Questions--never had meat birds before

[shadowmane]

I've used Southern States starter/grower with my layers. I bought Purina Start and Grow for these. We'll see how they do with the more expensive stuff, if I keep buying it. I like the texture of the Purina.

 

[chicks4fun]

I've used Southern States starter/grower with my layers. I bought Purina Start and Grow for these. We'll see how they do with the more expensive stuff, if I keep buying it. I like the texture of the Purina.

Well be sure to let us all know how this works out for you.

 

[Beekissed]

thanks to both, beekissed & shadowmane, I still have a lot to learn about chicken keeping

I keep mine outside every day in a chicken tractor. I have hawks & I want the protection. I need to come up with a way to give them more space, but safely. But I will start right away with the feed. I tried an organic mix but it was so powdery that they waste most of it.

Just wet it down next time and they'll snatch it right up without any waste.

 

[CPrendie]

So, I'm getting ready to start to harvest some of my meat birds. They are with some layers, so I've fed them medicated starter since they were chicks.Chalk it up to rookie mistake. Saw the posts about fermented feed. Just wondering if they are going to taste like Vicks Vabor Rub now that they've been eating the medicated stuff?

 

[Beekissed]

No, but they are probably thiamine deficient...

 

[Bettacreek]

Mine were free-ranged as well. They were my favorite birds out of everything I had. They're so sweet and friendly. It's really hard to keep yourself objective and keep in mind that they are not pets, but food. I believe free-ranging is the best thing when raising these birds... Otherwise, they eat, sleep and crap at the feeder, which makes for disgusting birds. Mine were just as active as the light layer birds. They were a force to be reckoned with when it came to bugs, lol.

 

[Beekissed]

I know! I always pity the poor bugs that happened to fly into their coop or past them out on the grass because it looked like Jurassic Park's velociraptors were hunting it down. I hate to imagine how many bugs would be plaguing my garden this year if it hadn't been for these efficient hunters combing the area. We had a very uncharacteristically warm winter and it really kept the bug population thriving....until the dinosaurs moved in.

 

[Bettacreek]

LOL! Isn't that the truth?! It's especially funny watching them try to jump after them. Crazy little (err, big?) birds. Out of every bird I've ever had, I miss the cornish x the most.

 

[Irish6425]

We had 2 cornish x mixed with our layers and they were my favorites out of all of them. We only fed them at night and they were free range the rest of the day. Every time I came outside they would immediately run to me & follow me everywhere. Hindsight I know it was just because I signified food, but I like to pretend it was because they liked me that much! lol

 

[bruceh]

out of my backyard flock of 6 ee's 5 rir, and 3 back bsl, 4 dellis, and a crap load of corninsh x's i love the cornish x's the best.. mine sit out with me , talk to me, and play chicken football. i could sit there for hours and laugh like hell. i am going to miss them. however i got a bunch more coming.
i free range all my birds and for heavy birds these guys can move. they are 6 weeks old today. my biggest is 5 1/2 lbs and the smallest is a runt. average i guess is 3 1/2 lbs
i am not weighing all those chickens. what i found is some are bigger some smaller so be it. they are healthy, they are active, and they are friendly.
i am going to spare the smallest 2 and use them for the new chicks to learn from them.
in my opinion if you want to learn about raising chickens go with the cornish x. you learn a lot from them.