How much do breeding meat birds eat

[ChknLadyBawk]

So I'm going to start raising meat birds in a few years, and have decided on Chanteclers. Whenever I search up how much meat birds eat, it gives me the amount for commercial birds that will be slaughtered, and when I search for dual purpose, it gives the ingredients that are needed in the feed. I need to know how much the ones I keep for breeding purposes will eat at full size. For the average chicken some sources say 4 ounces/day, some say 6 ounces, and I wonder if either of these are suitable? Roosters weigh 8-9 lbs, and hens weigh 6-7.5 lbs.

 

[Molpet]

Have you read this
https://www.truenorthfarm.ca/post/raising-better-dual-purpose-chickens

In my experience How much is something that depends on your individual animals. I always seem to have animals that didn't get the one size fits all memo

 

[FunClucks]

Do you have chickens right now? Do you have eggers?

Why have you picked Chanteclers as your meat bird? That's not a typical choice that I'm aware of, so I'm interested to hear your reasons.

If you want a heritage meat bird, I'd recommend the New Hampshire breed, particularly the strain bred by Freedom Ranger Hatchery. They are the best at putting on weight for a heritage breed that I know of. Some folks are also happy with Delawares, or some of the other Freedom Ranger hatchery offerings.

For cornish cross, the most popular meat bird, they have a feed to meat conversion ratio of 2:1 if I recall correctly. So 2 lb feed converts to 1 lb meat. These are the most efficient birds. Any other birds will need more food to gain 1 lb of meat. So when you look online, that will help you know what to do with the CX numbers. I've heard that heritage breeds can be around 3:1 to 5:1, but you might want to check that for the individual breeds of interest to you.

Any other breeds are not nearly as efficient as CX at gaining weight, and therefore will usually cost more to feed (feet cost can be reduced slightly by foraging, but even the best foragers can't substitute more than about 30% of their commercial diet with foraged food without seeing a loss in either health and/or productivity. Also you'll need an awesome foraging environment, which can be hard to provide anywhere in the world that doesn't support a feral chicken population.)

Heritage birds are typically slaughtered between 4-6 months, so you'd really need to know what their weight was at that time. Then if you can estimate their feed conversion ratio, you'll get an estimate of how much food they'll eat. The numbers you see online are mainly for live weight, when they tell you a rooster will be 9 lbs, that's 9 lbs live weight. That includes all the bits you won't eat.

Processed birds' carcass weight (only meat and bones and maybe skin left, the entrails, neck, and feet removed) is usually about 75% of the live weight of the birds (if I recall correctly) but can be 2/3, it really depends on the bird. Processed weight or carcass weight is the number to use when calculating your cost per pound of meat produced.

Best way to figure out exactly the food they're going to need is by experience for your particular strain of birds that you actually have. How you manage the birds, how much exercise they get, any predator or health issues, and how much they forage also play into cost per pound of meat produced.

 

[FunClucks]

In my experience How much is something that depends on your individual animals. I always seem to have animals that didn't get the one size fits all memo

Truth!!!

 

[ChknLadyBawk]

Oh, thank you for the article! That puts it into better perspective for me. I've never really monitored how much feed my layers eat, because my dad is in charge of that flock, so I'm not paying for their feed. With these meat birds, however, I was hoping to get an estimation of how much food they'd eat so I could see how long it would take for them to become sustainable.

 

[ChknLadyBawk]

Do you have chickens right now? Do you have eggers?

Why have you picked Chanteclers as your meat bird? That's not a typical choice that I'm aware of, so I'm interested to hear your reasons.

If you want a heritage meat bird, I'd recommend the New Hampshire breed, particularly the strain bred by Freedom Ranger Hatchery. They are the best at putting on weight for a heritage breed that I know of. Some folks are also happy with Delawares, or some of the other Freedom Ranger hatchery offerings.

For cornish cross, the most popular meat bird, they have a feed to meat conversion ratio of 2:1 if I recall correctly. So 2 lb feed converts to 1 lb meat. These are the most efficient birds. Any other birds will need more food to gain 1 lb of meat. So when you look online, that will help you know what to do with the CX numbers. I've heard that heritage breeds can be around 3:1 to 5:1, but you might want to check that for the individual breeds of interest to you.

