Meat birds, Meat birds got some questions on meat birds

[MRNpoultry]

I finally can ryme lol

We were watching some videos on youtube about meat bird and after watching them we were talking about getting some. So here are my questions:

1 - Is 25 anough for the whole year?

2 - How much feed do they eat?

3 - Boiler booster are not?

4 - Cornish x rocks, cornish roasters, are a heavy breed do you slaghter cornish as you want them? How about the red and black boilers. Silkes?

Thats all I can think of for now.

 

[MRNpoultry]

I am sorry if some of these have been asked before.

 

[greyfields]

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It depens how much chicken you eat, obviously.

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It depens on how large you grow them! Assume 3 lbs of feed for each pound of live weight gained.

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Not.

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Silkies - No.
Red/Black Broilers - OK.
Cornish Cross - OK (with caveats)

caveats - There are issue with raising Cornish Crosses. They are explained at length on these forums. But for some people, they can deal with the health issues. Others, it really bothers them to have animals die on them through no fault of their own.


If you want detailed answers, just read the first page of threads on this forum.

 

[MRNpoultry]

Your right the first question was before I thought, I think I like the red and black boilers better. But, with meat chicken do you slaghter as you wan't them. Thanks for your answer I am still new to the egg laying chicken let alone the meat.

 

[greyfields]

Broilers grow too fast for you to maintain a standing flock, then slaughtering ad hoc. Your flock will literally be 6 lbs one week, then 8 the next, then dropping dead from heart attacks the week after that. So you must do them as a "crop" processing all at once. With vacuum sealing available at home, they keep very well in the freezer.

Broilers also require a different feed than your hens will. So you'll need to keep them separated for that reason. The economics are really odd with meat chickens. There comes a point of you grow them too large, they're costing you more per pound than the best organic & free range chicken you can buy at the store.

Do you plan to pasture them? Use a tractor? I raise Freedom Rangers which are hybrid 'breeds' better suited for organic and free range production. I've had next to no problems with these, compared with Cornish Crosses which were very difficult to raise in my climate.

 

[wynedot55]

1 if you get 25 broilers thats enough for chicken once every 2 weeks.2 in my opion you dont need the broiler booster.3once on full feed 25 will eat 1 or 2 sacks feed a week or more.4 youll want to butcher them at 5 to 7wks.5 you may want to raise 2 batches a yr depending on how much chicken you eat.

 

[MRNpoultry]

I think I understand what your saying. My hens I got now free range if we raise cornishs we whould use a hoop net and let them out for a little bit. Will they come back to there house at night like regular chickens.

 

[skeeter]

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I doubt they go more than 5 or 6 feet from the feeder

 

[wynedot55]

broilers are never far away from feed an water.because eat an grow are all they do.

 

[FutureChickenMan]

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you forgot poop.