First time raising broilers and turkeys

[highrockieschic]

Hi! This will be my first time raising meat birds. I just ordered 65 red broilers to arrive in the spring and I'm planning on getting a few heritage turkeys. I have had laying hens for 7 years now, but I have a few questions about meat birds. I haven't yet figured out where I'm going to put the broilers yet. I have a shelter for the turkeys. We have 2.5 acres of flat, mostly wooded land in the mountains of Colorado. I'm in research mode right now, but I still have time to get ready for them.

Is it ok to let the hens and meat birds free range together when the meat birds are big enough?

Do the broilers need roosts?

Any advice?

Show me your chicken shelters?

 

[Xouie]

I let my first single Cornish cross and layers hang out together in summer. Otherwise I think she would have been lonely. The layers tended to pick on the CX, but they’re #%*-heads anyway. Otherwise I didn’t experience any problems. My autumn batch didn’t like the great outdoors and just sulked by their shed door if I booted them out for fresh air.

For CX roosting I used very low roost bars — 2x4s barely off the ground. They just grow too heavy too fast to safely jump far. Red broilers may be able to withstand higher jumps/falls though.

The best advice I got was to use Broiler Booster vitamin supplements in their water. Even at the very high protein level I fed them, everybirdy stayed strong and healthy and I credit that as a big contributor.

I just used a large shed for housing. We were having a relatively cold autumn so they were inside a lot of the time.

 

[Morrigan]

Red broilers are generally more active and hardy than CX, and are much more like normal chickens. They should be fine free-ranging with your hens. I've raised small batches of red and other slow-growing broilers right along side my layers, without any issues.

As far as sleeping quarters, any predator-safe and properly ventilated structure will work. I would also install low roosts, as they (unlike CX) will most likely be mobile enough to want to roost at night.

The biggest difference between the broilers and your layers is the amount of droppings they generate. 65 broilers will have you in compost heaven. A lot of people who raise that number of broilers have had great success with mobile tractors/coops, so that they can move the whole structure to fresh ground every few day, or even every day, once the chickens get large.

I've never been blessed with flat enough ground to tractor birds, so I've alway had to limit the number of broilers I raise, and make sure I can easily clean out the coop. For me that means being able to stand up in the coop with plenty of room to wield a pitchfork or shovel.

 

[highrockieschic]

My friend said that cornish crosses don't do well where we live. The elevation is 10,000 feet. She said her first year doing meat birds she lost a bunch so she switched to broilers. She says she grows them to 14 weeks.

I'm trying to figure out what to do for shelter and keep it affordable. We have a lot of predators here, mainly stray dogs, foxes, bears, coyotes, badgers, raccoons and hawks. So far, I've lost a few chickens to predators, mainly because of mistakes... not making sure the gate or the coop door is closed at night. My layer pen is Fort Knox and is 24ft x 24ft and 8ft tall in the middle, fenced over the top, skirt on the bottom and electric fence around the perimeter. I'm debating adding on to it for the broilers and attaching another coop versus building a whole new shelter. My existing coop is only big enough to hold about 20 birds max. I love the idea of doing tractors, but worry about bears.

Funny story:

I had young pullets living in a chicken tractor until they were big enough to put in with my hens. They were in there about a month. One day I decided to see how they would do with the big ladies. When I put them in I had two Rhode Island Reds that wouldn't leave them alone. They were chasing them around constantly and plucking feathers. I ended up taking the two reds and putting them in the tractor because none of the other ladies cared about the new birds in there. That night two young black bears got into the tractor and killed the reds.... Karma, I guess. So crazy how I decided that day to take my babies out of there! I would have been really upset if it was them. The reds somebody gave me and they were just plain mean. They were egg eaters, too, so good riddance.

 

[Morrigan]

That's a tough situation -- 65 broilers to house in a bear proof shelter.

Maybe modifying a couple of cheap, pre-fab tool sheds and enclosing them within an electric fence?

 

[Ridgerunner]

That was my thought, electricity. In Arkansas I used electric netting, it stopped all ground based predators. There is maintenance involved with electric netting or electric fencing, mostly keeping weeds and grass from growing up in it and shorting to out or cleaning up if a strong wind or flooding rain collects trash like leaves or grass clippings against it. It will not stop flying predators but it can be a fairly inexpensive way to increase the run area. Flying predators were never a big problem for me but they are to some people.

 

[highrockieschic]

The bears we have here are black bears and are more opportunistic. They go after the chicken feed more than anything. My friend had her coop broken into by a bear (she didn't make sure the latch was engaged on the door) and it scared all the chickens to death (literally, didn't even touch them), and ate the feed. Our bears go more for easy food.... trash cans and vehicles. We had one come around last fall that could open unlocked car doors without a scratch. The first night it took a bag of pecans out of my truck, then I started locking it. The bear would try my door nightly, but wouldn't break windows or cause damage. Some bears have been known to open lever handle doors on houses. They don't typically rip things apart to get in. Those bears get euthanized by the DOW. Coops and runs just have to be sturdy enough to withstand an investigating lazy bear. If they don't see an easy way in and haven't gotten in before, they move on.

I'm keeping and eye out for free materials and sheds. Fingers crossed!