Meat birds with egg layers?

[firstbatch]

Brand new to chickens. I got 25 meat birds, and 6 layers. They arrived yesterday and are great. Can the stay together in the same cozy place or do I need to separate them? I was also unable to get my hands on higher protein starter for the meat birds - so they are all eating the same starter for now. Where can I look for the food for the meat birds? Live in Washington State. Thanks for any tips.

 

[bnentrup]

Quote:
For feed: you can simply use maps.google.com - place your zip code, and type 'feed store' - here is a search results for the Seattle area:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&sou...288,-122.332764&spn=1.990733,4.938354&t=h&z=8

you can pan the screen to your area and find the closest listings in your area. I had a local store that was able/willing to mix up to 36% ration chick starter... they will mix it down with filler per your ration request (20-24% seems to be what most here are using). They quoted me $16 per 50lb for the 36% chicken nutrient bag, and $10 for the 24% mixed 50lb bag. I am using 24% for now, until their body weights are up to average.

 

[silkiechicken]

Meat birds will be pretty poopy vs layers, so with that many meaties, I would separate them. You can grow them both up on start and grow. Google maps is good to find your stuff. I usually go to the Everett Cenex. Last time I bought chick feed, think it was about 20 bucks for a 50 lb bag.

 

[firstbatch]

Thanks for the reply, will do some searching. Any input as to whether i need to separate them? or can they all stay together, wondering if the meat birds would out eat the others and they would be hungry.

 

[bnentrup]

Quote:
I have read many opinions on here, and someone recently that allowed her Broody hen to raise her cornish X in the field with GREAT results. Others claim that other layers/birds mixed in teach the cornish how to freerange (if indeed you are going to mix any free-ranging in with your cornish). Most cornish are lazy/bred to be lazy and eat.. and therefore will hog the feeders.

Therefore, the answer is 'it-depends' on your space and if you are going to free-range your birds to any degree. I think the last poster was recommending to go ahead and start them the same...and they should be fine for a few weeks if you constantly keep feed and water available and have adequate feeding/watering space.

 

[snewman]

I always raise mine all together and haven't had any problems.