Feeding a Flock of 25 broilers

[blecky slars]

Hello!

I am hoping you can save me some time adding numbers, and give me some actual real life experience as well.

We are preparing to get a flock of 25 broiler chicks. Anyone who has done this in the past: how much starter feed did you use, and how much of the adult-protein mix feed did you use?

Thanks in advance,
Blecky

 

[donrae]

I can't help you with numbers myself, but I can direct you to the meat bird section. There have been several threads on this over there, some folks kept very detailed records.

 

[blecky slars]

Hoover's Hatchery provided a very helpful chart - for broilers, at 7 days they'll intake about 0.071 lbs/day/bird, Day 14 about 0.144 lbs/day/bird, day 21 about 0.238 lbs/pound/bird, etc. So over all about 500 pounds of feed for a flock of 25. Does this sound about right? Also, how long do I feed the medicated feed before switching to the high protein mix? Final question, can I feed the whole flock, layers included, the high protein mix, or do I have to separate the flock at that point?

 

[ChickenJerk]

 

[blecky slars]

Update: The first week they went through about a trough of medicated chick starter per day (they share a coop with 12 layer chicks as well). By the second week it was about two troughs per day, and we are ending the third week and they could easily consume 3 troughs per day. We should be finished with the 40 pound bag of medicated feed by the end of the third week, and will be starting to mix with the high protein grower mix purchased at our local feed mill. We also took the food away at night for about 10 hours. They have been confined to the coop thus far to keep the heat, but should be out in the run by the end of 3rd week. So for the first three weeks, one bag of medicated chick starter. Not too bad

 

[keesmom]

You should check out the Meat Bird forum. There are tons of posts regarding feed consumption, weight gain and general broiler maintenance.