Any other breeds are not nearly as efficient as CX at gaining weight, and therefore will usually cost more to feed (feet cost can be reduced slightly by foraging, but even the best foragers can't substitute more than about 30% of their commercial diet with foraged food without seeing a loss in either health and/or productivity. Also you'll need an awesome foraging environment, which can be hard to provide anywhere in the world that doesn't support a feral chicken population.)

Heritage birds are typically slaughtered between 4-6 months, so you'd really need to know what their weight was at that time. Then if you can estimate their feed conversion ratio, you'll get an estimate of how much food they'll eat. The numbers you see online are mainly for live weight, when they tell you a rooster will be 9 lbs, that's 9 lbs live weight. That includes all the bits you won't eat.

Processed birds' carcass weight (only meat and bones and maybe skin left, the entrails, neck, and feet removed) is usually about 75% of the live weight of the birds (if I recall correctly) but can be 2/3, it really depends on the bird. Processed weight or carcass weight is the number to use when calculating your cost per pound of meat produced.

Best way to figure out exactly the food they're going to need is by experience for your particular strain of birds that you actually have. How you manage the birds, how much exercise they get, any predator or health issues, and how much they forage also play into cost per pound of meat produced.

I currently have a backyard flock for just eggs. It's quite a hodgepodge of breeds in there, and most of them are breeds that are good in the heat, since I live in a hot state currently.
I chose Chanteclers because I wanted a sustainable meat bird, good in the cold, that I could raise for myself and my family. We are moving in a year or two to a state that gets into the single digits in winter, and it's hot season isn't very long, and Chanteclers seemed perfect for the climate. I might have gone with Cornish X if I were able to breed them, but I've read that, being a hybrid, they cannot be bred and produce good results. Plus, they have health problems and don't forage like I would want them to, since they grow so fast, so I eliminated that option pretty quickly. Freedom Rangers were a no for the same hybrid reason, and New Hampshire reds can be aggressive and get frostbite on their combs. The Chantecler was in a list of potential meat breeds, and they produce a really good amount of eggs per week, 4-5, making 200 to 240 per year. Plus, sources online say to butcher them at 12-15 weeks, so I'd be able to raise them up pretty quickly. Plus, they weigh in at about four or five pounds at slaughter, so that'd be enough for us. Our goal is to have 60 chickens slaughtered for our family each year, and to sell off the eggs and chicks that the extras produce for profit.
I just wanted to be able to calculate the food costs to tell how long it would take for them to pay for themselves. I suppose it won't matter to get an exact number all that much at first, since I'll have a fairly small flock (13 chickens). So I'll go with your suggestion of experience with the breed.

 

[FunClucks]

I currently have a backyard flock for just eggs. It's quite a hodgepodge of breeds in there, and most of them are breeds that are good in the heat, since I live in a hot state currently.
I chose Chanteclers because I wanted a sustainable meat bird, good in the cold, that I could raise for myself and my family. We are moving in a year or two to a state that gets into the single digits in winter, and it's hot season isn't very long, and Chanteclers seemed perfect for the climate. I might have gone with Cornish X if I were able to breed them, but I've read that, being a hybrid, they cannot be bred and produce good results. Plus, they have health problems and don't forage like I would want them to, since they grow so fast, so I eliminated that option pretty quickly. Freedom Rangers were a no for the same hybrid reason, and New Hampshire reds can be aggressive and get frostbite on their combs. The Chantecler was in a list of potential meat breeds, and they produce a really good amount of eggs per week, 4-5, making 200 to 240 per year. Plus, sources online say to butcher them at 12-15 weeks, so I'd be able to raise them up pretty quickly. Plus, they weigh in at about four or five pounds at slaughter, so that'd be enough for us. Our goal is to have 60 chickens slaughtered for our family each year, and to sell off the eggs and chicks that the extras produce for profit.
I just wanted to be able to calculate the food costs to tell how long it would take for them to pay for themselves. I suppose it won't matter to get an exact number all that much at first, since I'll have a fairly small flock (13 chickens). So I'll go with your suggestion of experience with the breed.

How interesting! I've always admired the Chanteclers, but all I have pretty much is heat and lots of humidity.

I've been frustrated about the lack of breedability of the CX too. I know a number of folks have kept back a female or two and used them to make meat mutts, and once they outcross successfully, you get variable body size and growth with little health issues. Then you breed the larger progeny that show the traits you want.

