Is anyone else raising fall broilers? Our chicks came today: 8/18

[pichuris]

Yay! For bulk feed discount.

 

[pichuris]

Now down to 19 birds out of 26 starting on ship date of 8/29 [ Runt wasn't growing and could not walk - another was growing but on elbows which were continually raw ]
Moved remaining in the chicken trailer to forage. They are all on FF but its not high protein . Just plan on keeping them extra week or so.
The remaining are doing well in there new apartment . They love to forage in spite of the rainy 45 degree weather.
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What are your measurements on your coop in the pic. Thinking of doing this for my meaties.

 

[finnfur]

What are your measurements on your coop in the pic. Thinking of doing this for my meaties.

Its a 5'x8' trailer but I made the coop about 1" short on all sides to fit in and still be able to put chicken wire and foam board sides on. The sides are held during cold weather with small wood wedges made from scrap . They are easily removed/added depending on weather conditions. The top is very light PVC roofing panels available at Home depot. All the framing is treated 1x4 except the roosts. The end panel is removable with 4 lag bolts and the middle roof panel is removable with 8 roof screws. My goal was to keep it light enough for me to pick up one end and wife slides 2x4 under trailer metal side framing/ repeat for the other end.We can then pick it up and slide it off for trailer cleaning. The birds seem to love it and under trailer gives them shade and protection from ariel predators .
Wife saw a Hawk swoop down this evening and they all ran under/in trailer. Putting scarecrow out tomorrow when we move trailer/fence to new grass patch.
Here are some more PICs Under construction

We did the same thing on larger more permanent scale for our egg chickens

Tom

 

[SIMZ]

Meyer hatchery is having a surplus broiler sale for next week only if anyone is interested.......

 

[Celie]

I received 52 last Friday, with 1 dead and 1 died shortly after they arrived. I took advantage of the Meyer's special surplus broiler special and got all females except for 1 male. I would have rather males, since the feed ratio is a lot better,or straight run, but will be having to raise them until about 12 to 14 weeks to get a large roaster chicken, from the females.

I have about 20 Easter Eggers and 60 brown egg duel purpose, I hatched out for a friend, right now, in the brooder room ( a 3rd bathroom we aren't using) that is equipped with an electric oil heater that is set at 90 degrees and will be lowered 5 degrees every few days, until they can go outside to their 10x10 pen in the barn. Because these meat birds are messy, we also put a dehumidifier in the room to keep things dry. There are 3 feeders and several waterers, so they will have lots to eat and plenty of fresh clean water, for the first 3 weeks. About that time they should be able to go outside in the barn, without any heat here in Southern Louisiana, I was feeding the other birds starter crumbles, so that is what these will be getting until I use up the 50 pound bag. I did not have to dip their beaks, because the layer chickens, who are born with a brain, instead of 2 stomachs,

showed them how to eat and drink. I did put vitamins and electrolytes in their water, because of shipping stress!
After they go outside they will get FF and BOSS like the Holland white turkeys and the constant supply of extra roosters, we always seem to have. It is a large barn that all of the birds are closed up in at night, as all of my flocks are free range.

until separating a few week before slaughtering. The 14 roosters I harvested last week from our duel purpose dressed out at 4 to 6 pounds, without counting necks and organ meat (that goes to the dogs) and averaged 5# even, for a total of 70 pounds of roosters in the freezer.
It seams like there are as many ideas as there are people raising these surplus birds, so we sure will be able to see all the dos and don'ts on this project. Ideal Poultry sent me an E-mail yesterday that they have black broilers and red broilers on special @$.90 each, if anyone is interested? Boy that would be a whole different slant on things if anyone wanted to try both types.

I bought both red and black broilers last spring and did terrible with them.

I think we got maybe a half dozen out of 50, by harvest time. They were too dumb to hide from predators find their way back home when they wondered off a bit.
Just remember, these chickens are eating machines and will eat themselves to DEATH, so after 3 weeks, restrict their feed to 12 hours a day, or they will have leg and heart trouble as they get fatter and fatter! Good luck, everyone!!

 

[Pearce Pastures]

Meyer hatchery is having a surplus broiler sale for next week only if anyone is interested.......

Sweet!

 

[Celie]

Update ----1 week today 3.8 oz on average, not too bad since I got all females, again. This is the second time I ordered these meat birds from Meyers and both times I got all females! They are slow growers compared to the males have gotten elsewhere. I think I will bump up their feed from 18% to 22% and see if that helps. They are too messy to use wet food indoors, but it won't be long and I can put them in the barn. It has been in the 80's during the day here, but drops as low as 40's at night, so they are still too young. I could use a heater, if I had electric to the barn ! And fans in the summer ?hmmmm......maybe DH's next honey-do? I am still not through the 1st bag of feed, and am using it for the 60 or so layers being raised with the meaties. The layers are 2 to 3 weeks old now and the meaties 1 week. The meaties are starting to out size the layers, now and should be quite a bit larger than the layers by the time they go into the barn and then, once outside, they usually start growing as you watch. LOL The 3 cornishX 1 year old hens are in molt like most of the layers and haven't started laying again yet. They have been penned in the barn in a 10x10 dog kennel for a 10 days now, with the Cornish X rooster, so as soon as they start laying, I should be able to start AI experiment ! I bought Oats today and mixed grain to go with the 22% Turkey and Game bird grower and corn, plus a couple hand fulls of BOSS, so I am ready to start my FF. How long should it take to cook, at my present claimant conditions? For me, fall makes more sense for meat birds, because they can't take high heat and do better in the South in cooler weather. They give off a lot of body heat, so added to my other flocks of ducks and chickens, they should be comfortable with over 300 birds to keep them warm. Well, next report in one week, or less if anything new happens !

 

[pichuris]

Here are the results for Week 3 and after you will see the running results from the previous weeks.
Unfortunately, my schedule at work changed so I was not able to do my weights on Thursday morning.
These figures are from last Thursday morning through tonight after being in front of the trough all day.

Week 3: 23 Fuzzy Butts & some Baldie butts
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Total Weight: 251.1 ounces (15.69 lbs)
Total feed consumed this week (10/11-19): 64 cups

Pre-Brooder: 25 chicks @ 27 ounces
Week 1: 23 fuzzy butts
Total weight: 70.3 ounces
Total feed consumed 18 cups measured dry
Week 2: 23 fuzzy butts
Total weight: 127.9 ounces
Total feed consumed this week: 30 cups measured dry

These guys are straight run. Is it usual for meaties to be aggressive? These guys will actually come towards my hand & literally bite me and not let go. They are little meanies.

 

[SIMZ]

These guys are straight run. Is it usual for meaties to be aggressive? These guys will actually come towards my hand & literally bite me and not let go. They are little meanies

My last batch had some MEAN chickens in it! At 3 weeks there was a little guy in there that left a welt on my hand because he actually attacked me. It's the first time I've run into it, so I'm not sure it's usual. The roosters in that same batch were fighting each other BLOODY before we processed them at 6 weeks. We raised 12 dual-purpose roosters to 16 weeks and didn't have bloody fighting like that!!

 

[SIMZ]

Here are some of our 4-week-olds venturing outside today. They haven't been able to get out much because it's been rainy, windy, and COLD. Hopefully, they're going to be able to spend a lot more time outside from now on.