Hey,
So this is our first time raising meat birds. We were going to do two batches of 15 ( and bc we got them from Murry McMurry we got one free chick with each order). We got our first batch in August and made up our minds to try a home mixed feed which is a 18 % feed and ferment it. We were doing this and they seemed to like it. After about a week one of the chicks was having trouble walking. We though maybe it was sprattled leg and went and got some Poultry drentch which is pretty much vitamins and minerals. It seemed to fix him, but the problem kept happening with a bunch of the chickens. Since it was our first time doing the meat birds we did not catch that they were not growing right either. We put them out in a tractor at four weeks. When we hit about 6 weeks we weight them and they were 1 lb or less. Making this discovery we switched to Nutrena meat bird feed ( 22%) hoping that it would make them grow. We called the hatchery and they said that something was not right and gave us our money back, but they could not figure out what it was because if it had been all the Cornish Cross from that week at the hatchery, they would have been getting 100s of calls. We are at just over 8 weeks and they have grown somewhat, but not as much as they should have. Meanwhile, this leg thing has been going on the entire time( but given time and poultry drench, they do recover) We had to cull one because it got so bad. One that did not seem to have hurt legs, randomly died maybe had a heart attack( when we went out there it had no water, but it could not have been out for that long) We now have a second set of meat birds in the brooder eating a 20 % all flock. We do not have that big of a yard, so we have a freind who is going to take them and put them on her land for us. But the second batch is doing much better and is not having any of these problems. Now, for the questions.
Does anyone have any thoughts on what this leg thing could be?
Do you think that all of these problems stemmed form using a not high enough protein feed( that was also fermented to make it last longer)
Do you think that if we drag them out until they are 2 lb and butcher, would they be safe to eat w/ having all these problems?
Do Cornish Cross die of heart attacks even if they are not gaining that much weight, just from being 8 weeks old
Our free chick who is an egg layer, also seems to be smaller than our egg layers were when they were eight weeks old, but has not had any problems. Do you think when it gets big enough we should put it in with our other layers, or should we not chance it.
In conclusion, should we keep them, or should we cull them?
Thanks!
So this is our first time raising meat birds. We were going to do two batches of 15 ( and bc we got them from Murry McMurry we got one free chick with each order). We got our first batch in August and made up our minds to try a home mixed feed which is a 18 % feed and ferment it. We were doing this and they seemed to like it. After about a week one of the chicks was having trouble walking. We though maybe it was sprattled leg and went and got some Poultry drentch which is pretty much vitamins and minerals. It seemed to fix him, but the problem kept happening with a bunch of the chickens. Since it was our first time doing the meat birds we did not catch that they were not growing right either. We put them out in a tractor at four weeks. When we hit about 6 weeks we weight them and they were 1 lb or less. Making this discovery we switched to Nutrena meat bird feed ( 22%) hoping that it would make them grow. We called the hatchery and they said that something was not right and gave us our money back, but they could not figure out what it was because if it had been all the Cornish Cross from that week at the hatchery, they would have been getting 100s of calls. We are at just over 8 weeks and they have grown somewhat, but not as much as they should have. Meanwhile, this leg thing has been going on the entire time( but given time and poultry drench, they do recover) We had to cull one because it got so bad. One that did not seem to have hurt legs, randomly died maybe had a heart attack( when we went out there it had no water, but it could not have been out for that long) We now have a second set of meat birds in the brooder eating a 20 % all flock. We do not have that big of a yard, so we have a freind who is going to take them and put them on her land for us. But the second batch is doing much better and is not having any of these problems. Now, for the questions.
Does anyone have any thoughts on what this leg thing could be?
Do you think that all of these problems stemmed form using a not high enough protein feed( that was also fermented to make it last longer)
Do you think that if we drag them out until they are 2 lb and butcher, would they be safe to eat w/ having all these problems?
Do Cornish Cross die of heart attacks even if they are not gaining that much weight, just from being 8 weeks old
Our free chick who is an egg layer, also seems to be smaller than our egg layers were when they were eight weeks old, but has not had any problems. Do you think when it gets big enough we should put it in with our other layers, or should we not chance it.
In conclusion, should we keep them, or should we cull them?
Thanks!