Help me! 4H Broilers. First timer

[Cara Carter]

my son is showing for the first time and bring the competitive person I am I want him to do well. We have kept up with the temperatures, shavings and food as we were advised and my son goes out and stirs them up but I don’t think they are getting big fast enough! I don’t know if we are feeding wrong and now I’ve read turn the lamps off some and that we shouldn’t be stirring them. Help a Momma out!!!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

?I don't know what you mean by stirring them up. Do you mean agitating them and stressing them out? If so - no you shouldn't do that.
Chickens don't need stress. They will always do better in a calm setting.
The lamps should be kept on around the clock for the first 3 to 5 days and then they need a dark period each night. I shoot for 8 hours of dark. Hemeral lighting is what all earthbound animals need.
To accomplish that, you need a non-light producing heat source when they are young. That could be a ceramic heat emitter or a brooder heat plate.

What is the feed?
How old are they?
How much do they weigh?
Are they Cornish cross or red rangers or something else?

 

[Fields Mountain Farm]

Welcome to BYC.. Sometimes too much info can be confusing..
Maybe @duluthralphie can offer some help!

 

[Cara Carter]

I don't know what you mean by stirring them up. Do you mean agitating them and stressing them out? If so - no you shouldn't do that.
Chickens don't need stress. They will always do better in a calm setting.
The lamps should be kept on for the first 3 to 5 days and then they need a dark period each night. I shoot for 8 hours of dark. Hemeral lighting is what all earthbound animals need.
What is the feed, how old are they and are they Cornish cross or red rangers or something else?

 

[rjohns39]

Hi and welcome to BYC We're so happy you've decided to join us All of CC's questions are important to us providing good advice. I'll also ask you to post a couple of pictures of the chickens.

 

[Cara Carter]

We were told by the Ag teachers to get them up and moving often and that will make them eat and drink more. They are a few days shy of 4 weeks and are on a broiler complete/finisher. I’ve read several articles to feed them turkey starter from the beginning but we haven’t tried that. We also have Putin’s high octane show supplement that is 8oz for every 20lbs

 

[Cara Carter]

Hi and welcome to BYC We're so happy you've decided to join us All of CC's questions are important to us providing good advice. I'll also ask you to post a couple of pictures of the chickens.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

What is the protein % of the feed? Broiler finisher is usually about 15% protein and that isn't sufficient for a fast start. Finisher is for slowing their growth to "finish" them.
You want something in the range of 20-22% the first few weeks.
Turkey starter at about 27% protein is too high.

They'll move around if you have the feed and water separated a bit.

 

[Cara Carter]

Thank you very much! I will take all the help I can get. Here is a picture too

 

[ChickenCanoe]

That's a decent setup. I'd switch to ceramic heat emitters so you can give them a dark period. Then you can add a light on a timer to put them on a schedule.
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fr...itter.TRS1&_nkw=ceramic+heat+emitter&_sacat=0

Keep them on fresh bedding so the feathers will look as good as possible.