Meat Bird Project - Delaware, White Rock, Dark Cornish

[KoopOnTruckin]

I love all these numbers!
I think it is great!

I can't believe that little percent amount in the feed makes that big of a difference.


Do you feed them table scraps or treats?

I feed table scraps (old leftovers) and wilting veggies to my layers, as well as other treats like corn-sicles on hot days. They also get the fermented feed 2-3 times a week, which they go ga-ga over. The chicks don't get many treats, but they do get to forage now so they seem pretty happy.

Yes, I'm amazed at the huge difference too with the different percentages, I didn't expect it to be that big at all!

 

[KoopOnTruckin]

Still following this an everything is looking great! Really interesting to see. I was feeding my quail a partridge starter fine crumb. 28.5% protein with all the necessary vitamins etc. Do you think could be a bit of an over dose of protein?

I got a photo from the guy hatching them for me and they are just begining to pip, all due tomorrow so this is it. Cant wait to see and compare our results!

Very excited for you, post some pics as soon as they arrive!

As for the partridge starter feed, I really have no idea - I've not done quail before and don't know much about them. What amount of protein do they normally require? Somebody (maybe even in this thread) said that, unless they're hybrid broilers that have a tendency to grow very quickly on anything like Cornish Xs, you don't have to worry about chickens overdosing on protein (within reason, I would assume...).

 

[Ulladh]

Yeah I imagine high protein wouldnt be bad, but it will certainly accelerate their growing, which I kind of want as I may only keep a few for breeding next year, plus it is quite late in the year too which doesnt help. Quail when growing particularly need a higher protein, they mature in roughly 5-6 weeks and mine are a lot bigger than any I have seen. Not yet bred any of them as no incy but willbe looking into it for eating in future.

I will be trying them on it, as I can get game bird feed local to me much easier than chick crumb. Ill be posting weights and photos as soon as I get them!

P.s Any tips on breaking the news to my girlfriend Im getting more chickens? She can be bought I suppose with dinner and gifts...

 

[KoopOnTruckin]

I've got no advice for that! Best of luck to you, if I don't see you on the boards over the next few weeks I'll know how the conversation went!

 

[KoopOnTruckin]

Here's the heaviest WR cockerel, he's also in the picture above in the back, just to the right looking away from the camera - I think he's a bit camera-shy! Super heavy though, he's over the 1 lb mark. Only one WR male weighs less than 1 lb, he's only 13 oz. Collectively, all 21 of the older chicks weigh 17 lbs.


Here's the heaviest DC, he doesn't look very heavy but he definitely has some mass to him. Reminds me of a softball.




They really seem to enjoy their coop. I'm likely going to put the younger WRs out there in the next couple of days, but I just cleaned their bedding this morning so I'll wait until it needs to be changed first. At that point, I will likely start using all 3 pens of the mobile coop. Any thoughts on how I should separate them? Here are some of my ideas:

1:
24 sf - all 5 DEL males, 4 WR males, and 5 DC males
15 sf - all 11 younger WR mixed
9 sf - all 7 DEL females
I'm worried that this may pose a problem as they get older, keeping too many roos together in the big pen may start a "comb-measuring contest".

2:
24 sf - The potential "Keepers", 2 DC males, 2 WR males, 2 WR females, 2 DEL males, and 2 DEL females
15 sf - remaining 11 males
9 sf - remaining 10 females
This gives the keepers more room to spread their wings (HEY, I get that now!!) but keeps the others contained so their meat is potentially more tender.

3:
24 sf - 15 mixed WRs
15 sf - 12 mixed DELs
9 sf - 5 DC males
This makes the most sense to me, gives them equal amounts of room (roughly...), and is an easy way to keep them separated. Only the DCs would be without females.

 

[Kiki]

Here's the heaviest WR cockerel, he's also in the picture above in the back, just to the right looking away from the camera - I think he's a bit camera-shy! Super heavy though, he's over the 1 lb mark. Only one WR male weighs less than 1 lb, he's only 13 oz. Collectively, all 21 of the older chicks weigh 17 lbs.


