Flock of 100 meat birds, I lost 15 so far help!

[WalkingOnSunshine]

I think your coop is too small and hot for 100 birds. 8x12 is only 96 square feet. At six to eight weeks, you should have two square feet per bird. Their bodies put out a ton of heat, and they do pile close together. They will also be stressed in such tight quarters. That alone can cause mortality. You should give them all they can eat during the day, but remove the feed at night (or some people do a 12 hours on/12 hours off schedule, but I find that difficult to stick to). Finally, in such tight quarters they won't grow as well as if they have a bit more room. I knew a guy who had his meaties very tightly packed, and they only dressed out at 4lbs. each at nine weeks.

I agree with delisha. Process half your birds, and add more ventilation.

 

[duclos]

Thanks everyone for the feedback I have left the tarp up for the ventilation issue and I may leave the feeder troughs out of the coop at night and feed them tons all day to make some extra room in the coop until I can create more space.. Not sure i am ready to butcher half the flock yet but will consider it if these changes don't seem to help.

Thanks again

 

[travifive]

I would take the numbers down to between 70-80. If you have the ability to weigh them you could start by processing 5 or 10 of your heaviest birds. In my experience, if you give them too much space you will drop in carcass weights and if you give them too little space your mortality rate will go up. I've done batches of 100 in a 20x20 run and ended up with low slaughter weights. So if you increase the space I wouldn't go too far.