Meat Bird Questions

[OwlandBear]

I have been keeping hens for eggs for three years and have decided I need to start keeping chickens for meat as well.

My local Tractor Supply has Cornish Rocks available, and I was thinking about getting a dozen, but after reading some of the threads in this forum it seems like a whole different way of raising birds than I'm used to, and a lot more hassle. Fermenting feed, feeding schedules, possible health problems, all pretty daunting.

For a newbie meat grower would going straight into Cornish Rocks be wise, or should I go with a dual purpose breed I'm more familiar with (New Hampshire or Partridge)?

Any information would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Here is a pretty good article on raising broilers at home from Florida. It covers the basics.

Feeding Broilers
http://escambia.ifas.ufl.edu/small_farms_livestock/poultry/Home_Broiler_Chicken_Flock.pdf

Feeding fermented feed is how some people do it. It’s not necessary. There are a whole lot of things on this forum that are how a few people do things but they are hardly ever really necessary. Many of those people are generally convinced their way is the only right way to do things, but in reality plenty of us do things other ways and are still extremely successful. We all have different conditions and goals. What works for one person may very well be a mistake for someone else because of those differences in set-ups, conditions, climate, or goals. The challenging thing is to figure out what really suits your unique situation and use those while not getting upset or feeling inadequate because someone does it differently.

That’s even true if this Florida article. That last section “Selecting for Show”, doesn’t really apply to you. It may be interesting but you can and should ignore it.