Here's the heaviest DC, he doesn't look very heavy but he definitely has some mass to him. Reminds me of a softball.




They really seem to enjoy their coop. I'm likely going to put the younger WRs out there in the next couple of days, but I just cleaned their bedding this morning so I'll wait until it needs to be changed first. At that point, I will likely start using all 3 pens of the mobile coop. Any thoughts on how I should separate them? Here are some of my ideas:

1:
24 sf - all 5 DEL males, 4 WR males, and 5 DC males
15 sf - all 11 younger WR mixed
9 sf - all 7 DEL females
I'm worried that this may pose a problem as they get older, keeping too many roos together in the big pen may start a "comb-measuring contest".

2:
24 sf - The potential "Keepers", 2 DC males, 2 WR males, 2 WR females, 2 DEL males, and 2 DEL females
15 sf - remaining 11 males
9 sf - remaining 10 females
This gives the keepers more room to spread their wings (HEY, I get that now!!) but keeps the others contained so their meat is potentially more tender.

3:
24 sf - 15 mixed WRs
15 sf - 12 mixed DELs
9 sf - 5 DC males
This makes the most sense to me, gives them equal amounts of room (roughly...), and is an easy way to keep them separated. Only the DCs would be without females.

I would pick option 3.
Quick glance and you see who's who in each area.."the biggest"

 

[KoopOnTruckin]

I would pick option 3.
Quick glance and you see who's who in each area.."the biggest"

Thanks KikisGirls, that's the one I'm leaning towards as well. The plan with the 3 pens wasn't for the chicks I have now, rather for the chicks they're going to produce. I think they will take about 20 weeks or so to grow to a proper table bird, meaning 5 weeks in each area. So every 5 weeks, I'll raise another 8-10 chicks, they'll start in the house, after 3 weeks be moved to the dog cage within the main coop, 2 weeks later moved to the smallest pen of the mobile coop, then the mid-size, then the luxury suite. Then the table... So for now, I just need to get the 'parents' to the point of raising me more meat.

I'm also doing this all on a budget - my wife is watching my spending very closely to make sure this is all worth it!! I just came up with a (I think) very good idea to make some hanging feeders for the larger pens, I'll plan to put them together tomorrow and post some pics. My fingers are crossed, I probably will dream about hanging feeders tonight.....

 

[Ulladh]

Just be aware that add females and roosters you will get fights, a pen of ll roosters will sort themselves but essentially they have nothing to fight over as no girls. So mixing them will cause rows as youll get a boss but eventually others will challenge or irritate hi if in the same pen, just a thought

 

[Kiki]

I can't wait to see your home made feeders.

You obviously use the internet have you looked on Pinterest for ideas yet?

https://www.pinterest.com/search/pi...1=feeders|autocomplete|1&2=diy|autocomplete|1

There are a million ideas there.

 

[KoopOnTruckin]

I've never really been a "pinterest" person, I find it has really good ideas but is very time consuming and addictive. I'm also not a fan of Facebook, found myself spending way too much time online so I swore off social media altogether... then I found BYC, and here we are...

The ideas on Pinterest are really good, my idea was sort of original but there are a lot of similar ideas on there. Basically, it's just a bucket with some holes near the base to release the food, then a hog pan bolted to the bottom of it to keep the food contained. It also has a funnel attached to the bottom of the bucket to force the food toward the edges. Very much like the store bought versions, just cheaper and sturdier. My 2 gallon feeder cost only $6, compared to the store version that costs $17. A 5 gallon feeder would cost about $8, store bought = $20-30.

I was originally going to go with a PVC feeder, not sure if horizontal or vertical would be better. But the cost was higher for the materials than I'd wanted, and I already had the buckets and hog pans from my larger coop. Maybe for my next project!!

I'll post photos shortly of the feeders.