Meat Bird Chicks & Game Bird Starter, your thoughts?

[WinklerFarms]

Raised 50 broilers last summer and fed them hog mash at 18% protien throughout. They dressed out at an average of 7 pounds in 8 weeks. We only lost 1 and had only 2 with bad legs. I will definitly feed the same way with my next batch. Another great thing is that the hog mash is only around $16/100lbs.

 

[jessicayarno]

I started my cornish on 25% broiler, gamebird feed and switched to 20% grower at 4 wks and didn't have one with leg problems, I did have a few that died of flip, but that comes with the territory. My birds dressed out between 4.5-5.5 at 8wks and I fed 24/7, but their feed was outside and they went in the coop at night. I have my batch of freedom rangers on the same feed and have only had to cull 1 of 50 due to leg problems..

 

[bluere11e]

I wrote to Schlecht Hatchery http://schlechthatchery.com/ and got this reply:
"We use a 23% protein. I feel 20% you can have trouble like no strength in their legs. Bone strength is important. If you have to take a 30% gamebird and mix it with a 20%. Half and half try this. Etta"

There are no local mills near here, so I have to go with commercial feed. I will take their advice about their chicks and see what I think afterwards. I appreciate everyone's imput and will keep it in mind when I raise future batches of the CXs.

Hi Carol,
This is the same thing Etta told me.. I have found though that right away I got a "creeper" with the higher protein(he is wobbly and always wants to squat and kick his feet out from underhim, like they hurt or can't support him. I with drew the 30% gamebird completely and stopped feeding them at night and they are all doing better, However, I now see more "penny" sized copper colored poops that look loose that I didn't have when they were on the higher protein. Did you have any luck with finding a reason behind the "penny" poops?

 

[bigredfeather]

What I wonder is, how much is too much? I mean if 20% is good, why not 80%? At some point you have to have diminishing returns. What do the commercial growers use? That's the percentage I'd bet is the most advantageous.

Commercial growers start with 21%. After 10 days switch to a 19%, and then finish with a 17% or 18%. Anything higher than 22% for any chicken is a waste of money IMHO.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

I'll put that helpful link here to show all the variety of colors, shapes, & sizes of normal chicken poops, don't click unless you're prepared to look at close-up photos of a lot of chicken poop: http://www.chat.allotment.org.uk/index.php?topic=17568.0 I think my chicks are fine in the poop dept.

I've started my chicks on half Game Bird Starter (30%) and Flock Raiser (20%) before I realized that regular chick starter is also 20%. When they finish that I may give them a decreasing amount of the 30%, GBS mixed with regular chick starter, so that they go down to the 23% the hatchery recommends.

I've been putting them outside during the daytimes, on the ground where they have some greenstuff & dirt to peck at. So far, thank God, they're all doing well and getting beefy.

 

[jessicayarno]

Sunnyside Up thank you so much for posting that link.. All of this time I thought that some of my birds had worms so bad that it was showing in there feces and it was actually intestinal lining which the link said was normal... What a huge relief..

 

[Sunny Side Up]

Keeping chickens requires quite a bit of scatological study, they can be quite eloquent with their poops, and tell you a lot of things about their health & well-being. We owe a great debt of gratitude to the folks who put that website together, collected all those photos of chicken poop and chose which ones to post. I pay a lot of attention to my chickens' poops, and not just in order to avoid stepping in it!