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Thanks for all your great advice. What did you do differently that made them so much bigger? Do I just automatically take them at 8 weeks, I've heard so much about broken legs and such. Will it be too late if they break legs? I do have to make an appointment and not sure if I could just get right in if the birds start dying on me. How do you know they are ready? Can you do it at 7 weeks instead? Sorry so many more questions. But thanks again!
With the first batch, I started them off at 18% protein for the first week, when I should have started them off with at least 20%. I switched them to the 20% right away, but I think just that first week too low gave them a slow start. Or maybe I just had a bad batch that first time. But I've ordered from that same hatchery since then, and got the same Cornish Rocks, and the next batch had much better growth.
I feed my meat birds 24 hours a day 20% protein (Purina Flock Raiser) for the first 7 days. Then I switch to restricted feed schedule - 12 hours with full feed available, 12 hours no feed (always water). At 5 weeks, I switch them to a lower protein - 18% (Purina Start & Grow), but continue the 12 hours on, 12 hours off.
I always plan on taking mine to 8 weeks. If they don't look quite as big as I would like, then I let them go another week or 2, but keep my eyes and ears open for problems - if I think a bird is having difficulty breathing, or standing lately, then I will process that individual bird immediately.
This last batch, which was the first from a different hatchery, is my first time to have leg problems. Before that, I lost 1 to a heart attack at 8 weeks. This batch, I lost 1 to unknown causes at 2 weeks, 1 to presumed heart attack at 4 weeks, 2 to leg problems at 5 1/2 weeks. I don't think I will order from this hatchery again.
I think planning on processing at 7 weeks would be fine. You would probably have dressed weight of 3-5 pounds at that time. I would also call where you are taking the birds to process, and ask them how quickly they can get the birds in around the time they are ready. That way, if they need a lot of advance notice, you can just make the appointment now for the 7 week mark, but if they can get them in more quickly, maybe you can wait until 6 weeks and then see how the birds are doing at that point.
I expect the birds to weigh 5-7 lbs live in order to get a decent sized dressed bird. Sometimes I take my scale out to the coop and do some quick weight checks on random birds just to see how they are progressing. The hatchery I ordered from the first time gave me a by week chart to see how much they should weigh at each week, by male or female, if they are gaining adequately.
If you start to have leg problems before the 7 weeks, you could always take the opprotunity to learn processing yourself.
Thanks for all your great advice. What did you do differently that made them so much bigger? Do I just automatically take them at 8 weeks, I've heard so much about broken legs and such. Will it be too late if they break legs? I do have to make an appointment and not sure if I could just get right in if the birds start dying on me. How do you know they are ready? Can you do it at 7 weeks instead? Sorry so many more questions. But thanks again!
With the first batch, I started them off at 18% protein for the first week, when I should have started them off with at least 20%. I switched them to the 20% right away, but I think just that first week too low gave them a slow start. Or maybe I just had a bad batch that first time. But I've ordered from that same hatchery since then, and got the same Cornish Rocks, and the next batch had much better growth.
I feed my meat birds 24 hours a day 20% protein (Purina Flock Raiser) for the first 7 days. Then I switch to restricted feed schedule - 12 hours with full feed available, 12 hours no feed (always water). At 5 weeks, I switch them to a lower protein - 18% (Purina Start & Grow), but continue the 12 hours on, 12 hours off.
I always plan on taking mine to 8 weeks. If they don't look quite as big as I would like, then I let them go another week or 2, but keep my eyes and ears open for problems - if I think a bird is having difficulty breathing, or standing lately, then I will process that individual bird immediately.
This last batch, which was the first from a different hatchery, is my first time to have leg problems. Before that, I lost 1 to a heart attack at 8 weeks. This batch, I lost 1 to unknown causes at 2 weeks, 1 to presumed heart attack at 4 weeks, 2 to leg problems at 5 1/2 weeks. I don't think I will order from this hatchery again.
I think planning on processing at 7 weeks would be fine. You would probably have dressed weight of 3-5 pounds at that time. I would also call where you are taking the birds to process, and ask them how quickly they can get the birds in around the time they are ready. That way, if they need a lot of advance notice, you can just make the appointment now for the 7 week mark, but if they can get them in more quickly, maybe you can wait until 6 weeks and then see how the birds are doing at that point.
I expect the birds to weigh 5-7 lbs live in order to get a decent sized dressed bird. Sometimes I take my scale out to the coop and do some quick weight checks on random birds just to see how they are progressing. The hatchery I ordered from the first time gave me a by week chart to see how much they should weigh at each week, by male or female, if they are gaining adequately.
If you start to have leg problems before the 7 weeks, you could always take the opprotunity to learn processing yourself.
