Need Fattening Up FAST!

[jak2002003]

What is the best food / thing to do, to get my pullets fattened up quickly?

I have 10 Amber Star 'looking' chickens. They are about 12 weeks old. They are still growing and I was intending to eat them.... but they are so thin. Is this breed naturally thin? I have roosters and hens.. all are thin.

My partner is getting mad as these chickens are always getting into the house and pooping everywhere!!!! They are TOO friendly and mob anyone who comes into the yard. They are getting to be a problem and its way past the time to put them in the freezer.

They are fed mix flock feed (which is says on the bag is for ducks, chicks, and non laying chickens.

They also free range all day and can range over a large area to get insects and greens. I give some greens each evening to get them into the coop.

They are very healthy and energetic, but don't seem to be putting on any muscle. I can feel the breast bone in all of them.. and they have no meat on their thighs. They feel heavy though.. but no muscle or fat.

Do I just need to wait longer? Or is there some low cost food I can feed to get them fatter? I can't keep them more than a week or 2 at most.. I keep promising my partner they will be gone on a certain day (but the days keep going by)!

Do you think buying feed for broilers is a good idea for them? I don't want to spend lots of money or waste time boiling up my other chickens eggs for them.... or it will end up the cost is not worth raising these chickens.

 

[keesmom]

You will never get the kind of carcass you would get from a traditional meat bird no matter how long you let them grow. Nothing grows like a Cornish X. Yours sound like one of the production breeds that probably have Leghorn in them. Leghorns aren't meaty birds. And as tracecom mentions they are only 12 weeks old. Even the dual purpose birds are not ready for butchering that young. Nothing you feed them will make them gain weight any faster. You can try penning them to see if that helps them gain weight.

If you want a fast growing meat bird you will have to stick with Cornish X.

 

[tracecom]

I don't know anything about the breed you mentioned, but in general, chickens do not "fatten up" until they are mature. At 12 weeks, they are still growing up, not out. I would expect that at about 17-20 weeks, they would begin to put on girth. In addition, they may not be getting enough calories from free ranging to replace the energy they are expending. Perhaps it would be better to pen them up and feed them more.

 

[jak2002003]

Thanks for the advise.

I am just going to leave them to it them.. give them a few more weeks...... I am also going to mix some broiler feed in with the normal feed.