How muck do I feed my chicks?

[Thurmanite]

I have cornish Rocks & Amber Links. Both are the same age(about 2 weeks). The rocks are 2x the size and can hardly walk. 25 rocks eat the same amount as 50 links. I keep both feeders full at all times. Is this a good idea?

 

[RM44]

I have very little experience at raising chickens. I just started in July 09 with some 2 & 3 month old chickens (6 total). Then again in Dec. I got day olds (25 of them) from the hatchery and they are now almost 18 weeks old. In all the time I have kept them, I've always kept free choice full feeders and my chickens never ate too much. I suspect when they get older (I lost my first flock at about 7-8 months old) that you will have to cut back on the food to 1 cup a day, but as young ones, I don't withhold the food. Granted mine are egg layers, and feeding may be different for meaties.

Good luck.

 

[exbiologist]

Yes, everything I've ever seen heard or read says to keep feed in front of the birds at all times. Especially meat birds.

 

[Tala]

You need to do some research on growing meat birds (the Cornish Rocks) because at some point (I think 2-3 weeks of age, not sure though) you start giving them food 12 hours on/12 hours off ------ while regular breed chicks have food 24/7.

It's generally advised to raise the Cornish separately from the regular breed chicks.

 

[4-H chicken mom]

I agree about separately the meat birds from the others. In 8-10 weeks your meat birds should be ready to butcher anywhere from 8-10pounds. Your meat birds are probably weighing about 2lbs already. Meat birds have a higher rate of sudden death usually due to heart problems brought on by their fast weight gain. We always gave our meat birds broiler booster in their water. I always told my 4-Hers that meat birds are not the birds you want to play with and always move slowly when working around them. Less stress this way. We never took their food away from them and feed them when the trough was empty. Yes, they do eat twice as much as regular chickens. But you have to know that we were working with a certain amount of time to get them up to 9 lbs. for our fair. Good luck, they will be worth it.