How much to expect to pay for feed 6 weeks

[tiki244]

If I got 25 meat birds at MM how many bags of feed would they eat over a 6 week time? I need some sort of idea b4 I get in over head.

1. cornish X the big ones ?

and

2. frying pan special (male leghorns) ?

thanx kris

 

[sundance]

I have 12 RIR laying pullets and l roo, they eat 50lbs of feed every 2 weeks , don't know if that helps but I feed laying crumbles in the morning and some scratch in the afternoon, also any bread i have i also give them. they look great. good luck with yours

 

[tiki244]

how much bread do you give them a lot?



meat chickens are pigs I think

 

[Cuban Longtails]

If you're getting the fry pan special, it will cost you more to feed them out. They will not have much meat on them at 6 weeks. Most of them will be regular dual purpose chickens like RIR, Dark Cornish, BR, etc...

Miss Prissy has a thread on her cornishX experiment, I'll see if I can find it. She outlines how much feed was used and is just all around informative. I'll edit this post when I find it.

Here 'tis! https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=27940

Gosh, I'm sorry Tiki. I thought I had already put the link here.

 

[tiki244]

O thanks chickengurl

 

[silkiechicken]

I wouldn't give bread to growing meat birds. That will decrease the protein and vitamins in their feed over all and those birds desperately need the protein in order to grow legs strong enough to hold up their bodies. They are very prone to slipped tendons and leg problems starting at about 5-6 weeks old. I figure about 10 lbs of feed per meat bird for 8 weeks. If you plan on butchering yourself, do the boys at 6 weeks and the girls at 7 weeks to spread out the work. I at most do 10 birds in a day because I have to do it myself. Raise them on a high protein starter ration that only contains amprolium so you don't have to worry about withdrawal times.

I say skip that fry pan special. I raise leghorns for eggs, and 5 month old roosters of the leghorn type dress out at 2.5-3 lbs. Not worth the feed and time for those flighty skin and bones.

 

[greyfields]

Assume 3 lbs of feed is needed for each 1 lb of weight you want each bird to gain live weight.

So it's not a matter of duration, but a matter of how large you want to grow them until slaughter.

 

[tiki244]

well i need the calculator for that. LOL

but, can they eat grass? or will they?


6 bags 4 lbs well i skipped the calculator on that one . so that would be about $60 for 4 lb birds hmmm well thats not too bad

 

[silkiechicken]

They will be literally babies their whole life and I find they do not forage much so you can't depend on them eating grass. Rather they sit on it, poo on it, and it all dies under them. Grass isn't very nutritional either.

 

[FarmGirl01]

This year I decided to raise the Red Broilers. They grow a little slower that the cornish X. I got them on January 31st. On March 6th, they are 5 weeks old. So far they have eaten 2-50lbs of feed. They just started their third bag. I let the feed run out every night. They are a nice size and I am very pleased with them.