crosses of the breed from differnet hatcheries. Some of the best advice I read here was to watch the chickens...Especially the panting. I was doing 24/7 food for the most part and planned to do that up to 3 weeks. Well at 2.5 weeks my birds were panting and laying down all the time. So I backed them off on food. I take it away at night around 11, and they get it back when I get out there in the AM...anywhere between 8-10. They always have water, and so far we haven't had any tramplings when the food goes in...they want it, but they always want it! They are doing great now, and when I brought them out into the yard, they were even jumping up and flapping their wings trying to fly...a few of them even took the time to scout out some worms and bugs in the grass even though they had food right there. Pretty good for the little bowling balls these 5 week olds are now

Watch your chickens and adjust accordingly...I think like many things in life, there is no single one correct answer for everyone.

 

[Neil Grassbaugh]

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[jaku]

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I'd say that your assessment of the 12/12 method is more about opinion than fact, whether your method works or not. It's a fact that using the 12/12 method increases survival rate. I've never seen anything close to birds killing one another after 12 hours of food deprivation- not even after 24 hours. When I was feeding birds 24/7, I lost about 10%. Now my losses are about 3%. I have a hard time believing that could be improved upon under any method. Birds have ZERO concept of time. They act no different if I fill a feeder that has been empty for an hour than they do when I fill one that has been empty all night. Both times they swarm the feeders like they haven't eaten in a week. No animal NEEDS to eat for 24 or even 18 hours a day. As to feeders- in reality, my homemade bucket feeder holds about 4 times the feed held by my 3 ft trough feeder, and wastes much less. It also stays full all day, avoiding a rush to the feeder every time I refill my storebought trough feeder. I guess that makes it a "proven" design.

 

[Brunty_Farms]

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Oh man, do the bold I can't read that!! LOL... that strained my eyes. I'm still a bit confused, but maybe I will pick your brain over the phone. Have a good easter and yes, the waters are up! Will be posting pics after Easter... have a good holiday.

 

[OSUman]

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Neil would you recommend the Freedom Rangers or the CobbSasso150 for the run of the mill backyard/ pastured meat bird raiser? Instead of the broilers?