Huge Meat Birds?

[Elmer Fudd]

My daughter is a first time rookie raising a meat bird pen for the local county fair. The rules state the birds must be hatched June 1 or after, so we picked up some Jumbo Cornish X at the local feed store the 2nd week of June. She has been feeding them a large, dog food dish full twice a day. We started with a 20% protein for the first three weeks 24/7 then to 16% flock raiser until week 8. Then we kicked it up to 20% broiler feed and 30% cat food two or three times a week right up to fair. She has a pullet meat pen and they scaled out at 8.2lbs and 8.8lbs. Not too bad in my opinion. We get to the fair and there are monster birds in excess of 17 lbs each. How do they do it? Should we be going high protein start to finish 24/7 for the 12 weeks? Thanks

 

[LindaB220]

My daughter is a first time rookie raising a meat bird pen for the local county fair. The rules state the birds must be hatched June 1 or after, so we picked up some Jumbo Cornish X at the local feed store the 2nd week of June. She has been feeding them a large, dog food dish full twice a day. We started with a 20% protein for the first three weeks 24/7 then to 16% flock raiser until week 8. Then we kicked it up to 20% broiler feed and 30% cat food two or three times a week right up to fair. She has a pullet meat pen and they scaled out at 8.2lbs and 8.8lbs. Not too bad in my opinion. We get to the fair and there are monster birds in excess of 17 lbs each. How do they do it? Should we be going high protein start to finish 24/7 for the 12 weeks? Thanks

Unbelievable. Seventeen pounds. Yeah, I think they sock the protein to them and keep it high. Did you have them out roaming at all? Did they move around or just slump? There are different ways to raise them and I'm going to try to have mine in a decent run. Maybe 20'x 40'.

 

[Elmer Fudd]

Unbelievable.  Seventeen pounds.  Yeah, I think they sock the protein to them and keep it high.  Did you have them out roaming at all?  Did they move around or just slump?  There are different ways to raise them and I'm going to try to have mine in a decent run.  Maybe 20'x 40'.   

She kept them in a 4x8 pen in the barn. They went out in the yard pen a few times a week for 3-4 hours to eat grass and bugs. She had 3 Cornish X and a LF Silkie Cockerel that was being hen pecked in his coop move in with them.

 

[LindaB220]

She kept them in a 4x8 pen in the barn. They went out in the yard pen a few times a week for 3-4 hours to eat grass and bugs. She had 3 Cornish X and a LF Silkie Cockerel that was being hen pecked in his coop move in with them.

I like that. At least they were able to move around. If they have to stay in the pen you would have to raise up the feeder chest high to make them stand and move and put the water away from the food. They are so easy going that I bet the Silkie did fine with them, right?