Meyer White Broiler Questions

[Pine Roost]

I am getting ready to order 50 white broilers from Meyer. Has anyone had a good experience with them? I have been looking in local grocery stores (south carolina) and see that whole chickens sell for $1.69/lb. What would be a fair price for me to ask for mine? they will be fed chick starter and then broiler finisher. Can I call them all natural, hormone free, cage free, or what?? They will be in a 30'x30' pen.

Thanks for taking the time to help a newby.

 

[SIMZ]

We've ordered broilers from Meyer Hatchery in Ohio. If that's the one you're referring to, we didn't have any problems with them. We lost several because of a cold snap during shipping, but the hatchery took care of that for us. Otherwise, they did well and had tall, strong legs.

Look into your state regulations for NC. As far as pricing, check into chickens that are similar, because grocery store chickens aren't. Check health food stores and listing on localharvest.org to see what others charge for homegrown chicken.

You can call them what you'd like as long as its accurate. Will they be outside or inside? As long as you your feed doesn't contain growth hormones or antibiotics you can certainly claim that.

Best of luck!

 

[Pine Roost]

Thanks for the reply. They will be outside. Would medicated chick started contain antibiotics? I watched your you tube video...good stuff. Do the briolers need roosts? or can they hang out on the ground at night?

 

[BCMaraniac]

Some chick starter is medicated, and some is not. Since you live in SC, you might want to look at this link and see if it available in your area:

http://bartlettmillingfeed.com/

Their starter/grower crumbles contain APEX, which is a botanical supplement that boosts immunity, aids in digestion, etc, but not a coccidiostat medication that is in the medicated feed. I have been very pleased with it. I have never lost an incubated chick with this feed, though I do use the Bartlett gamebird starter with the new hatches for the first 2 weeks due to the higher protein. I think it gives them a good start, along with some unpasteurized/unfiltered apple cider vinegar in their water which helps with pasty butt. When I open a new bag of starter/grower, I get a little whiff of Licorice because of the Anise in the APEX. I noticed it even before I knew the anise was in the APEX.

I will say that I have lost broiler chicks, but I have been very pleased with their growth on this feed, and I have not seen any signs of coccidiosis in any of my chicks.

Bartlett also has a meat bird finisher that is good as well.

I hope this helps.

 

[SIMZ]

X2 on the apple cider vinegar. I've also found that they do well with electrolytes in the water (I usually do once a day or once every other day). It just gets expensive using electrolytes, so I switch off with the vinegar.

They don't need roosts. They'll just sleep on the floor.

They're a lot of fun if you give them plenty of room and keep up on the poop. Things I've discovered are that the sooner you start giving them scraps & treats the better. I give them scrambled eggs and veggies from the start (make chick grit available if you do). Also, getting them outside in the first 1-2 weeks (if weather permits), gets them used to moving and foraging. Otherwise, they seems to just sit in front of the feeders and act scared of anything other than the feed in front of them.

 

[Pine Roost]

Thanks for all of the good info. I'm still looking into everything so any other info that y'all can share would be great. I appreciate it

 

[ChocolateMouse]

Meyer hatchery served me well for a dozen broilers this year. Ordered 13, got 14. The 14th died in the first two days and after that no losses from health issues (one died to a hawk). Healthy,roos grew like crazy, hens were quite a bit slower, maybe cause the roos bullied them away form their food?

You can't advertise no hormones. Hormones are illegal to use in chickens so ALL chicken is hormone additive free and therefore NO chicken may put that on their label unless they immediately after state that hormones are illegal for use in all chickens. Antibiotic free you can say. For free range the nation wide definition can be something as poopy as 10minutes a day 50 birds get access to a 10X10 pen through a pop door. State regulations tend the be stricter. Here in Ohio they have space requirements, requirements for appropriate housing and cleanliness, etc.

I fed Purina Flock Raiser (non medicated) crumbles mixed with some alfalfa and chopped greens 2Xs a day, offered grit in the brooder and some earthworms. First two weeks I filled the feeder 2X's a day, next week I did the same but they finished it faster. Then I switched to fermenting their feed and two feedings a day what they could eat in 10 minutes or so. I tractored them onto new ground with shrubby plants to peck at every day from 3 week on. Roos were done at 10 weeks using this slower growth format, hens took 14 weeks. All of them dressed out to 5-6lbs plucked. One of the hens dressed out to 6lbs skinned, HUGE bird.

 

[Pine Roost]

Chocolatemouse, thank you for the information. My first 15 are due in the week of Jan 6th. I have finished my new brooder and have the heat lamp mount ready also. I plan to put it on a timer to ensure that it never gets below freezing in the brooder box. It is 4x4, so that should serve me well for the first 2 or 3 weeks. Now I just need to find out if the feed I get from the local store has antibiotics. Are there certain things on the label that I need to look for???

 

[ChocolateMouse]

No problem. The big poultry medication is amprollium if I recall, a medication found in almost all chick starters. However purina Flock Raiser is advertised for ducks which cant handle most meds, I called our local purina mills representative and she told me flock raiser is always unmedicated for a mixed flock. However that may just be here. I did look up EVERY single ingredient on the flock raiser label and was pleased to find no medications in it. The only thing I could find even vaugely medicinal was something to help turkeys handle higher calcium levels but it was also a vitamin supplement and helped broiler turkeys and chickens grow faster.

 

[Timskins]

Lots of people think that because they raised it in their back yard it's organic. I see it all the time around here in local ads. Organic eggs, organic chickens for sale. People don't realize that if you are going to accurately claim organic you have to consider everything that goes into their bodies. The grass they eat, was it fertilized, was the grass seed coated in anything? The table scraps you gave them, were those veggies and other scraps organic? The water they drink, is it city water with chlorine and fluoride and other garbage added? Most importantly the feed. Finding an organic NON GMO feed can be hard and expensive. For us going to the extra trouble to make sure everything they touch is non gmo and organic is important. When I eat the eggs and meat I know exactly how healthy it is. Also I believe I read that the use of any antibiotics voids the "organic" stamp.