Milk fed Broilers?

[Drover]

I read somewhere that milk fed chickens are a delicacy in some countries because of their tender soft and flavorful meat. I was wondering if anyone else here has herd about this or even tried it before. They wouldn't be just fed milk, but regular broiler feeds as well. I have a very good source for getting free milk (waste milk, not diseased just not grade A) and from what I have read it is well worth it. Your thoughts? anyone tried it before? thanks!

 

[A.T. Hagan]

Back in the day when a lot more folks had their own dairy animals and most farms had at least a milk cow or two along with their farm flocks it was common to feed dairy products. It's discussed extensively in the feed manuals from the nineteen fifties and earlier.

As fluid milk whether fresh or soured it's hard to get them to consume enough since it's mostly water, but if you mix it into something like corn meal or rolled oats it can help to create a good fattening feed in combination with fresh green feed. It's very important to keep things clean though.

If you can come across a feed manual from fifty years ago or more you'll find a lot of info.

 

[happydog]

Quote:
I sure hope it works because that's how I've raised mine. I mix two scoops of starter & grower feed into a gallon/gallon and a half of milk and feed that twice a day. At first I was clabbering the milk before feeding, but lately I've been taking it straight from the milking bucket to the chickens.

This is my first batch of meaties (Cornish crosses) and so far it's worked well. I really wanted to raise them on organic feed, but couldn't find any where I live. At least I know the milk is the best possible quality and it sure cut down on the amount of feed I had to buy.

Tomorrow is butchering day and I'll be interested to see what the verdict is. They sure seem to be plump and healthy and doing well on it.

 

[Tracydr]

I read that milk can help prevent coccidiosis.

 

[bigredfeather]

I almost always give my CX chicks feed w/ raw goat milk in it for the first week I have them.

 

[crperdue]

I wonder if feeding them milk violates the rules for organic certification.
Would you consider milk the "by-product" of a mammal?

Edited cause I can't spel

 

[hydroswiftrob]

Would grocery store milk work? I unfortunately don't have access to a cow for raw milk.

ETA: The cow in my avatar pic would not be good for milking. He is a boy....

 

[bigredfeather]

Quote:
I would say it's a "product", not a by-product.

 

[crperdue]

Quote:
I would say it's a "product", not a by-product.

What if I ran an organic dairy that made cheese and I also wanted to raise organic meaties.
Could I feed them the whey or would that be a by-product of cheese making?

 

[BeardedLadyFarm]

They love whey, but you have to be aware of salt content if you salt your cheese before draining. Same when feeding whey to hogs.