Still looking for my own solution to this problem.

There is a member on here breeding the New Hampshire reds from Freedom Ranger hatchery, and they haven't mentioned any behavior issues (through first slaughter), I'll see if I can find the post. Different strains of the same breed (different hatcheries) can have different temperaments, so I don't know that I'd cross the New Hampshires off the list just yet for that alone. The comb issue now, hard to tell how much of a deal it will be until you try it in your particular management setup.

I have heard that the Freedom Rangers can be mean / aggressive, but I'd also heard that Ginger Broilers were pretty docile - not in my experience! I was hoping GBs would be a meat bird similar to CX that I could breed and select for best size, since they don't have the health issues or heat issues of CX, but the GB roosters I have are mean as snakes, and the hens I've got are inconsistent with size. Not my end solution, though it may have to work for a while for us. Still giving them another month to see how they do, but man, not how I expected things to turn out.

Sounds like the Chanteclers are a great choice for what you want. I would however recommend that you pick 2 or 3 breeds for your first year, and grow them out, and see how they do. That way you can be sure you have the breed that works best for you in your setup with your management style prior to investing everything into it. A lot of folks have tried this (a "sample" flock) and been surprised to find the breeds they liked best were not the ones they expected. And since they're meat birds, you can simply eat the ones you don't like.

Good luck!

 

[ChknLadyBawk]

How interesting! I've always admired the Chanteclers, but all I have pretty much is heat and lots of humidity.

I've been frustrated about the lack of breedability of the CX too. I know a number of folks have kept back a female or two and used them to make meat mutts, and once they outcross successfully, you get variable body size and growth with little health issues. Then you breed the larger progeny that show the traits you want.

Still looking for my own solution to this problem.

There is a member on here breeding the New Hampshire reds from Freedom Ranger hatchery, and they haven't mentioned any behavior issues (through first slaughter), I'll see if I can find the post. Different strains of the same breed (different hatcheries) can have different temperaments, so I don't know that I'd cross the New Hampshires off the list just yet for that alone. The comb issue now, hard to tell how much of a deal it will be until you try it in your particular management setup.

I have heard that the Freedom Rangers can be mean / aggressive, but I'd also heard that Ginger Broilers were pretty docile - not in my experience! I was hoping GBs would be a meat bird similar to CX that I could breed and select for best size, since they don't have the health issues or heat issues of CX, but the GB roosters I have are mean as snakes, and the hens I've got are inconsistent with size. Not my end solution, though it may have to work for a while for us. Still giving them another month to see how they do, but man, not how I expected things to turn out.

Sounds like the Chanteclers are a great choice for what you want. I would however recommend that you pick 2 or 3 breeds for your first year, and grow them out, and see how they do. That way you can be sure you have the breed that works best for you in your setup with your management style prior to investing everything into it. A lot of folks have tried this (a "sample" flock) and been surprised to find the breeds they liked best were not the ones they expected. And since they're meat birds, you can simply eat the ones you don't like.

Good luck!

Alright, I will do a bit of research and test out some other breeds. Thank you for your advice!

 

[imacowgirl2]

Alright, I will do a bit of research and test out some other breeds. Thank you for your advice!

I have the Freedom Ranger hatchery New Hampshires.

My thread is Ramblings of a newbie…

I have 7-10+ lb live weights on my birds at 12-14 weeks with processed weights ranging between 5-8+ pounds.

These are some of the most docile birds I have ever worked with, and while I don’t 100% trust ANY intact male of any species of breeding age, my New Hampshire roosters are some of most chill guys in the coops (I have had 3 now that I kept beyond the 14 week cull date and all three were chill).

I live in central IL - I’m about to die of heat stroke today (and 90% of the days in June - August), but we also get single digit temps in the winter — my NH boys (and girls!) came through last winter with zero frostbite, despite having a super nasty cold spell at Christmas where leghorns, orpingtons, and an australorp all suffered frostbite damage — and despite my concerns, with plenty of shade and an open air hoop coop, they are handling the summer heat just fine.

 

[imacowgirl2]

Oh and as for food consumption…depending on the season, they seem to eat on average about 1/3 to 1/2 more then my layer flock, which is a mix of leghorns, orpingtons, barred rocks and other “dual purpose” breeds.

They’re not complete pigs…but I intentionally limit the number of birds I keep for breeding to limit the feed intake.