Thanks Jaku thats a great setup with the tractors and the waterer. Just so you know, I'm stealing all of it (your ideas, that is!) and using it for my broilers next year.
We butchered out turkeys out at five months and they were good size but we could of done it a month earlier but they all got black head disease and we lost all but two out of five so I don't suggest putting them next to chickens! Awesome setup you have there! You should give yourself a pat on the back for a job well done!
Is anyone else having horrible luck with meaties this year? I'm at two weeks and already lost 5 of 80! That's more dead birds than I had even in my very first batch.
I'm on batch three right now and I have lost 14 out of the first, 13 out of the second and only 2 out of the third. So I'm having unusual bad luck I guess as well. That is out of 200 chicks / batch.
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I've been losing one per day for the past week or so. Luckily, they gave me 5 freebies. I'm starting to doubt my wire floored brooder, and might sell it on Craigslist. What do you use for a brooder, Jeff? I'm thinking about building a 10x8 shed, with a 6x8 section for meaties (which would double my current sq. footage,) and two 4x4 sections- one for a second brooder, and one for storage. Maybe with a vent and a small fan, auto drinkers, etc. I'm never satistfied with what I've got! My wife gets so annoyed. I'm getting some bloody feet though, then they step in the poo, and it just can't be healthy. I think if I get back to chips, it would be better, plus giving them good ventilation would make it bearable in there.