I need help just order my 1st meat birds

[crzychicken]

How much room do they need?
How many can go in my 30 ft X 6ft dog kennel that not used any more ? I can move it
when do they go out side ?
what is the temp they need to be kept at is it the same as laying chicks 95 then 5 degrees decrease every week

The place I get them from, when you buy your meat birds and the feed they give you your butchering date and they butcher them for you. you get a choice 6 weeks or 8 weeks from the day you pick them up.

Thank you
Jody

 

[cassie]

Go onto the web site www.welphatchery.com. They have very
good instructions for raising meat birds. Also, McMurray Hatchery has a good page on starting baby poultry. I am not sure how much space they need. We raise ours 25 at a time in a 12' X12' box stall. I am sure that is more room than they require, but by the time we butcher it is fairly full of chickens. But then we raise them to a larger size than most folks. When we get more this fall, I plan on ordering more than 25. Maybe 40. If they are too crowded it is going to be hard to keep the bedding dry. Plus this time of year, it is warm and I would think they would need more space than they would during the colder part of the year so they don't get overheated. As a guess, I would say they need a minimum of two square feet per bird, and three would be better. Someone else will probably have a much better idea.

 

[GrandmaCluck]

You can put them outside once they start to feather out. Alot depends on the weather. I put mine out on a nice warm day when they were 3 weeks old and pretty much feathered out. Day old chicks need to be kept in a draft-free area with a temp of 90-100 - then decrease by 5 degrees every week.

 

[skeeter03]

You can follow the same as the laying birds - I did with my first batch ever and we had great success didnt loose any chicks- we had rock giants and some other laying birds together and they did fine.
you can tell if they are too hot if they are all on the edges of your brooder/coop and if they are all piling on top of each other in the middle then they are to cold and just raise or lower the light accordingly
I kept a thermometer on the sawdust under and just over from the light on the ground to check the temp and it worked good.
let them out as soon as the get their feathers in.
as for room that one is just preference some say 4 sqr feet/bird others will tell you 1 is good
they are meat birds they are not overly active I tend to put my water in one side of the yard outside (bringing it in at night when i lock them up) and the food in the far corner of the chicken coop to make my meats walk a bit or they wont do a thing but eat and drink and not get any exercise at all.
GOOD LUCK

 

[Rolsjo]

As far as the temp guidelines, I found that our meat birds liked it a little cooler than the recommend temp of 90-95 to start out. We have 25 in a 12 x 12 box stall also and that is plenty of room for them.

 

[jaku]

Meaties aren't like layers. Then need less space, and lower temps. I usually start my lights at 14 inches from the chips for the first week, then gradually raise it for the next two weeks, finally putting them outside after three weeks. I've kept 25 birds in a 6x10 tractor, and 53 birds in a 10x10 tractor, and had plenty of extra room in both.

 

[juice]

Hi all, the person who uses a box stall....do you need to carry them outside each day? Isn't that hard/time consuming? Or do they stay in the stall?
does it affect the taste of the bird if we don't have them outside??? thanks. juice

 

[Rolsjo]

Well, the stall in question had a chicken door in it already.

So we just slide it open in the morning and put the feed and water outside on the grass. The first few days we had to show them the door, but then they caught on. It also gives them the option to go back inside if it's too warm. Not that it's been warm at all here lately.

 

[beak]

If I do them again I am going to use a long narrow feed tray. As in long enough for the birds to stand side by side. They tend to hog the food real bad and some of the chickens don't get as much to eat. The more aggresive ones get it all.

 

[wj77]

I used a four foot piece of rain gutter blocked on both ends for a feeder. I have fouteen CX and they can all stand and eat at the same time. I didn't use this at first, had bowl, and they piled on top of each other. I keep them in a 3 x 6 tractor at night and they free range during the day. So far so good, this is my first time.

Good Luck
Wes