Meat birds

[donniepj]

What do you feed six week old cornish cross birds? I have them on chjc starter now.

 

[henloverinmaine]

We have raised meat birds for 2 years now. We have fed Blue Seal Grower/Cal and seen great results. Last year we fed Blue Seal Game Bird feed as we were also feeding turkeys and they need higher protein. Saw great results for the turkeys but the chickens were smaller then the year before. That being said the chickens came from a different hatchery that year so they were a different breed entirely. I prefer not using medicated feed the entire growing season, just in the begining. A good rule of thumb is to feed each bird about 1 pound of medicated feed then switch them over to non medicated feed with a higher protein for the remainder of the season. For what it's worth... I never use a "finisher" feed the last 1-2 weeks as all it does is add more fat and who eats the fat so why make more of it?

 

[birdman1960]

I fed mine chick starter the first week, then switched over to vegetarian broiler chow, good results, more protein...no animal by products...happier customers...

 

[donniepj]

Thanks, I am new at this.

 

[Yukonchick]

I think I put mine on Grower after 4 weeks. Fed them twice a day and lots of fruit and fresh green table scraps the last two weeks. Fruit like all sorts of berries, tomatoes and shredded carrots

have made the meat very tasty.

 

[Yukonchick]

I found that water temp is really important for plucking. 145 degrees worked well for us. I also purchased this propane boiler which is well worth it. The water heats up really fast and it has a thermometer with it.