Is my feeding schedule ok?

[Corsair]

Hi everyone, first time having meat birds. I’ve done a bunch of searching on feeding these birds and have come across quite a few protein % to feed at various times, but this is what I have in my area. Schedule below, does it look ok?

Days 1-14: feed chick starter @ 21% (available 24 hours/day)

Days 14-butcher: feed Grower/Finisher @ 16% (available 12 hours/day)

 

[sfchixn]

Looks good to me! I also full feed starter until three weeks. At that point, they go outside and go on reduced protein, 12on, 12 off.

 

[Corsair]

Thanks for the info. Mine are also going out at 3 weeks. On your system do you feel that you get a good size bird by the end? Do you process them at the normal 8 weeks? Thanks!

 

[sfchixn]

Last batch I processed at 7.5 weeks and got avg 5.28 lb processed weight per
Bird. I did not get a live weight but am very happy with the processed weight.

 

[Compost King]

Unless I am saving a few for a breeding project I feed them 24/7 and haven't had a problem. Maybe the 12 on 12 off is a more efficient way of feeding them. One day when I am not too lazy to keep charts I might split a batch in half and do 24 hour feed vs 12/12 to and see 24 hour feeding wastes feed. Has anyone else done a study like that?

 

[sfchixn]

I’ve done the 24h feeding and had a lot of losses. It might depend on the strain of CX you are raising.

 

[Compost King]

I’ve done the 24h feeding and had a lot of losses. It might depend on the strain of CX you are raising.

Thats enough for me to consider 12 on 12 off. I haven't raised many CX at once so I never had a large enough sample to have a death.