Mixed birds, 10 meat birds with 15 others.

[mdulik]

I purchased 15 mixed birds from TSC and put them in the brooder, a week later I went back and purchased 10 Cornish Rock and put them in the broooder with the others. It has been almost a week since I did this and I have had a feeder in front of them 24/7 not realizing that the Cornish were a "meat bird". I just leared today that I'm supposed to hold back feed from the Cornish, but what do I do about the other 15 birds in the brooder with them? They are only 2 1/2 weeks old and not ready for the coop yet and I dont have another brooder set up to move them too. Any suggestions would be really appriciated...

 

[schmism]

my meeties had 24/7 chick grower/starter for week 2. week 1 they spent at the local farm n home store so who knows how much or what food they got.
they then were moved to there own space and moved to 24/7 meet bird feed by week 3. it wasnt till after week 4 that i consciously started to plan there food ration so it would run out (or mostly run out) over night.

 

[little_grey_bantam]

I'm lazy

I wait till the store feeds them for at least 3-4 weeks than buy 'em for nearly 1/2 price off!

You'll probably have to separate them into their own coops -- err brooders

 

[jaku]

You're better off seperating them in brooders, but it isn't absolutely crucial. They don't get feed cut off until after two weeks, and even then, your layers will be fine not eating at night. Remember also that the meaties will be out of the brooder after three weeks anyway.

Bantam- that's a great way to do it. That way, the ones that are going to die in the first few days are already gone.

 

[greenpeeps]

I started feeding my meaties 12 on and 12 off from the first day they came home. I figured why feed them nonstop for weeks then take it away? I'd rather have them an extra week or two, and make sure they were healther.

Their brooder was next to the new pet chickens. The other day both groups went into the new coop together, and they are the best of buddies. I'm finding the the meaties are some of the friendliest birds. I haven't seen any picking on the smaller pet chicks at all.