raise broilers and egg layers together?

[rudysmom]

I had to give my entire flock away because of knee problems, but now after surgery ready to get started again. I need to raise 150 cornish rock cross broiler chicks until they are feathered out (about 4 weeks) and then they go to my in-laws to finish out and then process. I want to start a new laying flock for myself. Can I order my egg layer chicks at the same time and keep them together for 4 weeks?

 

[blue90292]

i'm definitely not as advanced in this as the others but the two weeks i've had my FR's, i've had to separate them from my layer flock because the FR's (broilers) tend to eat all the food and at two weeks, they are much much bigger than the layers. when i bring them water and food, they push and shove and it gets to where the layers get pushed out.

 

[rudysmom]

Thanks! I still might order them at the same time but brood the layer chicks separately somehow. With 150 broilers, the layer chicks (25) would certainly be outnumbered!

 

[UncleHoot]

I raised 6 layers along with my 27 broilers last summer. I started them all on 20% and kept them all on 20% for 9 weeks, then the broilers went to the butcher, and I started the layers on a normal (17%) layer mix.

Anyway, they seemed to do fine. As noted, however, the broilers WILL get dibs with the feed, but eventually they get full, and the layers will be able to eat. But most of the time, they would just squeeze in with the broilers however they could.

I ended up with 22 broilers in the end, and it never seemed like a problem. In fact, I plan to get several more layers this summer, and my plan is to raise them all together again. I don't know if it makes any difference, but I raised them on pasture (my back yard) in a moveable pen throughout the warmer months.

 

[rudysmom]

Thanks! Maybe I will try it.

 

[greyfields]

By about two weeks, I would seriously expect having some trampling deaths in your hens. They'll easily be half the size of the broilers by then. Order a few extra hens to account for it.

 

[MissPrissy]

I agree with greyfields.

I did 27 jumbo cornish. They were up to 25 lbs of feed a day in the end. They will lay and stretch their neck into a feed pan and eat without having to get up. Do you know how much poop that is? Their coop had to be cleaned out top to bottom every week and sometimes more often. It was a solid brick of poop and wet in no time flat. There is no way I would raise them mixed with my laying flock.

The broilers only need 8 weeks or so to be market weight. They grow so fast you can actually see them grow from one day to the next. They will out grow your laying flock.

 

[silkiechicken]

If you were doing 5 meat birds I'd say with enough space it would work fine, but for 150... I wouldn't do that. I've done meat and layers together in small numbers 4-8 meat birds and 2-4 layers, but in any larger number, my guess is the layers will be smashed in no time. With under a dozen birds, having lots of feeder space was no problem, in the hundreds though, that wouldn't work so well.

 

[rudysmom]

Yeah, I've reconsidered. I have two operational chicken houses, and I think I will put the smelly poopy broilers in the older one, and put the hens in the nice coop where they will stay for life (and free-range during the day). I will only have the boilers for 4 weeks after all. Then they will go to my brother-in-laws farm for finishing and eventual butchering. Thanks for all the good advice!