Meat bird feed question

[Cason]

Mine are in a horse stall in the barn- with a heat light at night. I wouldn't have those stinkin' things in the house! However, they do go out during the day and seem to enjoy that.. They're ~ 19 days old.

 

[quercus21]

I would move them outside as soon as possible. I move ours out into the tractor at 7 to 10 days. The stench and mess is something you aren't going to forget. They do produce a lot of heat as they grow. I know on some days, you can even smell them when they are outside in the tractor. I also move the tractor every morning to a new patch of grass.

 

[willheveland]

Outside in a tractor is the way to go.Just the 4 weeks in the brooder inside a shed is way too much for me.They need to be outside. Will

 

[miss_jayne]

Quote:
oh yeah and amen. you'll not go wrong following this advice.

 

[Trollkiller]

Looks like I have to redesign and rethink.

 

[burntumber]

Let me know if you come up with a predator-proof chicken tractor. I've built three different designs and have yet to keep predators at bay. The only thing that works is to keep the tractors within 15 feet of the dog pen off the back of our house. The dogs have a pet door so they can go in and out as they please. They're very good about barking at skunks and fishers other critters as they wander by at night- I never lose chickens when they're tractored near the dogs. But once they get outside the 15 foot perimeter- I always lose some.

 

[miss_jayne]

mine is pretty safe, and i haven't lost any to preds....even far from the house.
to make it pred proof, you would want to cover in hardware cloth and that is so expensive. i did chicken wire over cattle panels and the tarp is secured to the house tightly. no issues yet.

(wow, they were so little a few weeks ago...now they are ginormous!)

 

[Guinea Goonie]

I raised about 25 of these lovely birds this last spring. They are eating machines. They grow incredibly fast, faster than any other breed of chicken I at least have seen. They do get pretty darn big too. Buy clear storage container, the BIGGEST ones you can find and buy enough to eventually get 5 birds per encloser. You will need a light source set up for each. Get 1 gallon, cheap plastic waterers. The little chick size will not be enough in the end. If you have a garage, while the chicks are growing, make up SOMETHING to put them in. Remember, you only need to go to about 8 to 10 weeks with these birds. Cullling them at this age will be more humane. They actually start having medical problems like heart attacks, seperated ligaments etc. . Good luck.

 

[burntumber]

Quote:
Thank you for reiterating what I was trying to explain about the Cornish X breed.

 

[burntumber]

Quote:
Nice tractor!

It's huge! Mine are 2X4 construction, also- but smaller- 4' X 8' by 3' high. They have chicken wire around the sides and top and metal roofing on top. Fishers and weasels are awful clever- if you had them, you'd know it b/c your tractor design wouldn't keep them out. Skunks dig under the edges to get in.

I have a permanent coop for my show birds and had to run electrified netted fencing around the permimeter b/c I just couldn't keep the predators out- coytoes, skunks, weasels and fishers- and I think even a fox. It's amazing what they'll do to find a way in. We just have too many hungry wild animals around here! LOL! The electric sheep fencing works perfectly, though. Once in a while it reeks of skunk spray!