Meat birds on pasture/whole grains....anyone doing it? Breeds?

[shaft0463]

Quote:
Costco's dog and cat foods don't have any soy meal in them. Maybe some oil, but the phytoestrogens and allergy-causing proteins aren't present in the oil. I do use whole grains, I just grind them up along with the alfalfa pellets and such. It seems to allow them to use more of the nutrients, especially when they are young. The cat food is just to boost the protein a bit, and the fat in it helps keep the dust down some. I don't use much of it.

 

[freemotion]

That is good to know!

I do not feed whole grains for the price, although that is a good benefit. It just fits in with my whole feeding philosophy here. I do grind it a bit for the chicks, but they can handle the small grains by 10 days and most can handle corn by three or four weeks. I have a bunch of sorghum heads that I gleaned this fall that I am saving for next spring's chicks, so they can start whole grains sooner.

I try to feed what I could grow if I ever had to. Then my flock will be already selected for thriving on this diet and foraging. Plus it has been an interesting experiment.

 

[shaft0463]

I might try growing some oats this winter (I'm in FL). Just not too sure about having to keep it watered and such. We don't get rain in the winter here.

 

[eggbuster]

I feed whole grains and free range. I raised 50 Cx this summer with 0 losses. 9 are still running around doing just fine. They averaged around 5-6 lbs at 9 weeks (dressed wt). They are very clean well feathered and the remaining ones don't seem to be getting oversized. With whole grains, they don't seem to have the need to eat all the time and don't eat any more then the regular chickens. Now that the weather is cold they hang in the barn instead of free ranging, but they can get up on a roost and the hens run from the roosters and the rooster competes with the buckey roos for the girls. Pretty normal chicken stuff. I think they do a good job of looking after themselves. I hope they lay me some eggs in the spring. I have 5 hawks and all of my chickens seem to know when to keep under cover. Didn't lose any and the hawks would circle for a few hours every day, but the chickens just went to sleep under a bush or something and just waited it out. They seem to know when the hawks quit for the day.

 

[TNBarnQueen]

Corn here in my TN area has came down in price...surprisingly as 2 years ago it became hard to find. My son has a theory on this that makes some sense...if you notice there are quite a number of corn products coming on the market..such as the corn cat litter. My son said that a few years ago the government started stock piling as much corn as possible because they thought the corn=fuel thing was going to be a gold mine...well...it did not pan out near as well. So..now they have all this corn stock piled and have to do something with it before it ages too much and is taking up space. Just a tid-bit of info. I mean...we have SO many intelligent people running our government. At least it should be the farmers gain in this one.

 

[the simple life]

My current batch of cornish are being raised with the rest of the flock, they free range all day and I have had zero problems with their legs or heart attacks. They do grow a little slower but appear to be healthier, I am amazed to see them up on the high roosts and doing everything the other chickens are doing.
Since winter set in I have been sprouting various grains, pumpkins, yogurt, leftover kefir and whey, alfalfa pellets, rice bran and whole grains depending on what I have available but I have not completely cut out their regular commercial feed at this point.
I notice there is no meat bird smell that I usually get when I have the meaties in a seperate pen being fed commercial grain, the difference is amazing.
They also did not have the desire to free range when I raise them that way as compared to the way they do now when I open up the coop doors in the morning. I mean they would go out and hang outside the coop a couple of feet away but now these suckers are all over the place. A couple even like to go visit the goats every day.
My next batch of meaties will be the freedom rangers, coming next month.